Season 2018 has ended for the Blackwood Football Club in the A Grade and Under 14s after recording defeats in last Saturdays Hills Football League Preliminary Finals. Match summaries below:


A Grade

Kicking up the hill in the first term, the Woods got jumped in the early minutes with the Demons scoring three early majors. With a strong breeze blowing down the ground moving the ball up the slope proved to be difficult in the early parts. Blackwood got two majors in the middle part of the term through Scott Bricknell and Phil Hopton to trail by 22 points at the first break. Coach Damien Salievic urged his players to get the game back on their terms in the second period. “We allowed them into the game with some silly errors. We must continue to push and get the game played our way.”

Switching directions in the second period saw a change in momentum with Blackwood now in control of the match. Blackwood got early goals in the quarter through Hopton and Atkinson to pull the margin back to two majors. With the half back line of Thompson, Waldron and Woods intercepting the the Demons attacks, the Woods were able to play majority of the quarter in their attacking half. When James Catford, Haydn Kenny and Ben Macreadie all kicked majors in the middle part of the term the Woods had hit the lead three points at the main break.

In a game of shifting momentum the Demons once against reversed the momentum in the premiership quarter. The Woods fought hard in the third period but some costly free kicks saw the Demons stamped their authority of the match kicking 5.4 (34) to no score in the term. The Woods were dealt a late blow in the term when key forward Jake Atkinson limped off the ground with a serious looking knee injury after a marking contest on centre wing.

Coach Salievic urged his players to put it all on the line in the last quarter. “The whole place seems to be against us. This is where we dig in, play our game and get the momentum with us.” Moving down the hill in the last quarter the Woods dug deep recording multiple forward 50 entries. Inaccuracy in front of the goals hurt the Woods kicking nine behinds for the term as the Demons locked the game up with plenty of numbers behind the ball. When the final siren blew the Woods trailed by 23 points with the chances of going back-to-back over.

Final scoreboard

Blackwood 2.0 7.2 7.2 7.11 (53)

Uraidla Districts 5.4 6.5 11.0 11.10 (76)

Goal kickers – P. Hopton 2, Atkinson 1, Bricknell 1, Catford 1, Kenny 1, Macreadie 1

Best players – Woods, Macreadie, Anderson, Thompson, Waldron


Under 14s

Coming up against the minor premiers, the Woods fought hard in the early part of the match. With the breeze having an impact on the match, the Woods trailed by 25 points at three quarter time. Having one last quarter to keep their season alive, the young Woods turned it on in the last quarter kicking four goals. Unfortunately the side just fell short trailing by six points when the final siren sounded. It was a great effort by the team to reach the preliminary final after finishing in fourth position on the ladder, the team recorded great finals victories.

Final scoreboard

Blackwood 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.2 (26)

Mt Barker 1.3 2.5 3.7 4.8 (32)

Goal kickers – Byrne 1, Markham 1, Thompson 1, Torode 1

Best players – Byrne, Markham, Salangsang, Hall, Torode

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