It was another weekend of ups and downs for the Red 'n' Blacks, but some solid achievements nonetheless. The much-improved WOX won their second on end. Down by the Lake, Matthew Handley reached 900 career goals as the Reserves rolled over Collegians. Things took a turn for the worse once the Seniors took the field.

SENIORS

TROTTERS CRUSH RED 'n' BLACKS

Old Xaverians have forged a strong record at Harry Trott over the past decade, winning most times, and when not, pushing hard for victory until the final bell. This one went south very early. A strong Collegians team, which had beaten contenders St Kevin's and Uni Blues by more than ten goals by the Lake, did the same to the Rossoneri yesterday.

Xavs found scoring tough all day as the Purples played at pace and with a great deal of confidence. Clearly, injuries and unavailabity continue to mar the X-Men in their quest for greater sucess, with 48 players including 14 previously untried at senior level representing James Byrne's team this year. But no-one expected a drubbing like this.

Still, hope springs eternal. Somehow Xavs remain mathematically in the thick of it. Realistically, the Lions are premiership favourites and look a cut above the rest. September will be the proving ground and the Xavs will need a massive change in fortunes to be there.

Goal Kickers:T. McRae 2, J. Hewitt, H. Basset, J. Soccio

Best Players:J. Feneley, S. Hansen, H. Basset, G. Valles, T. McRae, C. Holmes

RESERVES

CHOPPER KICKS 900th AS RED 'n' BLACKS ROLL

Old Xavs led the Lions a merry dance, taking down the Purples by 106 points. Matt Handley booted five and Harro Bell four as Oscar Smart and Jimmy Langford led the visitors to a massive win.

Goal Kickers: M. Handley 5, H. Bell 4, O. Smart 3, E. Kennedy 3, A. Sheedy 2, D. O''Loughlin 2, J. Hess, W. Brusnahan

Best Players: O. Smart, J. Langford, F. Pearce, M. Lowe, E. Kennedy, J. Lowe

WOX

TWO ON END

Another big win for the Red 'n' Blacks, this time at the expense of Hampton Rovers.

Rovers led at quarter time, but did not score thereafter, while Sophia Rothfield and Tahryn Mant led the WOX response. Maggie Gaffney kicked two as the Red'n' Blacks shook off the Hampton team after the long break.

Goal Kickers:M. Gaffney 2, R. VandenBoom, C. Lacey, T. Mant, S. Rothfield

Best Players:S. Rothfield, T. Mant, M. Clarke, M. Mennilli, K. Dowd, O. Benston

U19 PREMIER

BIG WIN

Will Exell booted four and Will MacIsaac three as Rushy's boys romped over the Tonners. Will Wrigley got the nod for BOG in a strong team performance.

Goal Kickers: W. Exell 4, W. Macisaac 3, M. Mahommed 3, J. Sassi 2, T. Bourne, T. Gorman

Best Players: W. Wrigley, T. Bourne, C. Bourne, A. Scally, W. Exell, J. Sassi

U19 TWOs

SHARKS BITE HARD

Coach Batten reports:

Superb conditions greeted us for our round 12 clash against ladder leaders Beaumaris. Not only was the sun shining, but we were also back at our spiritual home ground, Stradbroke Park. Whilst not in great condition, it is in significantly better condition than it was when we left 3 months ago, and it was great to bring back some stability and familiarity to the squad. Additionally, we had a debutant, Tom Curtain, and a new addition to the leadership group, Will Beattie, who both contributed to a positive energy in the group.

As we enter the final stretch of the home and away season, it is important that we keep progressing as a group. It will be a reoccurring theme, progress not perfection, and if we can get marginal improvement in some key areas each week then the sum of our improvement will be significant as we push to finals. It’s no secret that our performance against Beaumaris earlier in the season was disappointing, however in accordance with the theme, the coaches weren’t expecting a 200-point swing, just an improvement in our effort and something to build form. I’m happy to report that I thought it was one of our most impressive performances of the year.

The first quarter got underway in perfect sunshine and as such the ball was zipping about. Some silky ball movement from Beauy gave them some early looks. We knew we needed to tighten up in the contest and get repeat stoppages to frustrate Beauy, but we also knew that it would take time to build into our rhythm. Beauy had a few looks at goal but thankfully they were missing. 1 point, 2 points, 3 points, 4 points. Some will say we were lucky to still be within touching distance, however I think we were doing well to push them wide and take long shots at goal. And it wasn’t all one-way traffic. Our ball movement was starting to warm up, there was some solid intercept marking from Nicky Tyrrell, and Will Troy was ensuring we had a focal point up forward. When we got it forward, we did look threatening, with pace from Ed Nelson, Paddy Gilmour and Justin Salce proving to be difficult to stop. Beauy eventually got one through their big full forward, and another, but we also go our first through Charlie Christopher, which was just reward for some tenacious and resilient defending. We trailed by 24 points at quarter time.

