Rd 10 Match Reports:

U16A St Bernard’s 8.12.60 def Spotswood 6.9.45
Goals: Jack Wheeler 2, Andrew Grosso 2, Kieran Farrell, Harry Overman, Jordan Schroder, Mitchell Wallis.
Best: Jack Wheeler, Tom Sullivan, Kieran Farrell, Anthony Kirwan, Andrew Grosso, Matthew Stapleton.
No match report received. This weeks rostered families- Caven, Jones, Kirwan, Madden (Isaac).

U16D St Bernard’s 10.14.74 def Spotswood 7.19.61
Goals: Charles Connelly 2, Luke Larsen 2, Jarrod Bye, Andrew Graham, Liam Jilla, Jake Van Meel, James Weir, Will Sullivan.
Best: Liam Jilla, Luke Larsen, Jarrod Bye, Michael Hughes, Andrew Graham, James Weir.
Well what can one say, a massive turnaround to win a most crucial game. Putting it bluntly we were miserable in the first half. 1) turnovers.  2) not putting bodies on the line.  3) not caring for one another. 4) selfish. 5) lack of respect for all the parents & supporters who come each week to support this wonderful side. 6) lazy.
Our third quarter was not much better but on the sidelines we could see the Spotswood team getting tired. The call came out to RUN, RUN, RUN at ¾ time and that is what you did-you lifted to the next level and gave them a football lesson.
Andrew Graham was brilliant in the last ¼ as was Liam sore foot Utri. Luke Larsen, James Weir, Jarrod Bye, Will Sullivan and  Liam Jilla all lifted in this great last ¼ to score majors. Liam silky skills Jilla was our most consistent player all day.
Now lets put that game behind us and move on. We are equal second now and have a real chance to snare second position outright if we play our next five games in a positive switched on manner.
 As from this Sunday all players MUST be at ground at 1pm. Warm up will be at 1-30 and coaches address at 1-50. We all have to sacrifice a little to gain a lot come finals time
 Mel Beyer 
This weeks rostered families- Dixon, Giansiracusa, Graham, Grech & Horton

U14A  St Bernard’s 14.20.104 vs. Spotswood 2.9.21
It was our best 4 quarter effort for the season as we won our fourth game convincingly. Every player did carry out their specific tasks extremely well and as a group played our best team football possible. Our team discipline proved to be our strength on the day with every player contributing in so many ways. Our middle 6: Max Paoli, Taylor Bisognano, Connor Morgan, Adam Bevanda, Mathew Dickson and Conor Ross are adapting to their new roles and played a great game to help generate lots of supply into the forward line. Our solid back line: Liam Whelan, Jack Holland, James Lynch, Lachlan Jowett, Alex Turner and Seamus Whelan play tight, combine well and are proving hard to get past, they also generate so many attacking rebounds. James Riley’s specific role is proving hard to match up on and is playing well. Our forwards: Jarrod Leary, Tony Plazanic, Thomas Riley, Killian Cashin, John Iannello and Michael Iacobaccio have been combining well up forward over the last 2 weeks playing some really good footy and have been working hard at applying pressure on the opposition.
As each week goes by every player is improving through hard work, although more improvement is possible if we continue to play for each other as a team. We hope to have Nic Quinn and Nic Monarca back this week and Nic Madden and Sam Payne in a few weeks time.
This week we look forward to our next challenge against Williamstown Juniors away. Thanks to the parents that help out at training and on match days, the players appreciate it.            
Best: All 19 St Bernard players that ran over the line last Sunday. Well done guys. 
Goals:  John Iannello 5, Tony Plazanic 4, Taylor Bisognano 2, Max Paoli 1, James Riley 1, Alex Turner 1.
Ian Jowett

U14C St Bernard’s 9.7.61 lost Nth Sunshine 14.12.96
Goals:  Utri 3, Sullivan 2, Saundry 1, Foster 1, Connelly 1, Appleby 1
Best:  Conor Utri, Josh Purcell, Sam Woods, Ed Connelly, Tom Saundry,
Lachlan Appleby, Matt Bergin, Zac O'Halloran, Adrian Smith
It was a big challenge on the weekend. We were up against a side that was physically bigger than us, but I prefer not to use that as an excuse. If we had kicked straight in the opening quarter and taken our chances on goal, we may have put the opposition on the back foot. We had enough use of the ball during the game to convince me that we will challenge them again and give them a run for their money.  In the last quarter we out scored them and showed that we can play good footy even though we are not physically tall, but we have enough leg speed to carry the ball through the lines and use the ball efficiently. Seeing a great tackle made by DP in the last quarter proved to me that tackling is a strong part of our game and we need to start the game in the same vein as DP showed to us all.
 Regards, Peter

