U10 Mixed Match Report

Round 1

We kicked off Round 1 under 10’s footy playing in sunny conditions at home versus The Basin Bears. The team were pumped to use our brand new change rooms and ready to get stuck into the game after 5 weeks of pre-season training. Levi T was our captain for the game and we also welcomed Keagan who played his first game of footy. 

It was also the first time our kids have played using the full ground at Bayswater oval. We noticed that some players are following the ball around the ground, rather than stick to the area that they are positioned. We will train the kids to be mindful where they are positioning themselves and to avoid “ball chasing”. They will become better accustomed to the different positions on the bigger ground, and will learn to get more touches of the footy when they hold their positions. 

The Bears got off to a strong start in the first two quarters, and we were unlucky in the 2nd quarter not to get some rewards and hit the scoreboard. The team has impressed us with their tackling and pressure applied to the contest. Shepherding is still a work in progress and we will work on this in training to make space for our teammates. 

Our Kangaroos outplayed their opposition in the 2nd half and we continued our trend from last week, with the 3rd quarters being our strongest. Levi T and Caleb kicked us off with goals in the 3rd quarter and Wes took some great grabs as our full-forward and kicked a 4th quarter goal. 

Ben and Jasper were dominant in the midfield, winning plenty of tough contents, and Ved getting some important touches of the footy in the last quarter. 

The game was played in the right spirit and was an enjoyable game to watch. 

Go Kangas

Round 2

Wet and soggy conditions greeted us for our round 2 match versus Blackburn. Our captains for the game were our first year players, Keagan and Pep, who led their team out for the game and tossed the car key (we were missing a coin at the time). 

It was a tough game as Blackburn were a strong team but we bravely fought through the wintery conditions, some kids frozen to the spot. The game was played with a lot of pressure in the contest with the slippery ball making it hard to get clean possession. Hamish led the way with lots of running and getting plenty of the ball. As the game wore on, we noticed an improvement in tackling with Heath and Dallas getting rewarded for their efforts. 

As a team we need to work on some of the basics like running to make an option to receive the ball as well as disposing of the ball before giving a chance for the opposition to tackle us. In under 8’s and 9’s we may have been able to run around opposition with ease, now we have to pick our moments to get a big kick towards our goals or risk getting a holding the ball decision. 

My message to the kids after the game was that we have to take the good with the bad. It was a tough game, tough conditions and umpire decisions on tackling made it hard as well, but this is the ups and downs of sport and we pick ourselves up and go again. I was proud of their efforts and we look forward to coming together again at training on Friday. 

Go Kangas! 

Shaun

Round 3

Round 3 saw us travel to Ringwood North and it was a beautiful morning for kids footy. Before the game we had the chance to honour the Anzacs with a service followed by a moment’s silence. The kids lined up and were very respectful of the moment, which was a nice tribute to our past and current service men and women.  

Our captains for the day were Emmalee and Dallas who led our team out of the changeroom and on to the ground. The Saints were a very polished team and moved the ball quickly to their forwards. My message to the kids is that we are facing strong opposition most weeks but we have to keep playing positive team football and look for improvement in our game. We will keep working on plays where we have the ball and need to run to make an option to pass to a teammate. “Concrete feet” or standing still makes it easy for the opposition, we need to get moving and run to open space. 

We saved our best for the last quarter with our two scoring opportunities coming late in the game, and Josh kicking a goal from a set shot after marking a kick from Levi T. It was a great reward for the team and injected some high fives and smiles. 

Jasper played very well and had some important touches of the footy. Our newest member, Jimmy, played a great first game in the Bayswater colours. Caleb was awarded the Anzac medal by the opposition coach which was well deserved with some great marks around the ground. 

Next week we play back at Bayswater for the first time since round 1, and look forward to getting some players back. 

Go Kangas!

Round 4

Round 4 saw us take on the Ringwood Redbacks at our home ground. We were lucky to play in sunny Melbourne conditions which was perfect for playing junior footy after the dew cleared from the grass. Our captains for the day (Ben and Archer) may have lost the toss, but led magnificently from the start of the game.  

