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The wee lad on the right has to be a Rafferty – hope he is quicker around the pitch than his big lemon of a da !

Tots

A new experience for all the kids with a mid-week friendly game (instead of our normal training session) was something we would definately do again. The excitement started early with the kids struggling to contain themselves in the club rooms before they stepped out to the ground.

We played extremely well with lots of good passing, forward attacks and shots on goal. A special mention goes to Dion (the substitute goalkeeper) for his fine positioning and great shot stopping in goals. He certainly saved our team on the last line to keep a ‘clean sheet’ for our team.

Some of the things that impressed the coach were:
– the forward interchange passing (players are starting to get into the habbit of looking up and passing forward)
– the defence is working much better with closer marking and pushing up to ensure no gaps between midfield and defence

Interestingly I received a call from the opposition coach the next morning who was very impressed with our system and structure of play. He was specifically trying to find some ‘tips’ around how to make the players ‘pass and move’ the way we did – not planning to reveal my trade secrets given that we might play them in the group stage of the season.

It was good to come back to my old team where I played most of my junior career and win with a very impressive system of play (especially given that kids are still very much learning the game). We had many chances including a cracking shot from Connor in the first minute of the game that hit the cross bar. The most impressive forward play was the long ball given by James to Alex towards the end of the game – more of this sort of play will no doubt result in goals with less running effort. The second goal also raises a mention with close to 5 interchange passes and follow-up movements into position that resulted in a close range shot for goal.

We now look forward to our next friendly with Essendon Royals who together with Green Gully 1 are probably one of the best teams in the western region. This will be a real test for how the kids are coming along. We look forward to the challenge.

This was a great game and significant improvement from last week which shows how more friendly games benefit all the players. We were very good in the backline, strong in the midfield and clinical in the forward line with the chances we had. It was good to see other players have chances to score this week and Nicky using his ‘left foot’ to strick the ball into the net in the second half.

Important to remember that it is irrelevant who scores the goals as they are ‘made by the team’. This is evident in how we celebrate the goals and how the kids congratulate each other when the ball finds the back of the net.

With an overuse of the whiteboard and 4 quarters to contend with I felt more like an AFL coach then an under 9’s coach. More importantly, all the kids followed my instructions well and performed on the ground as needed.

In this away game we found a very friendly bunch of parents, whistle happy referee and wider than usual goals (which should have resulted in more scores on the board except we found a very capable goalkeeper defending his goalmouth). In summary, the North Williamstown primary school braging rights go to Altona City in the local derby.

We now look forward to our next friendly against Yarraville (away game under lights on Wednesday night) which will be a new experience for players and coach alike.