Round 4: Hills still can't break duck

Panton Hill: 7.10-52
Parkside: 14.7-91

Goal Kickers: D. Butler 3, P. Davey 2, J. Ballock, R. Woods
Best Players: S. Huf, B. Strongman, N. Grimshaw, G. Mc Auliffe, T. Power, W. Box

After a superb week on the training track the boys had really set themselves for their first win of season 2008. Parkside won the toss and elected to kick with the five goal wind, so the four goal deficit at quarter time wasn’t overly concerning. Unfortunately Panton Hill weren’t able to capitalize when they had the advantage in the second term – Parkside were much more effective into the breeze and two goals apiece for the quarter saw them maintain the four goal buffer at half time.

Parkside broke away in the third quarter. Despite plenty of hard work and some good passages of play by the Redbacks, six majors to our one saw the lead blow out by three quarter time. With the wind behind us for the last 30 minutes there was still a hint of optimism and certainly the ball spent a majority of the quarter in our forward half. Unfortunately the damage had already been done and an inaccurate 4.5 (to 2.0) never had us within striking distance – the final margin an unflattering 39 points.

Still, there were some positive signs for the Hill’s to take into next weeks clash. Huffy was back to his best; running hard and picking up plenty of possessions all day, as did ever reliable captain Strongy. Grimmy seems to be enjoying his new role and was very impressive up and down the wing all afternoon. ‘Max’ Power in just his second senior game is really making name for himself and did a magnificent job running with one of Parkside’s best players most of the day, but certainly got his fair share of the ball in the meantime.

Overall a disappointing afternoon for Panton Hill, but another solid week of training and the boys will be pumped to break their duck against Heidelberg West.


RESERVES PERFORMANCE BITTERLY DISAPPOINTING

Parkside: 14.14-98
Panton Hill: 5.2-32

Goal Kickers: D. Belcher 2, B. Hathaway, M. Paterson, C. Tanti
Best Players: G. Wise, C. Tanti, L. Walsh, A. Miller, B. Hathaway, A. Flanagan

Saturday’s match had been spoken about throughout the week as an opportunity for the reserves team to prove that they are not simply making up the numbers in the competition. The playing lists are relatively evenly matched on paper, the match was to be a real arm wrestle. During the early part of the game, this appeared to be the case.

A couple of quick goals to Daniel Belcher gave the Hills some confidence that they could be competitive, and this was reflected by a second quarter that was played out mostly in the middle of the ground, as genuine scoring opportunities became a rarity. Parkside broke through very easily soon after the main break and the Redback players seemed to immediately drop their heads. Needless to say Parkside ran away with a painfully easy win.

Chris Tanti continued to show improvement and worked tirelessly in the ruck, whilst Grenville Wise was again best on ground, showing courage and hard work playing on the ball. Congratulations to first-gamer Blair Hathaway, who saw a lot of the ball, and kicked a goal to be one of few solid contributors on the day, along with Lucas Walsh, Andy Miller and Allan Flanagan.

Reserves Coach John Manzoney was clearly upset by his team’s performance and had little to say after the game, other than the fact that he was ‘shattered.’ This sentiment was no doubt shared by the players who were very quiet in the rooms after the game, no doubt searching for answers as to how the game got away from them so easily. The Hills will be looking to correct their mistakes against Heidelberg West (away) on Saturday.