U16s football
The Busselton Magpies 16s completed an undefeated first round of the season on Saturday, notching up an eight goal win over South Bunbury.
Early on it was a tight tussle as both teams tried to put their stamp on the game. While Busselton got off to a reasonable start due to the ruck work of Brayden Hoskins, the defensive efforts of Sam Hegney and two goals to Daniel Heatley, South Bunbury was well and truly in the game at quarter time, just 15 points adrift.
Urged by coach Peter Plozza to work hard, help each other out with more shepherds and get more run happening, the Magpies came out and did enough damage in the second quarter to sew up the game.
With six unanswered goals, three of which were slotted home by Kody Montgomery, they pushed the lead out to 57 points at the half.
Hoskins put in another dominant quarter and Ash Conroy and Noah Moore were disciplined in their defensive efforts to consistently deny South Bunbury any opportunity to push forward.
In the second half South Bunbury managed to outscore Busselton, pegging the lead back from 57 to 53 points as the run dried up for the Magpies.
Daniel Glover, Kayde Baker and Zac Davies all worked hard to keep Souths from really getting back into the game, but with several other key players missing from the side due to injuries, the usual strong finish from the Pies was lacking.
The team will travel this weekend to take on HBL Gold and hopefully continue with the form that has seen them to the top of the ladder at this stage.
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The trip to Collie resulted in another win for the Busselton Magpies 16s on Saturday giving them the perfect start to the season going into the break for the long weekend.
With six wins from six outings and having met all other teams in the competition with the exception of third-placed South Bunbury, the Magpies are sitting comfortably at the top of the ladder.
It was another solid performance and genuine team effort from Busselton against Collie as the boys recorded a 13-goal win. During the presentation of the awards after the game coach Peter Plozza praised the team focus and their willingness to help each other out.
For his determined attack on the football and his desire to get in and under at every contest, young Zac Davies was presented with the award for best on ground.
His efforts were complemented by those of Brody Plozza with his consistent ball-gathering and follow up shepherds for his team mates, Dylan Barrass with a good performance in the ruck, including strong marking and using his solid frame to charge through his opponents, and also Tony Gray. Gray's exceptional start to the season has continued as he again provided a dominant target at centre half forward and gave his assistance all over the ground.
After a scrappy and error-laden start to the game, the team slowly worked back to their consistent best with Danny Glover and Kit Bradley leading the way in their usual steady and solid fashion, ably assisted by the "hard at it" duo Oliver Ryan and Kurt Davis. By the quarter time break Busselton had established a four goal lead.
While Collie tried valiantly to move the ball forward and make an attack on goal, they were regularly thwarted by the efforts of Sam Hegney and Ash Conroy. Although struggling to score, Collie did a good enough job of making goals hard to come by for Busselton, with only six on the board at half time.
The game really opened up for the Pies in the third quarter where they piled on seven unanswered goals, the highlight being an on the run intercept from the kick in after a point by Jake Andersson. Andersson didn't miss a beat as he took the ball on the chest and slotted it straight back through the big sticks.
Busselton scored 13 goals for the game, with 11 players getting their name on the board. Brayden Hoskins and Liam Northover were the multiple goal scorers with two each for the day. A well earned rest for the boys this weekend will see them eager to get back into the season the following week.
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Busselton Magpies 16s took the opportunity with a late Saturday afternoon fixture at home at Bovell on the weekend to rally the troops and get as many people as possible out to the game. The fans that turned out weren’t disappointed with a solid display of football from the boys netting them another 15 goal win, followed up by presentations at the club.
A change up to the line up that hit the ground caught the Magpies a little off guard and flat footed, with their opposition the Cardinals getting off to the better start with the first two scoring shots of the game for a 7 point lead. Despite the fact that it took Busselton a little while to get it together they hit their straps and started to take control of the game due to some creative work in the forward line from Jordan Ayres and some good clearances by Kurt Davis.
Tony Gray was again a dominant figure in the Magpies line-up, backing up his recent form with another stellar performance, which included a goal in the first quarter, and Noah Moore and Brody Plozza also stood out for the Pies early. Taking a five goal lead into the first break, the Magpies were urged to straighten up and go direct in the remainder of the game.
The second quarter started in the same fashion with an early goal to Kit Bradley and Danny Glover’s tackling and attack on the ball being stand out features. During the quarter Kody Montgomery and Dylan Barrass worked their way into the game and provided some good passages of play while Brayden Hoskins became the man to hit at full forward as suddenly the direct option started to pay dividends. This was also due to Anthony Clarke being the go-to man out of defence and pumping the Magpies forward. Busselton extended their lead to 11 goals by half-time.
Cardinals got off to a good start in the third quarter, but again, Busselton worked back on top with the likes of Ash Conroy and Zac Davies putting in all over the ground. Conroy continued to play an impressive brand of football in the last quarter positioning himself for the quick hand ball receive or long kicking option time and time again. This resulted in him being named in the list of award winners at the end of the game, which also saw recognition for the efforts of Ayres, Bradley, Clarke and best on ground Gray.
On Saturday the Magpies will travel for a clash against Collie on Saturday afternoon.
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14/5/2011
The Busselton Magpies U16s football team put in another dominant performance on the weekend with a 20 goal win over Carey Park. Despite the big margin, there were patches of the game in the first half where the Magpies were far from at their best.
On a small ground at Bunbury Catholic College, the ruckman who gave his team first use of the ball was critical, and this was often going Carey Park's way. However, the Mapgpies' backmen held firm and didn't allow any easy score to Carey Park.
The first half yielded 9 goals for the Magpies and some swirly windy conditions also contributed to the tally of 19 points. Carey Park had managed two goals.
Danny Glover, Oliver Ryan and Kayde Baker had worked hard and delivered outcomes throughout the first half, but coach Peter Plozza called on the team to be less wasteful and more team-focussed by using the handball more in the second half. He also urged more accurate kicking at goal.
The Magpies put on a much better display of team footy in the second half with every player drawing praise for their contribution to the team's effort. The backmen had less to do but easily repelled the few forward surges from Carey Park as the Busselton midfield started to really get on top and the forwards played very defensive football to keep the ball in their forward half for the majority of the third quarter. The efforts of Kit Bradley and Tony Gray were notable in this regard.
A highlight of the last quarter was the mark of the day by Glover, which he converted for a goal towards the final tally of 24.33. This week, the Magpies are back home at Bovell for a 5pm game on Saturday against Cardinals.
