Round 18 – Woods finish minor rounds in style

The last minor round of season 2017 was a successful one for the Blackwood Football Club returning to the winners circle with a convincing defeat of the Mt Lofty Football Club by 99 points at U-Install-It Kitchens Oval. The win was the Woods twelfth win of the season and saw the side seal up second position on the ladder for the first time in many years.

Blackwood made three changes to the side with forward Jake Atkinson, half back Scott Bricknell and Captain Kurt Thompson returning whilst Mt Lofty made one change with Sean Ingram coming into the selected twenty-one. For the Mt Lofty Football Club, season 2017 has seen 41 players pull on the red and white strips, the equal most of any side in the competition.

For Mt Lofty they were looking to continue their recent successful run of great round 18 matches where they had won the last three on the trot, whilst Blackwood had struggled in recent years winning only one of the last three. The home side started kicking down the Hill at the U-Install-It Kitchens venue. Mt Lofty made the initial centre break kicking the ball long and deep into the club room pocket. Blackwood was able to repel the attack and switch the ball down the outer wing with speed. The ball was moved into the forward 50 where Jake Atkinson was able to take a big mark deep in the forward pocket. He was only able to manage a behind hitting the post.

The crowd had to wait until the tenth minute of the game to see the first goal. The goal came after Scott Bricknell had a uncharacteristic error turning the ball over to Mt Lofty veteran Brad Burch about 45 metres out from goal. He went back and converted truly to bring up the first major of the match. This kicked the home side into action kicking five unanswered goals through Michael Minuzzo, Nick Homburg, Ryan Dijksman, Atkinson and Phil Hopton to lead by 28 points at the first change.

Scott Bricknell looks to move the ball forward

Ryan Dijksman wrap up the ball with a chest mark

As the second quarter opened up, the Woods looked to continue their dominance at the end of the first. Having much of the early play they were unable to put it on the scoreboard until the James Catford got a mark at the top of the forward 50 in front of the club rooms. He went back and kicked truly to kick the only goal of the second quarter. It was a very dour affair with both defences holding strong. For the traveling Devils, they continued to kick poorly like they had done after Round 9 where they had only kicked at 42% in front of the big sticks.

When the half time siren sounded the home side lead by five goals. With a large home crowd in attendance the Woods would have been hoping to hit their stride in the third quarter and build towards the post season the following week. Putting early pressure on the in the quarter through the midfield, big forward Jess Watchman was able to work his way into the game in the fourth minute of the quarter kicking his first major of the match. Mt Lofty were struggle with the relentless pressure of the home side often coughing up the ball. Blackwood piled on another five goals for the quarter through Minuzzo, Atkinson, Harry Wake and Watchman to completely dominate the quarter. It was shown by the inside 50 statistics leading thirteen to three for the quarter.

Jake Atkinson looks to take a mark on return to the A Grade

Nick Homburg looks to move the ball across the ground

As both coaches gave their final speeches of the home and away season, Blackwood coach Damien Salievic urged his players to finish the game off and build into next week. For Mt Lofty it was reinforced to enjoy the last 20 minutes of the season. Blackwood got the early jump in the quarter with Minuzzo kicking his third for the match after only 1 minute. For the few travelling Devils supporters they were able to find some joy in the next minute as Burch was able to get his second goal of the match after getting a quick kick out of the pack.

The flood gates then opened for Blackwood kicking four goals in ten minutes to treat the home side to some great football in the last home game of the season. The dominate final quarter for the home side saw it recorded its best second half of any game in 2017 being +69 after half time. Ryan Anderson was able to put the cream on the cake converting truly after the final siren to see his side run out 99 point winners to seal second position on the ladder.

Blackwood had numerous players who contributed throughout the day with forward Jake Atkinson being named best player kicking four goals on return after a long injury lay off. Matt Waldron, Catford, Homburg and Minuzzo were the other players to receive acknowledgement for their performances. For the travelling Demons, picking five best players would have been a challenge for the coaching panel. Michael Telford was rewarded for his efforts, along with Matt Stapleton, James Kittel-Neill, Sam Miles and Brad Burch.

Kurt Thompson fires off a left-handed handball

Levi Grigg takes an uncontested mark

Summary

Overall, the game was one you would have expected by the ladder positions of both sides. Blackwood simply had too many good players who were unable to be contained by the Mt Lofty side. They were able to set up many attack plays from half back with speed and excellent kicking skills and with numerous attacking options, it simply was too much for the Devils to handle. For Blackwood it was the match they were looking for having recorded to two successive defeats. They were able to find some of their characteristic run and multiple players were able to kick goals. As summarized by coach Salievic after the game “it was a good performance to end the season. We have completed our goal for the minor rounds and we must now recover well for the big game next weekend.”