The end of the Home and Away season went off with a bang with a pair of huge results coming out of the construction site that is currently Ormond Road. For the second time this year both of our senior sides enjoyed a win away to Moonee Valley which sets us up nicely as we moved into the finals next week.
The Reserves started the day looking to go through the season undefeated but early in the game that looked under threat as the Fog got off to a fast start and held a shock lead at quarter time, 3.5 to 2.1 and to be fair if they had kicked straight we could have been under a lot more pressure. Phil got the boys to settle more in the second term and the defence started to get on top and we started to get some run going. By half time we’d almost got the game back on an even keel as we went into the main break less than one straight kick behind – 5.8 to 5.3. After half time our boys really clicked into gear and despite the Valley having regular senior full forward Jordy Faba in their side, we held them to 1 goal while adding 5 of our own to suddenly lead by 18 points at the final change. We continued to stretch that out in the final term adding another 3 goals to 2 and running out winners by 25 points – 8.10-58 to 13.5-83. JayJay continued his purple patch as we added another 5 to take his season tally to 44, Belal kicked 3 which made him the highest goal kicker in the competition with 52 goals, Marz kicked 2, while Matt, Tyla and Matthew added one apiece. Youssef was named in the best alongside Alan,Jovan, our own Benjamin Button in Andrew,Josh and Marz. It’s a great effort by the boys to go through an entire season undefeated and 6 games clear on top of the ladder but they all know the real work is ahead of them over the next 3 weeks. Put your heads down, roll up to training and work hard on game day boys and just keep doing what you have been doing, you are all doing a brilliant job.
The seniors knew the mission in front of them on Saturday, knock off the top of the ladder side and they could earn themselves a top 2 spot and the double chance in the finals. It was clear that the boys REALLY wanted that double chance and the final at Coburg City Oval as they came out and utterly destroyed the team who’d occupied top spot on the ladder coming into this one. For the first time in recent memory our radar was on when it came to goal kicking and we got real reward for effort as we opened up a 31 point lead at the first break, 3.1-19 to 8.2-50. In the second term we continued on with that form, running amok at the construction site with the midfield getting right on top and the backs controlling things for us nicely. As the siren sounded to end the first half we’d extended the lead to 45 points – 6.3-39 to 13.6-84. As expected, the Fog rallied in the 3rd quarter and cut the deficit back to 35 points as they outscored us 6 goals to 4 so we still had the job to do in the last term. Faz urged the boys to finish the regular season strongly and they delivered! A 4 goal to nothing final term ensured that we finished second on the ladder and earned the double chance, with the final scoreboard reading 12.7-79 to 21.14-140 – a 61 point win over one of the premiership aspirants at their home ground a great way to end the season.
Luke kicked another bag of 7 to see him finish second on the league goal kicking table (60 goals) behind only Josh Covelli. Mark found his goal kicking form again as he added 4, Jack and the reborn forward James kicked 2 each while John, Nathan, Hayden, Carlos, Ferras and Ryan each added 1. Faz’s best were Saba, Cappa, The Chicken Lover, Harley, Jake and Carlos. The win saw us finish the season in second place with 11 wins and only 1 game off top. A fantastic result given where we came from last year and a credit to Faz and the coaching staff for how they have been able to pull this season together.Apart from out first loss of the year in round 1, every other game this season we’ve been right in it up until the end and it’s only been bad conversion or poor discipline which has cost us the games.
Next week is a MASSIVE week at the club. Both the Senior sides are in action at Coburg City Oval in the Second Semi Final. The winner goes directly to the Grand Final. The losers get another chance the following week in the prelim so here’s hoping both sides can get a win next week and earn the week off by getting directly into the Grand Final. The Ressies play Coburg Districts at 11:50am, the team who they defeated in the Grand Final last season so that should be a great game. The senior play the Saints who we failed to beat in our 3 meetings this season, but we should have won the last 2 if we had kicked straight so this promises to be a ripping game of footy. Let’s get the Magpie Army down to Coburg City Oval this week and support our boys!
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