U12A St Bernard’s 3.1.19 lost to Spotswood 6.9.45
Best: Sibbald, Wallis, Deleur, Isaacs, Sullivan, Swan, Iermano, Steel, Baker
Goals: Deleur, Tormey, Wallis
Apologies that we missed the full report for round 9. We should acknowledge that Edyn Sibbald and Marcus Deleur were standout players in that game.
Before the report on Round 10, an L I update.
Max Jaggard is out for the season with a broken hand. Whilst this is sad news for Max and the team, the upside is that it has led Coach Damo to declare that the L I epidemic is over. Although Tony Caven could not umpire due to a hamstring injury, this is not a new injury. Liam Bowler returned from a heart complaint. Further proof that L I is dead is that Lachie Sullivan received what appeared to be a season threatening knee injury, but after he had some ice, he returned to the field untroubled. Ice works wonders. Yes the L I epidemic is over.
 Coach Damo had launched a major inquiry into L I. First he rang Des Gleeson to find out how to conduct the inquiry. He then consulted far and wide to determine why the U12A’s as a group were suffering from an L I epidemic. He sought the opinions of medical experts like Dr. Peter Larkins, Paul Lew and Ian Wheeler. He spoke to footballers Nathan Brown, John Coleman and Goose Maguire. He broadened the inquiry consulting Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne, Michael Vaughan, Barbaro, Kirsty Marshall, Douglas Bader, Vain, Alex Zanardi and Mick Doohan. 
 The result. Coach Damo found that it was “just a bad year for leg injuries. It was not anyone’s fault, just bad luck. Deal with it, get over it and as a group we are moving on.”
 And so to todays game. We played another team above us. Actually they all are. Again we tried our best with many boys improving their footy. It is great to see Nick Swan and Ethan Baker playing so well. Callum O’Sullivan, Lucas Adorno and Sam Santoro are growing in confidence. The little blokes like Chris O’Bree, Liam Bowler and Jack Gilmore go where angels fear to tread. The boys on whom we rely each week did not let us down and should be proud of their performances. They are named in the best.
Next week we play Point Cook. We have beaten them once this year and we will do it again.

U12 B  St Bernard’s 5.6.36 lost Werribee Central 9.11.65
Sunday we hosted Werribee Central at the kennel. In what was a tight contest all day Werribee eventually prevailed.
Our boys continue to adapt well to playing against bigger opponents. We had some great passages of play with quick handballs to running players. Some of our leading to space and marking was terrific. Many more of the boys are now prepared to get in and get their hands on the ball first. We have more occasions where we are handling the ball cleanly in pressure situations and not fumbling the ball. Keep the work up at training boys and this will continue to improve.
A number of our taller players are getting much better at giving us a contest at ball-ups and in marking contests around the ground. This brings our smaller ground level players into the play. Werribee had a number of players who were big kicks of the footy and we took a little while to adjust to this with our players who were ‘a kick behind’ play having the ball kicked well over their heads. This reading of the play is something else we can keep working on.
Our defence again did a very good job and across the ground we are getting better at making sure we quickly pick up a player when the opposition wins possession.
We had a little scare right at the end of the game with Campbell McK hitting his head on the ground and having a sore neck.  Campbell has been cleared of any injury, which is terrific.  Well done to Jill (our first aider for the day), Paul Gleeson and attending ambulance staff who were on hand to ensure all precautionary measures were taken.
Goals:  Quade 2, Will B, Nick C, Unknown (you know who you are) all 1 each
Best:      Ben R, Quade, Jack G, Anthony E, Tom D, Declan G, Joel C                   Round-up by Kelpie Dogg    

U12D St Bernard’s 6.4.40 def Spotswood 5.5.35
Goals: Thomas Noonan 3, Tom Monaghan 1, Ambroise Attard 1, Michael Diamandis 1,
Best: Thomas Noonan, Ambroise Attard, Liam Collins, Michael Diamandis, Hugh McLaughlin, James Kenny, Daniel Vella, Alex Tsmbardas
Another hard fought match, another tall side, another close game, another away game without the coffee cart!
Last time we met Spotswood in Rd 3 at home we lead for the majority of the game, in the last minute of the 4th quarter Spotswood kicked a goal to win by lost 3pts, on this occasion we turned the tables with Spotty kicking a goal with 2 minutes to go, and with less than a minute left the ball was brought back for a centre bounce terrific tap out by Luke Conway Wood which Lachlan Perryman picked up and pumped the ball deep into our forward line Thomas Noonan ran and picked up the loose ball and kicked it on the run which the resulted in a goal that won us this hard fought game. It was absolutely sensational to see the relief from all of our supporters…not to mention the coaching staff to hear the siren and game over!! 
It was pleasing to see further development and confidence shown by a number of players especially from James Kenny, Daniel Vella, Michael Smith, Bailey Packham, Jack Stephens, Luke Conway Wood, and Thomas Grech, these boys are contributing enormously each week. Keep up the good work! Our back line was under pressure during the game by a very tall side especially in the last quarter and as always did not let the team down, well done to Liam Grech, Christopher Williams, Hugh McLaughlin, Matthew Bell, Matthew Caterall and Alex Tsmbardas.
Overall it was another great TEAM effort. From the last two games we have played I can honestly say it makes me proud to have someone from the opposition team’s come up and say “how well the boys are playing as a TEAM”, and “they run hard for the ball” all the things that we are doing at training are paying off. It was pleasing to hear these comments from people not within our club, credit needs to go to all the boys!  Our match day helpers, parents, supporters, thank you.
A special mention to Christine Collins (Liam Collins mum and our first aid volunteer) we are looking into a GPS tracking system for Christine, similar to the ones the AFL players wear, she spends more time attending to the kids injuries on the playing field than watching the game. Especially in the third quarter our bench resembled an episode of M.A.S.H!  Thank you nurse Christine.
Captains: Hugh McLaughlin and Michael Diamandis both played true Captains game led by example. Well-done boys!
Next weeks game is against Williamstown Juniors @ home another challenge for the boys!

