It was a busy start for the Sport Department for the first week in Term 3. Our Division was doing it’s best to try and catch up and squeeze in the year levels who missed out on their competitions at the end of last term. We were excited to have sport up and running again, and then it all came to a grinding halt. Some teams were lucky enough to play before lockdown 5 hit, so enjoy these match reports!

Division Athletics

On a cold, wet and windy day we had a team of 50 students compete in the Division Athletics carnival at Meadowglen Athletics Track. The conditions were tough, when the students weren’t competing, they really struggled to keep warm. We are so proud of them all, they kept their spirits up and still somehow managed to enjoy the day.

Northcote had a lot of success with many of our students coming home with ribbons across both track and field events. We have a large team who will be progressing through to the Regional Athletics which in on September 1.

Senior Boys Regional Football

The Senior Boys represented Northcote at the Northern Metro finals last week. The first section of matches was in a round-robin style with the first game against John Fawkner. The boys put in a disciplined effort in the two 12-minute halves to finish ten goals in front, capitalising on scoring opportunities and keeping the opposition to a solitary goal. Everett O’Donnell played his best game in the purple.

Tougher opposition were waiting for us in the second game versus Viewbank. Northcote had the momentum early, making sure to get to the ball first and pressure the opposition when they had the ball. A momentary lapse in concentration and discipline allowed Viewbank to get within three points, with five minutes to go. Our Year 12 Leaders showed excellent resilience, leading from the front with Connor Lester and Bill O’Hanlon standing up to wrest back momentum. But it was Archie Rider who kicked the sealer in the last minute of the game.

Two wins from two matches sent the boys to the Final versus Eltham, who had won both of their games by 10 goals. We had a contest on our hands, with the first quarter becoming an arm wrestle. Eltham took the early advantage against the breeze, leading by a goal at the first break. This trend continued with Eltham taking their opportunities and pushing the lead out to 24 early in the last quarter. At this point in time, Hugo Byron and Bill O’Hanlon stood up and brought the team with them, setting up the forwards with beautiful delivery. Amazingly, after an O’Hanlon goal in the last minute, Northcote went in to the last break only a goal down. Sadly, we did not make the most of our dominance early in the fourth quarter, kicking three points to narrow the deficit, before Eltham kicked the sealer to win the match by nine points.

In summary, the Senior Boys side was well lead by the group of Year 12s, but the Year 11s showed that Northcote will be tough to beat in 2022, with great skill with the ball and pressure without it. A special mention to Year 10 students Luigi Rossin (2 goals), Jack Oldfield and Lachlan Hamilton, who played their roles for the team seamlessly, especially impressive considering their late call up.

~Mr Barrett

Junior and Intermediate Girls Football

The talent amongst the year 7 and 8 girls was put on show in their impressive win against Preston high. The girls worked really well as a team, having some really impressive passages of play displaying a high calibre of skills for such a young group. The girls had a bit of competition going against the wind in the second and fourth quarters but were able to keep strong defensive and still hit the scoreboard. Overall it was a very exciting game to watch, and no doubt we’ll go on to see some of these girls play AFLW in the future.

~Lulu Beatty

It was a good win for the Northcote 9/10 girls team over Thornbury high in the windy conditions at Reservoir. In the first quarter Northcote was met with a tough defensive wall but after a good chat at quarter time, they dominated the second quarter and had a large lead for the rest of the game despite being short three players in the final quarter. The team came together really well and made the most of playing positions they may not usually play.

~Claudia Hetherington & Maddie De Bondt

A huge thank you to our Student Coaches Lulu, Claudia and Maddie, they did a fantastic job and are great role models to our younger students. Thank you also to Ms Hales and Ms Smith who coached, selected (with help from Lulu, Claudia and Maddie) and attended with the teams on the day. Both teams now progress through to the Regional round which is currently on hold for the moment. We will hold team meetings as soon as a decision is made from School Sport Victoria.

Intermediate Netball

On Thursday the 15th, the year 9/10 girls' netball teams played in their division netball tournament. Due to a miscommunication only our A team was entered into the tournament, meaning they were able to play all and smash out all 4 games and ended up going through to the next round undefeated. The B team showed great maturity and handled the situation fantastically, whilst they couldn't play the games we were expecting them to, they participated in a number of friendly matches against the boys and mixed teams, they too were undefeated. All the players should be proud and commended on their efforts throughout the day and the sportsmanship and patience they showed to teams who weren't as familiar with the rules. The day ended with a mix of both teams playing a scratch match against the Thornbury boys, where even the coaches got on court.

Massive thanks to Ms Lever who assisted the coaches across the day and helped with majority of the scoring, and Ms. Dridan who was an awesome bus driver

~Iris Bentley and Bella Collodetti

A big thank you also to Iris and Bella, they never cease to amaze us with their commitment to coaching, selecting, umpiring and playing netball. They are also extremely competitive when it comes to the students vs staff netball matches!

School Sport Victoria

At present we are still waiting on direction from School Sport Victoria as to how and when we move forward. Please ignore any sporting events that appear on students Compass Schedules during lockdown. Once Interschool Sport is up and running again we will meet with teams to advise new dates etc. If families have already paid for a sporting event that has been postponed, those payments will be carried over to the new event date. If any sporting competitions are cancelled, families accounts will be credited.

Jack O’Shea and Pauline Dridan

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