Tag: Sandringham Dragons

‘Team first’ mentality steering girls forward

Written by Jarryd Barca

The Calder Cannons Under 18 Girls have won three matches in as many weeks to kick-off their 2019 NAB League campaign in superb fashion.

The first-round 27-point win over the Western Jets was backed up by an eye-capturing 58-point win over the GWV Rebels at MARS Stadium in Round 2 – where rising star Georgie Prespakis booted seven goals.

But the come-from-behind win against the Sandringham Dragons on Saturday means the Cannons remain one of three undefeated teams in the early stages of the year, sitting just behind the top-of-the-table Geelong Falcons on percentage.

Girls manager Russell Humphrey puts the strong start down to an even contribution from the whole team. 

“Everyone is working really well together, all of the girls are really buying in and understanding their roles and because of that the results are looking after itself,” he said.

Sandringham kicked the only goal of the first half in tough conditions on the weekend, before the Cannons put through four majors – three of which coming in the final stanza. 

“In the first half on the weekend we went away from that ‘playing as a team’ style but the second half we were sharing it better and the players were definitely doing better things,” Humphrey said. 

“I’ve just been really impressed with the whole team effort. Everyone is doing something on every game day and contributing to the results that we’re seeing. 

“In particular, we’ve seen very consistent performances over the weeks from Emelia Yassir, Krstel Petrevski, Georgie Prespakis and Laura Cocomello.”

Head coach Paul Tilley said while he’s impressed with the fast start in 2019, it doesn’t surprise him. 

Calder won just two games in 2018 in Tilley’s first season at the helm. 

“About three games into last season we probably weren’t where we wanted to be, so we took everything back to basics,” Tilley told nableague.com.au.  

“We worked hard on teaching the players the basics in terms of skills and knowledge of the game, and I think that was reflected in the last few games of 2018.

“This season has just been a carry-on from that.

“We were lacklustre early (against Sandringham), but the girls realised that if they wanted to win the game, they had to start doing what they knew and sticking to the game plan – which they did.

“We had players like our captain Georgia Patrikios, Georgie Prespakis and Gloria Elarmaly who took the game into their hands and that’s where it started. Krstel Petrevski was a great performer again for us and then you had girls like Laura Cocomello, Felicity Theodore and Emelia Yassir, but the game was won across the board with all of them putting in an even performance.”

The girls will look to make it four wins on the trot when they host the seventh-placed Oakleigh Chargers at Highgate Recreation Reserve this Sunday. 

Despite winning just one match from three attempts, the Chargers have recorded the fourth highest points as a total aggregate in the competition. 

“We’re really looking forward to another challenge, they’re a quality side and we know we have to start a lot better than our last game against Sandringham. We can’t start slowly,” Humphrey said.J

Tough start for Cannons

U18 Boys Match Report – Round 1

Written by Jarryd Barca

The Calder Cannons Under 18 Boys went down to a strong Sandringham Dragons side in Round 1 of the NAB League season. 

The Dragons looked a superior outfit from the get-go at RSEA Park, booting the first nine and final 10 goals of the game and flexing their muscles to record a 19.13 (127) to 1.12 (18) victory. 

Cannons gun Sam Ramsay showed his class in the defeat, converting the first and only goal for the away side in the third term among his 19 disposals. 

The hard-running wingman also laid four tackles in the side’s lowly tackle count of 27 for the match. 

Key defender Brodie Newman showed resilience in defence and displayed the very attributes that made him this season’s captain, topping the team for disposals (24), marks (nine) and rebound 50s (six). 

Tye Browning and Daniel Mott can also both hold their heads high collecting 19 disposals each and showing glimpses of footy that will excite Cannons fans over the course of the season, while the left-footed Curtis Brown showed plenty of promise across half-back. 

Cannons midfield coach Brett Gourley said it’s important for the players to remain positive despite the heavy loss. 

“Obviously (it’s) a really disappointing result but we have to take it with a grain of salt,” he said post game.

“It’s Round 1, we know that Sandy is going to be a really good team this year so although it’s disappointing there are going to be some positives for us to take out of the game.”

Sandringham collected 57 more disposals and 18 more inside 50s than Calder in the commanding result, but spirits never wavered.  

“During the game you’ve got to continue to reinforce what we’re all about as a team, as a club and as individuals as well, we’ve got to make sure that we keep them positive otherwise these results keep happening,” Gourley said.  

“I think it’s important to focus on what we’re about as a team, the things that we’ve been talking about as a group and focussed on over the course of the pre-season, not so much the result.

“We know that this competition is not necessarily all about the results so what we want to do is try and focus on the things that we know are going to hold us in good stead come next week.” 

Trailing by 33 points at quarter time, the Cannons defence tightened up in the second term to allow the Dragons just three majors. 

The Cannons weren’t without their chances either recording three behinds for the quarter in an inaccurate display. 

“I thought there were some really good individual performances down back, obviously there was a lot of ball down there so Brodie Newman did some really good work I thought,” Gourley said.

“At times we moved the ball really well, I don’t feel like we ever gave up, obviously goal-scoring accuracy has got to be something that we improve on a little bit but we had opportunities to move it forward, their pressure was just too good around the footy.

“I don’t see too much changing in training, we’ll lift the intensity probably and just make sure that we come with the right attitude and be really positive this week heading into the Oakleigh game.”

The result puts the Cannons momentarily on the bottom of the ladder, but they’ll gear up and look to bounce back this Sunday against the Oakleigh Chargers at Highgate Recreation Reserve. J