U10 Red  St Bernard's 5-10-40 defeated Spotswood 5-4-34
Goals: Henry J 2, Luke B 1, Marcus B 1, James B 1
Today we hosted a spirited and skillful Spotswood team, and after having 90% of the play in the first quarter we had only points to show on the scoreboard. The second quarter we got a real fright as the opposition attacked us with everything. Charles B, captain for the day, was giving us great drive in the middle, Luke B has a great engine and slotted a really classy and well needed goal in the second quarter, Jordy F was once again doing the hard in and under work.
The third quarter the team was asked for the 1% plays and lift our intensity at the ball. Jack T stood up and his quick kicks into attack and his ability to win the contested ball set up 2 goals for Henry J, Marcus B is becoming quite a goal sneak and a great goal in the third term and his efforts in the final term to keep us going forward were special. Nathan B, Lachy C, Dylan G and James G were keeping things tight down back with some dash out of defence.
The last quarter was a nail bitter, Jordy M played an excellent sweeping role across half back, and his kicking to position was outstanding, Lachy B after a quite first half became a real focal point across half forward and his long kick to the G-Train James B resulted in a well deserved team goal. Other fine efforts were from Luke H, Aidan B, and Jyle F.
Top effort from the team today, we showed great character to come from behind, the team kept there heads up all day and showed tremendous persistence to do all the hard things. PLEASE NOTE TIME AND LOCATION CHANGE FOR THIS WEEK.
Cheers, Matthew Beddoe

U9 Red St Bernard’s - St Bernards vs Spotswood
What a fantastic team effort! After a slow start the boys found their straps in the 2nd quarter. The boys were playing individual games but when they finally decided to play as a team the results started to show.
Matthew S played a tremendous captains game and led by example with great marking, tackling and three goals. Sensational game by Angus, Christian, Jake and Luke. Fantastic to see the boys when at the bottom of a pack trying to punch the ball forward.
Yet again the opposition thought our boys heads was the ball but to  the credit of our kids they played hard and fair at the ball. The St Johns boys lifted a lot with the appearance of one of the grade three teachers for a look at the game which gets spoken about after each week. A good and satisfying win. Keep up the team effort boys!!
Due to the number of boys in our team (23) we are faced with the dilemma of the interchange bench each week. I informed all parents at the start of the season that if the boys did not train on the Friday they would be on the bench on the Sunday. We are trying to make it as fair as possible. But all the boys need to have their turn on the bench.
Bruce

U9 White St Bernard’s 3.5.23   Flemington 3.4.22
Best:  Myles G, Marcus H, Domenic P, Joshua S, Jordan C, Daniel T
Goals: Lachlan S 2, Jordan C 1
Against a very talented and running opposition side, and coach, our boys played a very entertaining style of football. A willingness to share the ball, look after the ball carrier with shepherding and talking allowed us to play a free flowing style. Myles, Marcus and Nick D all started the game well and gave our forwards great opportunities. Lachlan S made the most of these at full forward kicking two stunning first quarter goals. Assisting him were Domenic and Darcy getting some hard fought contested ball. Great work all day from our Captain Daniel. Tackling and smothering the opposition when they looked dangerous. Liam took some fine marks while Grant, Connor, Oliver and Stephen had a strong team involvement. Staying in their positions, Lewis, Ryan, Nick V, and Anthony helped Fabian and Lachlan G up forward creating scoring opportunities. Finally a last quarter goal from Jordan, after brilliant team play in the midfield from Marcus, Myles and Nick D, sealed the match.
Footnote: Someone has Domenic’s jacket which has his name on it and he has one without a name. Could parents please conduct a jacket check for a Friday training swap!