This week saw some great efforts by players under difficult circumstances – and a fantastic display of skillful hockey by our Division 1 Men’s team. Are they on track to win another Premiership?
Minkey
Newtown Gold v Kardinia Kookaburras. Newtown Gold are showing great team work, with their game improving as players learn to stay in position, allowing great passing to team mates. The players worked hard, persisting in their tasks and approach to the ball which lead to goal conversion. Emma demonstrated some good defensive skills to be awarded the Best Team Player.
Newtown White vs Kardinia Kangaroos. Newtown White players are really working well, our play momentum is improving and we are putting our sticks down and having a real go! Our Coach Kellie was most impressed with:
- Our second half of the game where we spread out more and looked for players to pass to;
- Our marking skills – especially Ruben’s covering of players;
- We had good movement and kept going.
Edie received the Best Team Player Award for her impressive game skills, enthusiasm and momentum with the ball .
Newtown Maroon vs Geelong College Green. Newtown worked hard against a strong opposition, and showed much improved marking and focus on the ball and the direction of play. Great work at full back by Nathan, who was ready to take quick free passes and direct the ball away from the goal. Some nice passing down the right side saw Newtown make a couple of runs into the scoring zone, and Freddie picked up the ball behind the College defence and ran on to score. Good position on the wings by Michael and Brandon helped Newtown to spread the opposition and create some spaces to hit through. Best Team Player Award to Nathan.
Under 11
Newtown White vs Torquay Tornadoes 0-4. Newtown White played another great game in Round 5 against the Torquay Tornadoes – all players worked hard on playing keepings off and manning up and there was lots of good play out wide and calling out to each other. Those playing in defence played a fantastic game and everyone else was focused on spreading out and creating space and not getting drawn into the centre. Special mention to Daniel who played his first game of hockey. Unfortunately, despite everyone working well as a team, Newtown couldn’t match Torquay 0-4.
Newtown Maroon Vs Geelong College 2-5. Newtown Maroon were quickly on the defensive against a well drilled College side who dominated the possession and midfield in the first half. Everyone tried very hard, and despite good defence by Zeke and Angus across the half line, we struggled to convert passes to move into attack, and were 3 goals down at the break. Inspiration from coach Claire saw far improved teamwork in the second half. Forward passing, and following up, from Robbo lead to a quick entry from Taylah onto Harry who scored. Soon after he made a desperate lunge to clear the ball on the last line of defence – great effort Harry. Our second team goal at the hand of Will saw us match College with two goals apiece in the second half, despite finishing the game a few players short. Overall a very pleasing effort and exciting game despite the scoreline. Best Team Player Awards shared between Harry, Zeke, Jemma and Will.
Under 13
Newtown Maroon were missing several players this week due to JCC and Wildcat commitments but the team all pulled together to beat Kardinia 4-0. Great play in the forward line from Tom and Hailey. Tom managed to score 3 goals with the fourth goal coming from a short corner shot by Jamie half way through the last half. Byron did some great tackles in defense and with some excellent marking from Emma, Harry and Paris the Maroons managed to keep Kardinia scoreless. Thanks to Hailey and Will for playing their first games of the year, both played well.
Newtown White vs Bellarine. Newtown White was set a mammoth challenge today with only four U13 team members available to play. Thankfully reinforcements arrived with 8 x U11s keen and ready to go. Darren Bradbury has graciously volunteered as coach
for the day. The game started with a frenzy of sticks going in all directions. Some calls were made from Coach Darren Bradbury to spread out and make positions. Bellarine had many experienced players up forward and were able to score some early goals. Emily and Rachael fought gallantly to defend under pressure. Newtown had a couple of opportunities to score in 1st half but Bellarine’s defence held.
In the 2nd half Newtown clicked together as a team much better, Matthew hitting many nice long shots to clear the packs and create some running and Max hitting wide to the running Robbo & Willo duo from U11. There were many highlights of this game, but it was especially good to see how the 4 U13 team members rose to the challenge and should not be disappointed with the 8-0 to Bellarine final score. Another highlight was seeing how the U11 players stepped up, some playing their first U13 game on the big synthetic field. Well done to all players.
Under 15
Newtown Maroon vs Bellarine. Newtown got off to a good start with a lot of running out wide and great ball movement up forward, finishing with a couple of goals to Thomas and Oliver putting one into the top of the net. The defence were put under some pressure by the Bellarine forwards but some great tackles by Luke H/D and Tom Mac prevented a lot of possible goals. Again our ball movement out of defence and into our forward line is working really well, with many attacks starting with the fullbacks through to our halves in Monique, Cassidy and Bronte and onto our hard running forwards Luke and Erin out wide on the wing. A really good effort by all, with players playing in different positions due to us missing some team members who were playing at Junior Championships. Final score 4-1 to Newtown. Goals to Thomas P, Erin and Oliver.
