Villi’s U18s & U16s Match Report – Round 8

UNDER 18s

The Under 18s had a disappointing match at Magain Stadium against South Adelaide, losing by 71 points. South started well with the aid of a strong breeze and had 4 goals inside the first 9 minutes so we were playing catch up almost immediately. We did finish the quarter better kicking a late goal and we started the 2nd quarter with 2 early goals to put us right in the match again  but we didn’t quite reward our good play with goals and  then the Panthers went down and erased our 2 goals with 2 of their own and finished the quarter more strongly. We battled out the match but the home side was too strong over all for us.

Players who battled well were Jensen Frantz in our defence, Freddie Wilson and Lachie Sands in our midfield and Jamie Russell-Swansson with his tackling being a feature. Romario Clemente on debut did some good things from his wing.

With our players now involved in the College programs and Under 18 State program we had the opportunity to debut 5 players who were playing their first Under 18 game – Romario Clemente as mentioned earlier, Jaheim Coleman-Scott, Nathan Kovacic, Hope Rawson and Zack Lloyd all pulled on the Eagles guernsey for the first time. It is always exciting seeing players who have been patient and working hard get their opportunity and all of them made contributions during the game. In addition Albert Ebert (2 goals), Owen Hartley-Brown and Cooper Reschke all played their first games for this season and again all contributed. We have now played 40 players in the first 8 rounds of the season so we are exposing our Talent to games which is good.

We play North Adelaide next Sunday at Prospect Oval from 1.20pm so we will be working hard to turn around Saturday’s performance and perform well against the Roosters.

Shane Reardon – U18 Coach

UNDER 16s

Although it was a very tough day at the office for the Under 16s against South Adelaide at Magain Stadium on Saturday, it was exciting to bring seven debutants into the team.  These young footballers began their journey of learning in the WWT system and experienced what it takes to compete at SANFL level.

We kicked with a strong breeze in the first quarter, and although South dominated clearances and territory, two goals to Cash Meyers meant that we were only 15 points down at the break.

Unfortunately, in the second quarter, it was all one-way traffic.  South scored heavily from centre bounce, and despite everything our boys tried, we could not stem the scoring.  We faced a challenging 10-goal deficit at half time.

The third quarter saw the Eagles team lift their contested football and with some strong and consistent efforts from several of our defenders, we showed that we could match it with the South Adelaide outfit.  However, the final quarter was much like the second, with South Adelaide dominating centre bounce and scoring heavily.

Goal kickers were Cash Meyers with two and Mitch Jennings with one, our better players were defenders Deegan Sparrow, Alex Economou and Bailey Forrest (on debut), along with Jack Musci and Jed Remphrey battling hard at times through the midfield.

We will continue to train hard, focussing on winning contested ball and defending the opposition’s running play.  We look forward to a much-improved effort against North Adelaide at Prospect Oval on Sunday June 1.

Simon Maddern – U16 Coach