Redcliffe 13.20.98 def Mt Gravatt 8.7.55
Best Players: Delahay, Strang, Smith, Parkes, Wadley, Tansacha, Cabrera
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This weekend’s game saw the U16’s travel down the motorway to take on Mt.Gravatt.
After last weeks nail biting finish, our training this week was geared toward trying to stay focused and to keep our concentration levels at their peak optimum levels in order for us not to suffer the same sort of final minute fade out again.
Coming up against an unknown quantity in regards to how Mt.Gravatt where going to line up, would they play a couple of First Div players? would they forfeit as they did a couple of weeks ago? or would they go all out and try to upset our advancement toward playing finals, by trying to antagonise and draw some undisciplined play from us.
The pre-game address, saw the boys given some food for thought, in regards to how we approach not only this game but our next few weeks and also our lives outside of football in general. As a whole we have been reared or told what foods are good for us, how much water we should drink, avoid alcohol, don’t use drugs, buy correct fitting shoes, etc. But honestly, how often do we consider what we are feeding our ‘Minds’. This big, beautiful, powerful computer relies on us to input quality. Otherwise it is rubbish in - rubbish out. The poem IF written by Rudyard Kipling in 1895 is still relevant today. How could he have known that all these years later?. That’s easy, because our brains haven’t changed. Sure enough we have invented many a new thing, mobile phone plasma Tv’s, Ipod’s etc.. yet our souls are still the same. We still cheat, lie, are weak, are proud, are stupid and at times, just sometimes we can be extraordinary.
So to put all this in football relevance, whilst our game of AFL is now faster, more skilful, while every statistic is recorded, we have forward zones, defensive zones, set plays, all this means very little as the game is still played by boys/men with two arms, two legs and a leather football, as they did 100 years ago.
The boys took to the field with this newly found wisdom and took control of the match early, only to allow them back into the quarter with a couple of late goals toward the end of the first term. The second quarter saw the Tigers step up another level and control the game, although our radar for kicking goals at times went amiss. The second half saw us having the luxury of rotating our players into different positions as we tried a few different things, all to help us continue along our path towards playing finals football. Unfortunately for us midway through the final term we had Jarrod Hayes suffer a severe elbow injury. Seeing the boys huddle around their injured team-mate after the game to sing the club song was quite easily the proudest moment for us as a coaching panel today. Well done boys!
Lino Taglieri
Coach – Redcliffe Tigers U16’s
