Goal Scorers: Dimattina
Best Players: Agg, Read, Macnab, Burnell, Marriott, Badge, Corke, Barlow, Breen.
We let an opportunity slip this week. Last week our ‘Warrior’, the ‘Wizard’ and the ‘Care Giver’
game was brilliant. We should have harnessed this confidence to hit St Kevins hard from the
opening bounce. We even spoke about this momentum and opportunity pre-game.
Unfortunately we waited to see what they were capable of. Despite winning the first clearance,
we were often led to the contest like we were waiting to see if the bigger opposition could
actually play. St Kevins are a solid team, but we didn’t have to concede two goals to realise that
we can out play them with our intensity at the ball and care for each other. The ‘Wizard’ in all of
us should have shut the ball down and forced ‘restarts’ in the last minute of the quarter to ensure
we had more control of the final outcome. A lack of mindfulness and keeping your head in the
game for every second meant we had to play catch up footy for the rest of the day. Despite
having control of the remainder of the game and more forward entries that they did, we just
couldn’t make them pay on the scoreboard. Goal kicking and forward pressure will be our focus
this week at training. We will also be training for more accountable football and having one on
one contests all over the ground. So far Xavier have been playing ‘bruise free’ and unaccountable
football this year and walking over all of their opponents. This week they will not have it their
own way.
Tough day for the mighty 8B's who were beaten by a very strong Xavier who blitzed us in the first
quarter piling on 6 goal to nil. The boys showed more fight in the second and managed to win the
third quarter with two goals to one. The last quarter like the first was dominated by Xavier.
Disappointing day for the boys looking forward to rebounding next week.
Round 4 saw the BGS boys take on Scotch at Home, and with yet again a depleted side due to
injury the boys knew they would have their work cut for them, but from the outset they showed
they were more than up for the challenge. The first half saw a tight battle between the two
teams, but with some hard drives to the basket from James Clark and Jake Tuim battling hard
from the rebounds, the boys took a 5 point lead into half time. The second half saw some great
defensive efforts from Will Biddick and James Mitchell resulting in several turn overs and fast
breaks for the boys, giving them a comfortable lead mid-way through the half. However, Scotch
weren’t prepared to give up that easy, and fought back to within a few points with only minutes
left. After a steadying time-out the boys went out to show they weren’t willing to give up their
lead, and with a three pointer from Will Field late in the piece, the boys sealed the game with an
11 point win. Yet another fantastic team effort from all of the boys, taking them to their 4th win of
the year.
The 7/8B's travelled to Keysborough on Saturday to play Haileybury College. With the basketball courts
being all over the campus we did not have enough boys to field the court until 40 seconds before the
game started. Our late arrival and lack of preparation stood out in the first half with the Haileybury side
controlling the game with their full court press leaving the half time scores at 6-15 Haileybury's way. After
a regathering at half time, the mighty B's found their groove through some great passing by Peter and
great scoring by Harry and Willem bringing the scores to 21-20 in BGS's favour with 5 minutes to go in the
game! Unfortunately the lead was lost with Haileybury scoring quickly off a steal. With 17.1 seconds to go
the scores were 23-25 in the way of haileybury, but BGS having possession! The boys tried their absolute
best to get up an open 3 point shot to win the game but unfortunately were not able to score, leaving
Haileybury to score off the miss and resulting in a narrow loss 23-27. The effort put in by the team in the
second half with limited numbers was outstanding and if ways are sort out to start games just as well as
they finish the games, then things will only go up for the 7/8B basketball team
The boys notched up their first win for the season in stunning fashion with an incredible display
of ball movement on the offensive end and hard, intimidating work on the defensive end. The
dynamic scoring duo of Massimo (9) and Angus (13) held the tonners in good stead in both
halves, with solid contributions from Austin (2) and Charlie (2), who persevered through injury all
game. Despite these scoring efforts the outstanding defense of Jerry, Leo and Charles seemed the
highlight of the day, as Wesley were swarmed and pressured throughout the entirety of the
match. The vision and work rate of Luca was also pivotal in the victory setting up many baskets.
Overall an outstanding performance from the Tonners earned them their first win where they will
hope to carry their form into the next game.
The first half saw both teams struggling to find the basket but it was through no lack of effort.
Owen Lin opened scoring for Brighton Grammar and although there were several nice offensive
plays from the boys, the score at half-time was tied at 2-2. The second half opened with
Haileybury able to convert their chances. Strong defensive hustle from Eric Chen still had us in
reach but with a few players missing through injury, fatigue started to kick-in. Several scoring
chances saw the ball roll out of the rim for us and the final result would see Haileybury win the
game 16-4. Well done to Eric Chen, Thomas Galinas, Shaun Gunaratna, Owen Lin, Jay Liu, Eric
Stone and Lexi Wang who all played with tremendous effort and spirit. Special thanks to Jiaze Jin
who although was injured, still came to support his teammates.
The boys attempted to Olay out from the back into the middle and then playing forward passing
into attacking areas. We had success in the build up and create the better chances. The
opposition played very direct and struggled to keep possession I felt we had more composure and
overall structure, our attitude was excellent throughout. I thought that all boys contributed, Will
was very good as was Declan when out wide as Wing Backs, Cam and Owen were our strongest
outlet in midfield, whilst in defence we were very solid with Matt, Nick and James Swyney were
very efficient. Our work in BPO was much better and desire to work hard was evident.
Declan for his two goals was very important but man of the match is Nick Ansell.
A pleasing performance and hopefully the boys continue in this upward motion.
Goal Scorers: Adam Larkan, James Ianuali, James Cannuli
Best Players: Adam Larkan, James Cannuli, Sam Funston
Adam Larkan backed up his solid performance in the A’s with a very pleasing technical display, as
well as scoring a fantastic long range goal from well outside the penalty box to give us a 1-0 lead.
James Cannuli played a very important role on the wing, using his impressive dribbling skills to
create a number of scoring chances.
Sam Funston’s second half as goal-keeper was easily his best performance so far this year,
confidently coming off his line on several occasions to intercept the opposition.
Overall, a very good team effort and big thank you to A players James Ianuali and Cameron Khan
for mentoring the boys on the day!
Goal Scorers: Hamish Anderson x3
Best Players: Tim Shaw, Hamish Anderson, Jarrad Thomson, Isaac Lee
Highlights:
- Coming back from 0-2 down to claw their way back to draw 3-3.
- Taking their chances to score and shooting on goal without hesitation from fair
distances.
- Remaining positive and determined throughout all stages of the match.
Areas of improvement:
- Underutilizing the wings and the width of the pitch, i.e. not spreading out but
clustering in the midsection.
- Drifting from and not holding to prescribed positions and roles on the field, e.g.
defenders moving up to attacking positions and not guarding defence.