What a day it was Sunday: An Under 19 Premiership, a win for the Seniors meaning a Grand Final berth and promotion to Premier B and what can only be described as a tough loss for the Reserves who fought on gamely against the odds to go down to Ajax by just 3 points in a thriller.
The Seniors took on arch rivals Parkdale Vultures in the Preliminary Final with a spot in the Premier C Grand Final against Old Carey on the line. Over the last few rounds, the Rovers had struggled in first quarters and often were goals down at the first break. Not in this game. A 6 goal to 1 goal first quarter had the big contingent of Rovers supporters at VAFA HQ buoyant. Six different goal kickers, domination all over the ground with a little bit of help with the southerly and we were firing. It was a pity that at the 29 minute mark Parkdale courtesy of a free and 50m penalty that they opened their account. Tredders spurred by that goaled a minute later to extend the Rovers lead.
The test would be in the second quarter against the breeze. Parkdale started strongly with a goal inside the first couple of minutes of the game – a long bomb outside 50m from the boundary line. We fought hard but when Parkdale’s full forward earned a free kick straight in front, some supporters were getting a bit nervous. Fortunately, at the next centre bounce Jamie Delaney ran onto the loose ball, drove it forward and Max Coughlin, who has been in great form in the second half of the season, goaled from the snap, and the Rovers settled.
Max Van Der Straaten and his fellow backs were under pressure and the Parkdale boys were simply targeting their ex-AFL gun Mitch Brown, given that until Sunday he had averaged over 6 goals per game for the season. Max had his measure with his speed and leap and while a couple more goals were kicked in the quarter, they were from good luck rather than good play. Clinton Young was showing his shrewdness and the number of times he contested in the goal square in that quarter saved a number of goals. Hampton goaled when Corey Jones passed to Chris Perkins who kicked accurately so that at the main break the margin had been reduced to 12 points.
After half time the scoring dried up. Parkdale played a very defensive game aiming to restrict the Rovers scoring as much as possible. Each side kicked a goal for the quarter but it looked like our 5 misses may be costly. It was bruising and quite frankly boring footy as Parkdale’s relentless defence was stopping us scoring. As he had done in the first term, the leading goalkicker in the comp Mitch Brown played the loose man in defence for most of the quarter.
Fifteen points up at the start of the last quarter, would it be enough for the Rovers to hold on? Could VDS hold Brown? Could the Rovers score against the wind as we did in the second quarter? All questions were answered in the affirmative. While Parkdale started the quarter with a long bomb from inside the centre square which somehow bounced through, our backs were holding firm. VDS was on top of his opponent and he had minimal effect on the scoreboard. A great piece of play as Cogs broke free in the centre, passed to Perko who then hit Tredders on the lead was probably the play of the day. The resulting goal extended the Rovers lead back out to 15 points at the 18 minute mark. The relief was enormous when in less than a minute later, Corey Jones went over the top to Will Crawford and he didn’t miss. 21 points up and into time on and the Rovers looked just about home. Parkdale did cause some concern when they kicked two late goals, but time was against them and the Rovers earned a well-deserved 8-point victory.
Great to see the skipper back to his best, leading from the front and causing Parkdale problems with his strength, speed and aggression at the ball. The twin rucks in Tom and Tredders comfortably controlled the ball ups and the mids just kept running and contesting all day.
As Marty Pask said after the game the boys should all be proud of the way they fought the game out right to the end and have rightfully earned the club promotion to Premier B for 2025.
Hampton Rovers 6.5 8.5 9.10 11.10 (76)
Parkdale Vultures 1.0 6.5 7.7 10.9 (69)
Best: Max Coughlin, Harry Crisp, Liam O’Driscoll, Christian Carnovale, Max Van Der Straaten, Adrian Hugg
Goals: Will Crawford 2, Liam O’Driscoll 2, Chris Perkins 1, Lachie Cairns 1, Christian Carnovale 1, Hugo Garrow 1, Max Coughlin, Clinton Young
Next up, the Rovers take on Old Carey in the 2024 Premier C Men’s Grand Final, Saturday 2:40pm at Trevor Barker Oval. It’s a rematch of the second semi final, albeit this time at Sandringham. The Rovers have had three great battles with Old Carey so far in 2024 (1-1 during the season while they ran out winners two weeks ago). Despite coming off a 6-day break compared to their 14, the Rovers will look to continue their momentum gained from Sunday’s sensational win. Stay tuned for details on a match day function at Sandy by the Bay.