Newtown White vs Saints 1 – 1. Round 5 was an even contest against the Saints. At halftime both teams were still scoreless. Bella put in a sturdy effort all match and scored in the second half, with the assistance of Alex and Bronte, both of whom hassled the Saints defence with strong plays in attack. Tom M put in a solid performance and was well supported by Eneko on the wing. Our defence was tight thanks to Corey, Luke, Nathan and Remi who all kept the Saints forwards on their toes. Austin had the Goal Keeping sorted with a few clearances, great effort Austin. The Saints levelled the match with only a few minutes left in the game. Thanks to Don for coaching and special mention to Eneko, Luke and Tom M for helping us field a team this week. Wonderful contribution by all players this week, well done team.
Under 17
Newtown Maroon vs Saints – forfeit by Newtown.
Newtown White vs Kardinia 3-8. From the start, Newtown was under the pump from the Kardinia forwards but worked really well together with great defending by Beth, Sean, Baden and Remi and fantastic saves from Brodie in goal. A strong clearance from Baden through to Sean, running flat out with only the goalie to beat, and his shot at goal was unlucky. More great defensive work by Brodie, Beth and Remi, repeatedly deflecting a strong attack until Kardinia got their second goal through. Skillful passing by Dan to Sean, scoring two quick goals to level the score just before half time. The second half got underway with another quick goal to Kardinia and Brodie busy shouting instructions to the team. Great tackling and determination on the wings by Alex, Andoni and Bronte with Kelly and Dan working tirelessly. A late short corner to Newtown saw Sean bang in his third goal but Kardinia were too strong in the finish. Good pressure and perseverance today by all players, winning possession and playing hard despite being down in numbers with some very tired legs. Thanks to Remi and Bronte for filling in at short notice.
Division 1 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Red. The gap between top and bottom of the ladder was realised on the weekend when the Falcons convincingly beat Saints Red 18-0. The Falcons scored 12 of the 18 goals in the first half to seal the fate of the red, white and black early in the game. All but 3 players scored a goal during the game showing the potency of the Falcons attack. The game was a great opportunity for the team to practice penalty corner variations at the middle section of the season. The Falcons have a bye next week followed by what is expected to be a close game against Corio.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons V Geelong 1-4. With a few regular players out, some of the Division 2 players stepped up to assist the Division 1 players. It was a hard match with Geelong playing a very strong and fast game and Newtown found it hard to keep up. With Penny as our fill in goalie, she had to work hard and did a great job keeping Geelong shots out of the goals. Good game by all. Elese scored our only goal.
Division 2 Women
Newtown Gold vs Geelong 2-1 A hard fought 2-1 victory for Newtown Gold this week. One goal each at half time (Newtown’s courtesy of a great post-goal from Kate) and an improved work-rate in the second half created lots of great opportunities and an impressive game-winning goal from Bron. Terrific defence, particularly from Remi who had a stand out game, and from Bron who made it tough for Geelong to get the ball into their attacking zone. As always, Dom, Tess and Kate provided great run up forward. Another great team game. Special thanks to Claire for filling in as goalie and congratulations to Meredith for playing her 100th game with Newtown.
Newtown Maroon vs Golden Plains 2-3. A great cracking game which seesawed all night. Maroon had many chances at goal and were unlucky of a few occasions.
Newtown Maroon vs Geelong 2-1. Backing up Monday night proved hard for the girls after Sunday’s game. Despite this the team rallied and saw Hayley score a great goal before half time. After half time Geelong scored and then Katey came back with a resounding hit to the back of the nets. A huge thanks to Phoebe for filling in on the forward line.
Newtown White – bye
Division 2 Men
Newtown Maroon vs Geelong 5-7. Sundays game was great fun. With two new members to Maroon boosting our squad we came out against a very tough Geelong side and scored quickly. Terry had a great game in centre. We were 5 all with 10 minutes to play but 2 late goals sealed our fate to finish the game 7 – 5 Geelong win.
Newtown White vs Torquay 2 2-1. Newtown White had a hard fought win against Torquay 2 at Geelong Grammar on Sunday. A newly formed team, Torquay 2 came to the competition in round 4 of the season with a strong core of experience and some talented players. According to the fixture they had only been beaten once the week before by Saints. At the first whistle we had to endure 10 minutes of intensive attacking hockey by Torquay before wrestling back the initiative to even things up. Luckily for Newtown many of Torquay’s shots failed to find the back of the net in the first half. However, at half time both teams had scored once and in the second half Newtown started to figure out how to go around the Torquay defenders (mostly) to score once more. Everyone in defence worked hard to close the Torquay attack down. Despite being closely marked in the centre both Rodan and Tom played particularly well for us.
