What a huge weekend all ’round to review with all 4 Netball teams kicking off their first round for the season. The Premier team won a close one 36-35 against Lilydale. The division 1 side were tied 22 all at 3 qtr against Ferntree Gully, but couldn’t pull off the win. The div 3 side took home the points 23-20 against Boronia and the div 6 team went down to Balwyn. The EFNL links to fixtures, results and ladders have been updated under the Netball section in the main menu so check it out and get down to cheer on the teams next round.
Round 2 of the Junior comp was completed and the U9s and U10s all played great and scorched the field with an amazing display of running, kicking and hand balling – all future AFL champions, every single one of them!
The U12s had a hard game at home on the 2nd oval against some quality opposition in Norwood and were not able to overcome some of the taller opponents going down 24-61 but they are still 4th on the ladder. Their attack on the ball early in the game was great to see, keep it up! On the main oval the U13D side had a great win over Knox, 92-1. With the two games played at almost the same time, the poor U12s had to concentrate hard on who’s siren was going off as the U13’s were a few minutes ahead, this resulted in all the parents yell out ‘keep going’ moments after the U13 siren sounded for the rest of the game. It even caught out the poor bloke doing the video the first time it happend as he stopped recording when all the kids stopped playing for a few moments the first time it happened.
The U13Bs had a tough game away going down by 73 points to Lysterfield and the U15s also had a loss to the top of the ladder combined Waverley Blues / Donvale team.
Speaking of top of the ladder, the U19s are currently on top of the U19 Premiership ladder after a win over Rowville, 123-23 at Seebeck Oval. Ok, so they are a game ahead of the rest of the comp as Blackburn played their round 3 game early but let’s not lets technicalities get in the way of good news. It was great to see them turn up to Donvale after their game to watch the Reserves and Seniors play and you can see some of them behind the goals in the highlights video posted on facebook… and you can hear them too! Next Saturday they are at home against Balwyn, so make sure you get up to RAMS Stadium early and cheer the guys on!
In all the time I’ve been at East Burwood, I’ve never seen us play Donvale so this was a bit of an unknown, and add to that the Donvale reserves side made the grand final last season so the pressure was on. The guys played some great footy against hard tackling opposition. Aggers had a lot of pressure and some agro on him that restricted his movements somewhat but he worked it out and was the only player to score more than one goal, bagging 3 of the 11.8.74 to Donvale’s 4.8.32. The game was fast but one area we were out numbered in was the mullet department with some truly specimen examples on display. Also out numbered, was the number of late tackles with Chocko copping the best of the day with a very late push in the back after an easy disposal. This seemed to amuse him no end as he got up laughing his head off. In all the time I’ve been at East Burwood I’ve never seen Chocko so amused! But by the end of the game everything was cool and it was a good game of footy at a really nice ground. A year off seems to have done the trick for a lot of footy grounds!
Next up were the seniors and the games was faster and harder than the reserves game just gone. Donvale beat the Waverley Blues last round by 3 points, the same winning margin as us v Whitehorse, and the Waverley Blues made last seasons grand final. We started a bit slow, and Donvale were good. They ran and had players free and made good use of that with 5 scoring shots to 3 in the first qtr. The stress levels went up at half time as scoring shots were now 12 vs 5 in Donvales favour. Things were not looking good as we had some key retirements and down to only 20 players. The stress levels were high and I was looking for a defribulator just in case ‘something’ happened and something did happen…. and I don’t mean a heart attack. I do not know what it was and can only speculate it was either brilliant coaching or a brilliant spray, but the boys came out in the 3rd and piled on 7 goals 3 to Donvale’s 1 goal 2, to bring scoring shots even at 15 each with a scores now 9.6.60 to Donvale’s 4.11.35. Every single player stepped up. The new guys slotted in like they had been playing together for years. The whole team lifted and the atmosphere was electric…. cold but still electric! In the last quarter Donvale matched us for goals and both sides kicked 3 a piece, and we could only extend the lead by a single point booting 4 vs 3 points for a final score of 12.10.82 to 7.14.56. Check out the highlights video! A great win against a great team, and a great day of footy. Another 3 from 3! Well done everyone!
iPod Shuffle night is this weekend coming and hopefully some new dance floor bling will be on display so book your tickets!