Team Selection and dinner is on this Thursday night at the Hampton Bowls Club – get along to watch the boys train at the Boss, then get to the Bowls Club from 7pm and be part of what will be the start of a big weekend.
RESERVES
The Ressies went into the Prelim against Ajax as underdogs. They’d beaten the Rovers comfortably in both games during the season, by 50 points away and 60 points at home and it appeared that in the first quarter that the trend would continue. The difference must have been some influential “ins” Will Walker struggling with his hamstring all year kicked 6 goals on 1 leg, Ant Folino was influential around the packs and the coolness of Cam Carmeni was notable down back.
In fact, the whole team lifted for this game and whether it was Ben Allen contesting in the ruck, Scotty Ebbott and his hard running all day, Joel Bowditch who again owned the fat wing, Peter Somogyi whose build belies his pace and footy smarts, the boys made it a hard contest all day. The third quarter was special, kicking with the breeze we banged on 5 goals to take an 8-point lead into the final quarter. It turned out to be not quite enough.
The Rovers held the lead until the 24-minute mark when Ajax kicked their second goal for the quarter to take a 3 point lead and managed to hang on for the remaining few minutes. Despite the disappointment of the loss, the boys did the club proud.
The main downside of the day was the big hit skipper Nick Jewel took which led to him being stretchered off and taken to hospital for observation. Good news is that apart from a headache and some stiffness he has reported that he is ok.
Ajax 4.3 7.4 9.5 11.12 78
HR 2.3 5.5 10.7 11.9 75
Best: Johnny Wilson, Will Walker, Joel Bowditch, Scott Ebbott, Peter Somogyi, Ben Allen
Goals: Will Walker 6, Peter Somogyi 2, Andrew Woolston 1, Ryan Leslie 1, Nick Jackson 1
UNDER 19s
The Under 19s were opposed to the section leaders throughout 2024 in the Division 1 Grand Final to start a big day for the club on Sunday. St Bernards were on top all year but their performances against the Rovers had not been that strong. A solid win by them early in the season but we came back as the season progressed to beat them by 5 points at home and then 35 points in the second semi.
The scene was set for a close hard contest at Elsternwick Park. At half time, the margin was 7 points in St Bernard’s favour and we faced a second half without skipper and leading goal kicker Charles Kilburn who was off with concussion. He kicked 7 goals against St Bernards in the second semi – a big loss. At half time, although we were in striking distance the opposition seemed to have our measure. This was despite our luck when Mat Angelico kicked a goal from the square early in the quarter and then seconds later kicked a second courtesy of the free due to the rough house dealt to him by the St Bernards defenders after the first goal!
After the main break, Zac Ziesling took over in the ruck and around the ground in a dominant display. Blake Jenson-Muir who was prominent in the first half kicked a goal in the first minute of the 3rd quarter and we moved into action. Ben Seddon was picking up kicks at will and Kai Carrigan and brother Mason improved as the game progressed. Ben Celantano, in the absence of the skipper provided the target up forward and took a number of strong marks against much opposition. Youngster Oliver Sutherland, while not much of him, was in and under the packs and prominent around the ground all day and put in a great performance.
Zac Ziesling picked up the medal for best on ground and Charles Kilburn did a fine job in his address as skipper after the game despite being concussed!
Coach Paul Carrigan did a fantastic job with the Under 19’s in 2024 and the premiership was a fitting reward for a man who puts so much time and passion into his young charges. A fantastic effort to win the flag in division 1 – the second highest grade of U19’s in the VAFA. With that, comes promotion to Premier in 2025.
Hampton Rovers 10.15 (75)
St Bernards 8.6 (54)
Best Zac Zeisling, Ben Seddon, Kai Carrigan, Stef Somogyi, Blake Jenson-Muir
Goals Blake Jenson-Muir 2, Mat Angelico 2, Ben Celantano 2, Jake Grima 1, Luke Boccari 2, Zac Zeisling 1
