Football Report

Football Academy

A great day was had by all involved with the THAC/ Western Bulldogs Football Academy at the Whitten Oval in Melbourne last Friday. Departing in the cold, rainy but thankfully not too windy weather at 6am we arrived around 9-30am to watch the Bulldogs do their “captains run” training session in very cold and windy conditions- this meant that they went indoors after about 15mins outside to finish their session. After watching some more of this session, the group got changed to complete their training session with the Bulldogs skill acquisition specialist coach Andrew Shakespeare. There is no doubt that they learnt some specific techniques in all facets of the game that will improve their individual talents from this worthwhile session.

The squad was lucky enough to be joined at the end of this session by premiership player Josh Dunkley who gave them great insight into what it takes to become an AFL player from the country and what it is like to be an AFL player and answered some questions as well.

After a short lunch break the group had a tour of the inner sanctum that usually only the players and staff get access too. They also learnt what qualities are valued and important in life on and off the ground at the club and what they should think about along their journey at school and in their football.

It was undoubtedly a huge success and a most worthwhile and educational day for our students. The staff at the Bulldogs involved commented on the wonderful engagement and enthusiasm showed by the group.

We should acknowledge the huge support from head Academy coach Pat Sherlock and local AFL regional manager Jock Whiting who gave their time and expertise to the program and came along for the day.

College Magpies

The HKJFA finals series involving College Magpies teams has just begun after an exciting and entertaining season. The under 16s have had a whole season dominating and continued this trend in the first round of finals, advancing straight through to the Grand Final after a convincing win against Coleraine. Unfortunately, the under 13s weren’t as successful but put together a strong performance in wet and cold conditions. The potential for a Grand Final win is there, however, the boys must turn their focus to winning this weekend against Kokoda in Coleraine. The Grand Finals will be held on the Friday 23rd of August at Melville Oval and the boys would love as many supporters to get there as possible. The night promises to be captivating as well as a display of some of College’s best footballers, battling it out to bring home the premiership.

The HKJFA under 16 and under 13 vote count was held last Sunday and College Magpies was well represented. In the under 16 section there was a four way tie for first with Connor Hunter and Fergus Roberts among the talented players. These two boys did miss significant time in the season so to come out as equal League Best and Fairest is astonishing. Congratulations boys. Toby Vallance also polled well finishing 3rd after a consistent season. In the Under 13s Oscar Hausler played a dominant role all year and finished 3rd and has a very bright future ahead of him. George Huf, Jake Tonissen and Tom O’Sullivan all received considerable votes as well and should be congratulated.

Leigh Alexander (Head of Football) and Nick Vallance (Football Captain)

Hockey - Hockey Draw

Division 2 Women – Sunday 18/8

11.00am – College Blades v Demons @ Pedrina

12.30pm – College Scorchers v Monivae @ Pedrina

Div 1 Men – Sunday 18/8

3.30pm – College v Demons @ Pedrina

U16 – Saturday 17/8

9.00am – College Red v College Blue @ Pedrina

12noon – College Gold v Monivae @ Pedrina

Div 4 – Saturday 17/8

1.30pm – College Tassie Devils v Coleraine @ College

3.00pm – College Bandicoots v College Drop Bears @ College

Div 5 – Saturday 17/8

2.15pm – College v Coleraine Black @ Pedrina

Div 1 Women – Friday 16/8

7.30pm – College Strikers v Coleraine Red @ Pedrina

Division One Women

I think I have only just got the feeling back in my fingers! In frightful conditions on Sunday morning with the mercury just reaching 1 deg and the hail belting in, the College Thundersticks bravely took on Monivae. Monivae were unfortunately short so Lucy Roberts and Nina Pern donned the light blue Monivae uniform to help out. Credit to both Lucy and Nina who were probably Monaive’s better players. With the heaviness of the ground it was hard to move the ball with any penetration. It did make me think back to the days when we played on grass or at this time of year it was mud. To move the ball you had to flick it in the air and hope you could see it in the mud after it landed. Really can’t complain when I think back to how we used to play.