It was great to see the team get off to a strong start in the first quarter. We saw some great passages of play, with ball the moving from the back line to our scoring end of the ground without the opposition touching the ball. Jacob kicked us off with the first goal for the game and quickly followed by some nice goals by Levi F, Caleb, Josh, Wes and Levi T.  

Our defenders played their roles perfectly by restricting the opposition to 1 point for the game. It was awesome to see the kids smiling, celebrating their goals and enjoying playing team football. It was our best game for the year after recent games showing signs of improvement in areas of the game such as tackling, clearing the contest running the ball and some very nice marks around the ground.  

My message to the kids was to enjoy the games, keep improving at training and building on their confidence. Thank you to our supporters who cheered us on. Well done Kangas!

Round 5

Round 5 saw the mighty Bayswater Kangaroos travel to face the kids in purple, Vermont, who were a strong opposition. Anmar and Levi were the captains who led us out on to the good sized oval for under 10’s footy.  The team was amazing in the 1st quarter, stopping countless goal scoring opportunities for Vermont. While the footy stayed in their forward half for most of the first quarter, the team didn’t give up a goal until the 2nd quarter.

We saved our best quarter after the half time break and matched it with the opposition, taking control of the footy for the whole quarter but desperately unlucky when scoring 4 points and no goals. Archer and Ben took some great marks inside the forward line and narrowly missing the shots on goal.

The last quarter the Eagles took control, but what an effort from the Kangaroos showing really promising passages of team football. While no goals were kicked, I think the kids are seeing the signs of improvement throughout the season and matching it with our more fancied opposition. I look forward to playing these teams a second time to mark the difference.

Well done to Emmalee who picked up the players award from the home side, which was a good reward for Emmalee who had some important touches of the footy in the last quarter

Round 6

Round 6 we were back home to play the Mitcham Tigers on Mother’s Day. I hope all of the mothers enjoyed their special day and thank you for giving up an early start to watch the kids take the field. 

Our captains for the day were Jasper and Claire, who won the toss and kicked to the sunny side of the field. It was great to have Claire playing after a 4 week injury absence, and I think she enjoyed wearing the Baysie jumper again. 

The team got off to an energetic start with a high standard of footy in the first 2 quarters, moving from the back line to our scoring end of the ground with the opposition barely touching the ball at times. 

We encourage the kids to go for a run with the ball if in space, and we saw some confident running passages of play from Brodie, Anmar, Levi F and Hamish.  

What stood out the most about this game compared to previous games was the pressure that we applied to the opposition when they had the ball, causing turnovers. It looks like we are getting the handle on effective tackles, looking to wrap up the opposition player’s arms and getting more holding the ball free kicks from the umpires. 

The team kicked 5 goals for the game and it was great to see the team celebrate the goals. The kids put on a show for the mums and it was a fun start to the day. 

Looking forward to training, I would like to see the kids ready to train at 6:00pm to get the most out of training as a team. The last couple of weeks we have started training at 6pm with only 6-7 kids and then normal numbers around the 6:15pm mark. I know there are distractions on a busy oval with the return of Auskickers, but we set up on the far side of the ground about 5:45pm and encourage the kids to come early to work on their skills.

Round 7

We are now half way through the season already at round 7 where we faced The Basin Bears at home for the 2nd time this season. Our captains were Anmar and Caleb who got us off to a great start by winning the toss of the coin.  

We played so well compared to our first game earlier in the season against the Bears. We applied pressure to the opposition with effective tackles and getting our hands dirty, first to the ball. Fred showed some impressive skills getting important marks and Emily played a great game as well. Hamish adding run and carry with the ball and also playing the role of the ‘goalkeeper’ stopping goals on the goal line. 

Our numbers were low for the match with only 15 players, but the Bears graciously allowed 2 of their spare players to join our team to help even up the numbers. 

Some areas of improvement include picking the wet ball off the ground (not falling over or trying to kick the ball off the ground) and not crowding the contest with too many players in our forward line. 

We kicked 2 goals for the game and were neck and neck until the last quarter where the Bears kicked the last 2 goals of the game. A lot to be proud of and was a good measure to mark the improvement in the season. Well done Kangas.

Round 8

Round 8 we played Ringwood for the second time this year, on a wet and soggy start to the day. Our captains for the day were Jacob and Hamish who both led brilliantly and had important touches of the footy.  

