Colts Report – Round 9

THE South Fremantle colts side continued its 2014 campaign with a hard fought win against a resolute Peel Thunder team that was looking for consecutive wins.

The two sides were greeted with slippery conditions from overnight moisture on the Bendigo Bank Stadium surface. As expected, the greasy ball was difficult to control. This along with the physical nature of the Peel boys, the effectiveness of the Bulldogs was stymied for most of the first half.

With few highlights in the first term the team was only able to build a slender lead of two points as the siren went to end the quarter.

Midfielders Jacob Dragovich (23 disposals) and Jake Florenca matched the physical presence of their opponents and gave the red and whites some resistance to the pressure being placed on each of our ball handlers.

The frustration grew as the second term continued in the same vein as the first. Players from both sides began to find themselves in small fracases around the ground.

The Peel team had finally got the response they were after as the South team retaliated and lost their cool.

Peel managed to rattle a few of the newer members of the South team who struggled with the physical nature of the game. With a mere single scoring shot for the second quarter the Bulldogs were lucky to be only eight points in arrears at the main break.

Term three was dominated by South Fremantle as the conditions became more to their liking. The moisture on the ground dried and the clean skills of the Bulldogs were evident more often.

Braden Fimmano and Jesse Mirco were good contributors all day. They were instrumental in keeping the opposition goalless for the third term and also gave defensive rebound to set up many of South’s forward forays.

Brad Kersten and Cameron Loersch were dangerous up forward as tall marking targets. Brandon Donaldson and James Culleton lifted the forward pressure and the team seemed to have broken free of the tight grip of the Mandurah-based team.

The game was still in the balance in the final term and it took all the regular ball winners to wrestle the ascendancy back from a determined opposition.

Kade Stewart and Corey Salmon began to win the hard ball. Brad McPhail and Braden Fimmano continued to stymie the Peel forwards and Brandon Donaldson ran hard to give the tall forwards an opportunity to grasp some telling marks.

Both Kersten and Loersch stood tall with eight goals between them (five in the final term), to steer the Bulldogs home to their eighth win of the year.

It was pleasing to see the team withstand the slippery and physical conditions to prevail when they could easily have let this game slip from their grasp.

The players and staff are looking forward to the break and are also pleased to be in a solid position on the premiership ladder.

With second spot and a two-game break on third it gives the coaches an opportunity to reflect and consider our strategies in the second half of the season.

We wish our state representatives, seniors and colts all the best as they represent WA this coming weekend.

I would personally like to thank my assistants and volunteers for their efforts so far and hope they are all looking forward to the exciting football from the colts side in the coming weeks.

Arthur Maskos

SFFC Colts Coach