Well it was back to OB Park for the last time in the minor round, and there was a lot to play for. The Seniors needed in both grades to have solid wins, Senior colts were playing for pride and the Junior colts needed a strong performance going into finals with several lads out or resting.
The day was also a celebration of the 1964, 1974 and 2004 B Grade premierships, with a celebration of these players contributions to the Tanunda Football Club. Some great stories were told and a couple of quiet soda waters were enjoyed!
The A Grade were playing for their season survival, and with some experience returning in Sam Agars and the Underwood brothers in the loss of Baylis with a broken arm should have been covered.
The start of the games was tight with both sides attacking for little return. By the midway of the game Freeling had pulled out a handy lead through good team play. Tanunda then mounted a comeback with some good forward play to draw level only to let the lead slip back to Freeling. Despite a 4 goal performance from Sam Agars, best on ground to Ryan Bignell, and strong performances from Matt Westhoff, David Trotta, Leigh Westhoff and Nick Schmidt, in a tight last quarter the Redlegs were able to hold off the Magpies for their first win at OB Park in many years.
A disappointing end to the home games with the results of other matches making it impossible for us to make the finals. Injuries and absence have taken their toll in a torrid first season for Coach Booth, however finishing off with a solid game against Angaston and getting into a good off season we look forward to a more successful year in 2015. Finish off the season well lads!
The reserves were playing to keep any chances of finals alive and they played football deserving of a finals berth. After a relatively slow start in the first quarter where we allowed Freeling to score easy goals the boys responded in the second to kick 5 goals 1 to no score. This was probably our most dominant quarter of footy for the season with the attacking style a feature. The third quarter was Freeling’s who showed great fight to outscore us for the quarter to draw within 1 goal. Our men responded in the 4th with3 goals to 1 to come away with a 3 goal win. Andy Ey was our best with a solid performance in the centre. Dave Goern was instrumental with some inspirational efforts at critical times. A couple of our young brigade stepped up with Ryan Owen providing some penetrating run from half back. Others were James Heidrich who presented well and back himself in at full forward and Blake Lockett’s 3 goals were also critical. We now need a good win against Angaston (which is now a mini final for both sides) to give ourselves a chance of finals.
Senior Colts this week have shown that they can not only win but win convincingly, against a under manned Freeling side the Senior Colts showed quality run, ball use and utilisation of positional structure. For a number of weeks the boys have been able to play 1 or 2 quarters in each game, however Saturday’s game was 4 quarters of good quality football. With a request at the end of the game last week to finish off the season positively the boys responded. Goal scorers: Paul Gursansky, Brayden Dalby, Jett DeRuiter and Jayden Hage 1 each, Eddy Laucke, Ben Biagi, Harry Bosward, Will Loffler and Jayden Rohrlach 2 each and a Bag of 6 Goals to Ricky Liddell. Best Palyers: Eddy Laucke, Brayden Dalby, Jayden Hage, Will Loffler and Ben Biagi
At home against Freeling, the U15’s started the game strong. Tanunda had the ball in their forward line for the most of the first quarter, but struggled to trouble the scoreboard. One good passage of play by Freeling saw them score the first goal of the game. That was where the scoring stopped for Freeling as Tanunda took control. A reliable defence, caused the ball to turn over and allowed Tanunda’s running players to swoop. The excellent use of handball helped to keep Freeling’s defenders under pressure. Some trialling of players in different position’s will only help Tanunda in the finals. Let’s keep working at training, as it is starting to pay off.
The U13 Black team played a good brand of football against Freeling to secure a good win. Jackson Docherty slotted 4 majors, Aaron Bert played another great game as did Oscar Harms and Henry Brooks. The entire team performed well and showed great discipline throughout the match. It is pleasing to see the boys using the ball well, leading to space and playing good team orientated football by sharing it around with handball, running to support and shepherd.
There has been immense improvement in this entire squad of lads this year.
Another hard tussle for the Tanunda Under 13 white boys against Nuriootpa Black on Friday night. Some great passages of handball and kicking from defence to attack showed the improvement which has occurred since the start of the season. Tyson Healy had a purple patch in the second quarter which was great to watch and Will Meyer and Jonah Whitelum played 4 consistent quarters. Benson Heintze was as solid as a rock in defence along with Jed Habermann and special mention to Luca Whitelum who came up from the 11’s and played a bottler. All players tried hard against a strong opposition.
So off to Angaston for the final game of the season, two of four sides looking to improve or secure finals positions and the rest of the club there to support. Lets finish off on a high note and get along and support your club.
Go you Magpies