I think the team has saved some of their best footy for the wet conditions, and to start the game with 3 goals in the first 5 minutes was a great start. We played a high standard of pressure football getting free kicks from effective tackles. We asked the kids to make the effort to get their hands dirty picking up the ball first and avoid kicking the footy off the ground. 

As the game wore on Ringwood lifted in the contest, but we were good enough to hold a comfortable margin for the rest of the game. Our goal kickers for the day were Fitzy, Caleb, Tronno (new nickname for Levi T, yet to catch though) and Wes, who all helped finish off the brilliant team work. 

A big thank you to Tommy and Robert from the under 9’s, fresh from slogging it out in the game earlier, they stepped in to our team to help out with our playing numbers. They didn’t look out of place at all and represented the under 9’s brilliantly. 

It was disappointing that the kids had to face some poor on field behaviour and sportsmanship from one opposition player in particular, which has been raised with the club in our end of match report.  

I’m proud of the way the way our kids play footy in the right spirit and support one another on the field. We sung the song with gusto and the kids deserved to feel good about themselves.  

Well done Kangas. 

Round 9

Round 9 we played Blackburn for our second clash for the season. Our captains for the game were Wes and Fred who won the toss of the coin to get us off on the right start. 

The kids were asked to move the ball quickly to space and not delay kicking the ball when taking a mark or getting a free kick. Our tackling and pressure on the opposition ball carrier has improved throughout the year and the kids put in a fantastic effort throughout the team. 

It was great to see Pep get some contested touches of the footy. Jimmy also attacked the contest and was found in the middle of the pack many times fighting for the ball. 

Blackburn were tough opponents and we battled hard for 4 quarters. We had some flat kids with a bit of sickness in the group throughout the week. The message for the team was to keep their heads up and play with effort for the entire game, which was a credit to the kids.  

Well done Kangas.

Round 10

Round 10 the kids were pumped to play again after last week’s break, and it was great to see Archer back in the mix with his return from injury. Our captains for the game were Brodie and Josh, who showed their opposing captain the fine art of Rock-Paper-Scissors, getting Bayswater off to a winning start.

We got off to a cracking start in the very first minute, with Wes kicking the first and adding to his tally in the 2nd quarter. Dallas and Heath shared the ruck duties for the match and both impressed with their ruck-taps and tackling efforts. Emma-lee showed spirit in the contest and Fred contributed with some nice marking skills.

We asked the kids to play with their heads up for the whole game, with a focus on finishing strong – as Levi Fitzpatrick mentioned at half-time “It’s not how you start the game, but how you finish”. We saved our best for the last quarter with Jasper and Ben providing a needed lift for the team. Caleb neatly kicked some last quarter goals to draw us pretty close to Mitcham by the end of the game.

We will keep working on supporting each other in the contest by shepherding and more effective tackles. Effective “bear-hug” tackles will get rewarded by the umpire, whereas the jumper tugs rarely get the job done. At training, we will also go back to some basics regarding kicking from free kicks/marks and kicking out of full-back, as some of our kicks were smothered or we took too long to make a decision.
It was a great morning for footy, played in the right spirt and now looking forward to pizza night for the kids on Friday.

Well done Kangas.
Shaun

Round 11

Round 11 footy we travelled down the highway to face The Basin Bears, for our third clash this season. The arctic conditions made it very hard (for parents) but the kids had no problems at all, getting off to a great start kicking a goal in the first minute.  

Our captains for the day were Heath and Jimmy, who took their turns with inspirational plays at different ends of the ground. Jasper showed spirit in the contest and Levi Fitz played a leading role in the midfield. Brodie and Levi T both provided plenty of spark in the forward line, each kicking two goals. 

It was a very enjoyable game to watch with the ball moving between both ends of the ground and our players showing a much improved effort in tackling and contesting the footy compared to last week. We dominated possession of the ball in the last quarter, but not taking the most of our many opportunities to kick a goal. 

We will use our next training session to go through kick-in strategy after points from our opposition, to help clear the ball safely and avoid giving up easy goals to the opposition. 

With the final 3 games in the season we look forward to everyone getting back and available after term holidays, so to finish the season strongly. 

Have a great school holiday break and see you back at training on Friday 7th July. 

Shaun 

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