The coaches were happy enough at the first break given the caliber of the opposition, but we also challenged the boys to lift a little more. Could we put Beauy under some pressure around the ball and generate some turnovers? Beauy started the second quarter hot again, this time kicking truly to land 3 quick goals. However to our credit, we went back to the contest and lifted our energy. Some terrific ruck work from Sam Purcell, playing out of position, was giving us a great starting point in the middle. Chris Crisostomos looked dangerous, winning a number of clearances, and the pressure from Nelson, Harry West and Tom Curtain was inspiring. All of a sudden, Beauy started looking over their shoulder, they were panic handballing and missing their targets. Westy was everywhere and some of his tackling was the best we have seen all year. We eventually got our own reward for effort. Nelson had just missed what would have been goal of the season thanks to some slick corridor play and line breaking runs, however he eventually slotted truly from the pocket. Half time came and we took a 50-point deficit into the main break. For the record, we were down by 50 points at quarter time the first time we played them… so a significant improvement!

The coaches were full of praise in the change rooms. The boys were blowing hard. They had put in a monster effort up until then, but we had another half to go. To give the boys some confidence, we showed them the stats for the quarter. We lead in clearances and we led in inside 50 tackles. Numbers don’t lie, there were clearly areas we were on top in. The most damning stat however was our kicking. We had committed twice as many turnovers as Beauy, and their goals were all coming from turnover. So the message was clear, keep winning the contest and let’s run and carry the ball out of the backline. Let’s limit the number of times we turn it over and we will go a long way in setting the foundations for the rest of the year.

The third quarter was outstanding. Our tackling was furious and there were a number of people behind the bench that mentioned if we had a pressure metre, it would be through the roof. What was also evident was our willingness to work hard without the ball. Whenever Beauy won the ball back, the effort from our boys to get into zone and cover the corridor was admirable. On a number of occasions, Beauy looked inboard, trying to take the game on, and were forced to go long down the line. This was a significant win for us. There were even moments of panic from their mids, with errant kicks being pounced on by Paddy Gilmour and Curtain. And whenever Beauy did go forward, they were stopped in their tracks by Tyrrell, Thomas Pereira and Dante Reid. Reid in particular was leading the charge out of the backline, if he got one possession, he was determined to make it 2 or 3 possessions in the chain... driving us forward with run and dare. Reid would link with Gilmour and West and at times there was no stopping them through the corridor. Again, we were rewarded with a goal and limited the Beauy lead to 67 at the final change.

We rode our luck in the last quarter, but it was evident that the boys were absolutely spent. An outstanding effort and demonstration of will power to stick with the league’s best and win some key areas of our own. There were a number of boys who produced their best game for the year in one of the more difficult games, demonstrating their character and desire to stay in the team. We also finished with a second goal to Christopher, giving us a goal every quarter. I’m supremely confident that a performance like that can propel our team forward for the rest of the season. However, despite the positive display, the challenge is now set that we progress form this, not regress. If we can produce a performance like that every week I have no doubt we will win more than we lose, but that is the challenge. We kept the margin below 100 points which many may scoff at, but given the complexity of the season, our performance last time and the fact we finished with 1 fit person on the bench, makes me tremendously proud of the group.

It looks like Justin Salce may have a bad wrist injury, so we are hoping for a good outcome there. Salce has been an ever present in the team this year and demonstrates his team-first attitude every week. We hope Salce can get back before the end of the season.

Next week we are back at Straddy, but it doesn’t get much easier as we face Old Trinity who are second on the ladder. If we produce the same performance as we did on the weekend against Beauy, I know what the result will be.

Thanks to the parents who helped out on the weekend, please try and volunteer at least once before the season is out.

Thanks, and see you at the footy

‍

Goal Kickers:E. Nelson 2, C. Christopher 2

Best Players:H. West, D. Reid, E. Nelson, P. Gilmour, C. Christopher, N. Tyrrell

U19 THREEs

THERRY CANE XAVS

Goal Kickers: E. Nelson 2, C. Christopher 2

Best Players: H. West, D. Reid, E. Nelson, P. Gilmour, C. Christopher, N. Tyrrell

U23

X-MEN TAKE DOWN CARDS

A grand performance against te top-ranked team.

Goal Kickers: A. MacIsaac 5, S. Stangherlin, N. Harries, C. Connors

Best Players: T. Paul, Z. Connor, A. MacIsaac, H. Ralph, S. Clark, D. Collison

MENAGES

FRIDAY NIGHT SPECIAL

Goal Kickers: C. Smith 9, D. Nash 3, J. Hanger, L. Tobin, N. Nunan

Best Players: C. Smith, D. Nash, O. Silk, J. Norman, O. Silk, J. Buffon

CROCS

Bye

U23 TWOs

Sunday v AJAX

Goal Kickers:T. Lyons 2, J. Hynes 2, T. Russell, F. Kenny, M. Costello, A. Mccormack

Best Players:G. Romanin, M. Costello, J. Hynes, T. Lyons, T. Russell, W. Greig