Villi’s U18s & U16s Match Report – Round 6

UNDER 18s

The Under 18s fought out a tough 4 point loss against North Adelaide on Saturday.

The conditions made it tough for both sides and clean possession was at a premium. We were able to kick a couple of goals in the first quarter and took a one point lead into quarter time – we contested well and moved the footy into our forward half but couldn’t quite capitalise on our entries.

The second quarter was more of the same although we just struggled to kick goals kicking 1 goal 4 points  – the Roosters kicked 1 goal 2 points and increased our lead to 2 points at half time!

The close contest continued on in the third quarter as we shared territory with 9 Inside 50s each but North took their chances scoring 3 goals straight whilst we again were a bit wayward kicking 2 goals 2 points – we found ourselves behind by 4 points at three quarter time.

It was set to go down to the wire and after both teams traded behinds, North kicked a goal at the 15 minute mark to establish a 5 point lead. We had the ball in our forward half constantly after that but we couldn’t quite get our radar right kicking 4 points for the quarter to lose by 4 points. The final scores were Eagles 5 goals 12 points to North Adelaide 7 goals 4 points.

It was a good effort all day by the players but make no mistake they were disappointed with losing – Jack Leys and Noah Ah Chee were very good on their wings, Hunter Rowe and Romario Clemente were strong in our midfield and James Chalubek playing his first game for the year was a good defender for us along with Jensen Frantz. Harvey O’Brien worked tirelessly up forward taking 6 marks in very tough conditions for tall forwards.

This week we were pleased to debut Mattie Kehoe, Zedikia Fielding, Cody Harrold and Tate Wolthers to play their first under 18 games – Tate unfortunately sustained an injury in his first few minutes on the ground and we wish him well as he recovers. All the other new players showed their ability at some point in the game and made contributions.

For our next game  we play our Round 1 opponents Glenelg at Stratarama Stadium at 1.50pm.

Shane Reardon – U18 Coach

UNDER 16s

Round 6 saw us face North Adelaide at home in wet and windy conditions. With College players going to College Football and providing opportunity we made a total of 12 changes to the side from the previous week.

Whilst it was a lot of changes it was exciting to see 7 Players representing the Eagles at Under 16 level for the first time. Congratulations to Liam Weatherly, Reef Mackereth, Jake Malycha, Jacob Atkinson, Blake Turner, Walker Hart and Charley Wildbore.

This takes our tally to 43 players who have put the Eagles jumper at under 16s level over our first 5 games of 2026.

Despite challenging conditions, there were plenty of encouraging signs in our overall team performance. The forward group set a better tone with pressure, highlighted by our small forwards tackling intensity.

Overall, the effort and pressure set a strong benchmark for future weeks and with continued work on skill execution, decision-making, and connection across the ground, the group is building toward more consistent and complete performances.

While the scoreboard showed a 43 point loss the group are developing week in and week out on the standards and effort required to play strong consistent brand of football for this level.

We are still seeing patches/patterns in games where a small lapse in concentration and intensity has been the difference in winning and losing.

Goal kickers include Liam Weatherly 2, with singles to Walker Hart, Oliver Lange & Joel Lipson. Our better players for this week include Connor Willmer, Joel Lipson, Hamish Coombe, Oliver Lange, Archie Duffett & Walker Hart.

We now look forward to hitting the road and playing Glenelg in Round 7 to continue our improvement for 2026.

Todd Clarke – U16 Coach