Despite the difficulty of holding the stick and seeing the ball through the hail, the Strikers put two past a very good Monivae goalie. Better players were Nikita Cavill, Hannah Russell and Ruby Cush.

Blades faced an undermanned Monivae side on Friday night but were determined to use the game as an opportunity to work on skills and goal scoring. After a relatively slow start, the girls started combining well, using their speed and the extra space to create so fine team play. The backline found themselves considering ways to stay warm as our forwards dominated play; Chantal Butcher, with the most novel idea, decided that scoring a goal (despite her position as full back) was one such method!

All of the forwards found the back of the net at least once to help boost our season goal percentage – the final score being 14-2. Thanks to Zoe Rudge who filled in for the opposition – they were most grateful.

A terrific team game.

College Scorchers fought bravely against Demons with a player down. They played a great first half creating lots of opportunities but unfortunately could not beat the Demons’ goalie. Millie Davidson, Jordy Brown and Sophie Merrin were all amongst the better players. Young Emily McNaughton was kept very busy on the final line of defence stopping about 80% of the Demons shots on goal. Daisy Henry, Jorjia Hermon and Hettie Byrne all had good second halves.

Kristen Waldron

U16 and Men's Hockey

College Red commenced their game against Coleraine Red on Saturday last in very wintry conditions. Nonetheless, within a minute they had a goal on the board – with Charley Falla-Jones finding the net with a neat effort. Despite seeming to be on top for the next fifteen minutes, the game turned and it took an Eren Zehir goal late in the half to keep the team level with their opponents at half-time. The second half was more decisive and three more College goals (two to Eren and one to Matt Spence) saw the team record a comfortable victory in the end. GAPper James Fear had the team playing some confident hockey by the end of the game and goalie Emily McNaughton continued to impress whilst Harry Mould’s efforts were also worth mentioning.

The second match of the round saw College Gold battle College Blue. Gold began strongly and dominated most of the first half, taking the lead through a Clancy Munro goal but, somewhat surprisingly, finding themselves level at the break after a superb pass and clean work by Ted Koch saw Blue score. Gold scored two more goals in the second half – Clancy scoring his second and ?? adding the third – and were clearly the better team on the day. They were crisper in their passing, they ran harder and worked more effectively together. For Gold, Isaac Hocking was excellent; his sister Alyssa and Euan Sutherland also worked well. Blue were well-served by Ben Potter, Jack Austin and Lucy Roberts.

The Open team played the Bulls on Sunday afternoon. A very wet field greeted us and our boys adapted best to these conditions, with an excellent half of hockey seeing them ahead 4-0 at the break. Lachie Armstrong, Dougal Sweeney (2) and Tane Nelson had found the net and the boys had played some fast-moving, open hockey. We continued to create chances in the second half but a lack of poise in front of goal saw us fail to convert most of them, although Tane Nelson added his second goal. Bulls emulated our first half and scored four so we ended up 5-4 victors. Reagan Simons led from the front in a best-on-ground display but he received great support from his team. This was a very good victory: whilst the score margin became tight, we continued to play some very fine hockey.

Two rounds to go before finals for all our teams!

Neil MacLean

Soccer Report

The 2019 Wednesday night soccer competition has been running smoothly. On top of the ladder we have The College Citizens with 12 points. In second place, we have The College Hammers with 9 points; in third and fourth places, we have The College Toffees with 6 points and The College Spurs with only a point; but they are fighting hard to get their first win of the season.

The outstanding players so far are Darcy Schmidt, Alannah Sander, Rafael Gaio and Hamed Fayazi. They have all showed great abilities to score goals and strong leadership within their teams. Furthermore, Sean Cashill has been performing exceptionally well, scoring 11 goals in 5 games. Well done to all the players for their efforts so far.

Jonathan Lee (Soccer Captain)

Dates to Remember