The Blackwood Football Club recorded its tenth straight victory over the Mt Lofty Devils in a scrappy 23 point victory at Arkaba Oval during Round 8 of the Mortgage Choice Hills Football League. The streak of victories against the Devils extends back to Round 10 of 2012 and now is the equal second longest winning streak against any team for the Woods since 2006.
Coming into the match the Woods handed Bailey Badcoe and Jak Baldissera debuts, the eighth and ninth players to make their A Grade debuts for the Woods in 2018. The reigning premiers also recalled Matt Tuck to the line up. For the Devils, Hayden Kanisauskas returned to the line up whilst current Under 18s player Max Bawden was handed his A Grade debut.
After being told to kick up the steepest slope in the Hills Football League in the first quarter, the Devils made a great start kicking three majors inside the opening 10 minutes. The first goal came through star midfielder Sam Miles after four minutes through a long conversion after some exceptional pressure across the half forward line. Catching past mail-medalist Troy Edwards holding the ball in the eighth minute, Sam Miles was able to get his second goal of the match. When Devils recruit Michael Pope snapped a goal in the 10th minute the Devils were leading by 19 points and in complete control of the game with the inside 50 count, 11 to 1. The Woods were able to work their way into the match at the end of the quarter with goals to Jake Atkinson and Phil Hopton drawing the margin back to 10 points at the first break.
Blackwood coach Damien Salievic red the riot act at the first break being very disappointed at the performance of the Woods in the first quarter. “We got our pants pulled down around the contest. Our forward pressure was non-existant. We need to lift and start playing the game our way.”
The Devils made a good start once again in the second quarter pushing the ball forward in the early minutes. With the Blackwood defence holding strong, they were able to turn the ball forward and start to push the ball forward on a more regular occasion. With Jacob McCarthy sent to qwell the influence of star Devils player Sam Miles the reigning premiers were able to pull their way into the match. Blackwood got its third goal through Ben Macreadie after he received a free kick when Henry Pope crashed the marking contest.
Some clever work from Scott Bricknell and Matt Tuck saw two more goals kicked for the Woods to close the margin to six points at the half time break. Despite having less scoring shots for the term, the Woods were able to take the most of their chances in front of the goals, winning the quarter by four points.
Coming back after the half time has been a strength of the Woods so far in 2018 winning 85.7% of third quarters. The trend continued in Round 8 with the Woods being the better team in the premiership quarter kicking three goals to none. Scoring came about slowly in the first 10 minutes with both sides locking down in defence. It took until the 10th minute of the quarter when Jacob McCarthy was able to slot a goal from the top of the square. When Phil Hopton kicked his second goal three minutes later, the Woods had finally hit the lead. Controlling the ball from the midfield the Woods were able to get some momentum in their play. A late goal to key forward Jake Atkinson saw the Woods extend their lead to 13 points at the final break.
Urging his players to run out the last quarter before the bye, Damien Salievic delivered another stern message to his players. The message seemed to get through as Blackwood locked down the run of their Devil opponents controlling the ball in the last quarter recording 13 to 6 inside 50s. Despite having double the inside 50s the matched turned into a bit of a scrappy affair with only one goal scored. It came about 21 minutes into the last quarter when Phil Hopton kicked his third major. When the final siren sounded, the Woods lead by 23 points recording their sixth victory of 2018 and their tenth in a row over the Devils.
Whilst the Devils were competitive in the match, the Woods were able to show their class in the second half limiting the Devils to only three-second half scoring shots. Before the match that was the difference between the sides (Devils concede 8.4 shots more per game) and it proved to be the case once again with the Woods having eight more shots for the game.
After the match Blackwood coach Damien Salievic was happy to get away from the match with a victory. “Whilst we didn’t play our best football today, we found a way to win which was pleasing to see.”
“To be six-and-two at the first bye is a credit to all the players. We still have plenty of improvement in us. We must now rest-and-recover in the week off and continue to build momentum through the middle part of the season.”
For the Woods, Scott Bricknell was named best player for his dominate game across the midfield whilst Troy Edwards, Phil Hopton, Kurt Thompson and Daniel Benson were the other players to catch the eye of the coaching staff.
Final scoreboard
Blackwood 2.3 5.4 8.8 9.12 (66)
Mt Lofty 4.1 6.4 6.7 6.7 (43)
Goals – Hopton 3, Atkinson 2, Bricknell 1, Macreadie 1, McCarthy 1, Tuck 1
Best – Bricknell, Edwards, Hopton, Thompson, Benson
Other Hills Football League results
B Grade – Blackwood 11.3 (69) defeated Mt Lofty 9.8 (62)
Looking to atone from the Round 1 draw, the B Grade got away to a solid leading by seven points at the first change. Accurate kicking form the side during the second and third quarter saw the lead extend to 13 points at three quarter time despite having 10 scoring shots compared to 12 for the Devils. With the game on the line in the last quarter the side dug deep managing to answer any challenge with the Devils threw at them. The win was the fourth on the trot for the side and sees them in fourth spot at the end of the round. Lucas Herbert proved a strong focal point up forward kicking five majors whilst James Hopton, Liam McCarthy, Harry Darcy, Nick Work and Tyson Aiston were named as the best players.
Senior Colts – Blackwood 10.3 (63) defeated Mt Lofty 8.13 (61)
After a slow start for both sides in Round 1 where only one goal was scored, both sides set about making a fast start in the match, and that there was. In a seven goal opening quarter the Woods lead by 18 points when the quarter time siren sounded. The Devils managed to work their way back into the match in the second and third quarters trailing by 11 points at three quarter time despite having four more shots on goal. Whilst unable to score in the last quarter the young Woods were able to defend solidly to hold onto the victory by two points. The match was a real case of taking the opportunities in front of goals with Blackwood having 13 scoring shots at 76.9% accuracy compared to the Devils with 21 shots at 38.0% accuracy. Up forward Tom Brown and Troy Hocking combined for eight goals between them (80.0% of total goals) whilst Harry Bailye, Tyler Clare, Luke Hocking, Chris Pavlis and Troy Hocking were named as the better players.
Junior Colts – Blackwood 10.1 (61) defeated Mt Lofty 8.3 (51)
The pre match statistics showed these sides would produce a close match with the Woods are averaging 20.0 shots on goal at 64.3% compares to the Devils who were averaging 19.0 shots at 55.6%. Getting away to a flying start, the young Woods kicked six goals to one in the first term. The side let the Devils back in the game in the second quarter conceding four goals to only one point. With the team going up the slope struggling to score, the Woods had to kick goals in the third quarter and they did kicking three straight for the term to no score. Locking down in the last quarter the side did enough to run out 10 point winners. It was an even share up forward with seven players kicking goals whilst Noah Brown, Sam Matters, Jordan Cock, Alex Strauss, Dylan Hopkins were named best players.
Mini Colts – Blackwood 8.5 (53) defeated Mt Lofty 1.5 (11)
The young Woods set up the match with a brilliant first half leading 4.2 (26) to 0.2 (2) at half time. Continuing their form in the second half the side managed to score another four majors whilst only conceding one. It was a good performance for the Woods who were able to control the match having 13 scoring shots to 6 whilst kicking 61.5% accuracy which is well above their season average of 46.0%. Callum Finlayson was the star up forward kicking three goals to be named second best player whilst Paul Brown, Tynan Kelly, Levi Mullins and Fletcher Simpson were also awarded for their performances being named in the best players.
