A quick note from the President.

The Club again had some fantastic results on the weekend; the under 12 teams again did a great job with the Blacks winning comfortably and the Reds trying hard and doing well. The wins will come and the future for these players is looking good. We hope both teams keep up the good work! The under 14s had a brilliant win against the Chadstone/Camberwell team; they showed how to play a team game with many goals coming from assists and not individual heroics. The 16s played really hard lacrosse to beat Williamtown in a game that could have gone either way; this team gets better every time I see them play. The 18s had an interesting time against an under-manned Caulfield; the boys could have taken a walkover and whilst other clubs may have done this, the team played 8-a-side. After all, isn’t it about playing a game? The Div 3 again showed they will be in with a shot with a big win over MCC and Div 2 are also looking great with a win over Melb Uni. The best result was again the improvement of our State League side; a solid win over Caulfield is showing that this team is coming along nicely and a good finish to the season could see them finish 5^th. This is not a bad effort considering 2 years ago people outside the club were suggesting we should drop to Div 1. Thanks to all the teams and coaches for there efforts and let’s all work to finishing of the season in true Malvern style.

Thanks also to Rod Finnigan and Chris Baker for their work with the Senior Trivia Night last week!

Regards

Norm Coleman

Photo of the week

Under 12 blacks

Match reports

State League – Malvern 19 Caulfield 11

A strong last quarter consolidated a good win for SL on the weekend, running out 19-11 victors. A solid defensive effort was a highlight, frustrating the Caulfield attack all day. Jeff Joy had another great outing in the cage, providing some great saves and strong outlet passes, and was ably supported by the strong defensive core of Norris, Shermanator, Bozy, Fazza and Lopesy before he hurt his tricep in the first half..
The attack started to move the ball a lot more fluently in the second half scoring 7 goals in the final quarter, with the stand outs being Trav with 6 goals, and Rob with 5. Paul Cook was happily welcomed back for another game, being the general in the attack, directing traffic and providing many chances for Malvern to put scores on the board, finishing with 2 goals and 5 assists. Ollie Smith continued his recent good form with the first goal of the game; yet again Josh, who was also welcomed back into the team after his trip overseas, and Gazza finished with a pair each. Quite possibly the play of the day coming from Jake C, where he dodged, and dodged and ended up finishing with a goal.
Yet again strong Face off play from Patty Mac highlighted a dominant last quarter in the middle and gave Malvern numerous fast break and first opportunities to score.

Div 2 – Malvern 24 Melbourne Uni 0

A strong performance in wet slippery conditions against Melbourne Uni was on display at the Town Hall. Still to have the full list together saw a strong defence display from Dale Croll. Steve Bown led in the face off’s and Shannon Bell finished with 9 goals off the crease. The pressure continued after half time and saw us win with a 24-0 score line. The next three weeks sees us play Altona, Eltham and Camberwell all in the top four with us.

Div 3 – Malvern 37 MCC 3

The game against MCC was very satisfying for a number of reasons. We started well getting first use of the ball in the centre from PK, moving it quickly to the forward line where the forwards had a day out scoring freely. It was good to see Rod Finnigan back in the centre after hurting his back a few weeks ago – he even scored goals and got an assist – most unusual. Mike Sharp chimed in with a goal after a few attempts – his first. The usual culprits scored most of the goals with Rubber winning the competition outscoring Muz by one – 12 to 11. We finished with 37 goals which indicates how freely we were scoring. However, MCC put up a solid show but couldn’t penetrate to score. Tom Benson back in goals after returning from the Kangas trip overseas held firm as did the defenders, Norm, Joel & Tim. Callum, Liam & West ran hard off the midfield all day supplying the ball to the forwards. Roy found the going hard – getting a touch on the forward line, that is. Final score, 37 to 3. Div 3 has a bye next week.

U 18s – Malvern 11 Caulfield 6

Malverns u18s had a hard fought confrontation against Caulfield on Saturday, and with Caulfield only having 8 players, we were forced to play with 8 also. In return, however, this gave us a bench of 4, so win-win!!! For the first half the game progressed extremely slowly with unforced errors and turnovers being a bit of problem for us. With the score tied at halftime, the boys finally got into action and took control of the game like a bull by the horns (that’s just a metaphor).
Malekai, Red and Rowboat led the goal scorers on with 3 goals each on the day, with Rowboat dishing out 3 assists. Olay was able to add to the score sheet with 2 comfortable goals, while Mez dished out an assist while running hard all game.
A welcome return to Cal, who fitted in well down in the attack line, working hard all day to give us plenty of opportunities in the attack zone. Our midfielders and defenders play another good game, although groundballs weren’t our major skill on the day; everyone managed to fight hard for the ball.
OJ and Flash shared goal time this week and both played a great game in and out of goals.
In the end we managed to gain the upper hand on Caulfield winning 11-6, but with a game that should have seen us win by a far bigger margin, the boys are going to have to do some hard work, turn up early and knuckle down if they want to keep their finals hopes alive.
Coach Pat Mcgrath

U/16′s – Malvern 7 – Williamstown 5

A very hard fought low scoring game with Malvern throwing the first and only goal in the first quarter. Center draws were fairly even; any loose ground balls were quickly picked up by Williamstown and quickly moved into their attack Zone.

On most parts of the ground we seemed to follow Williamstown to the ball . We ran behind all day at both ends of the ground. Our back line came under enormous pressure most of the game with Willy turning the ball over quite regularly .When we did turn the ball over in their attacking zone our forwards were well behind their backmen.

Tom was back in goals after being away for 5 weeks; I really think he kept us in the game – great job! This was a really scrappy, hard fought game. I am very happy and proud of the way the boys fought out the game, till the end.

Note : I did notice chopping the lower parts of the legs was quite popular with Surrey Park and Williamstown.

Marty

U14s – Malvern 17 Chad/Cam 12

The under 14′s welcomed back Josh Naughton from his u/19 Australian team duties. Playing against the unbeaten Chaddy/Camberwell the Malvern team started well, applying pressure all over the ground. All the defence players teamed well together to unsettle the opposition. The middies ran well all game and created forward thrusts. Another outstanding game from Toby Exton facing off and working all over the ground. Our two left-handers improved their scoring stats with another 5 goal haul from Micheal Petrietch. The final score us winning 17-12.

U12 – Black Malvern 23 Williamstown 7

Under the coaching of Joffa Campbell, the under 12s took revenge on Williamstown on Saturday, beating them 23-7 (must have been some secret plays Joffa has been hiding from me), after being beaten by them earlier in the year. Williamstown required a Malvern player each quarter, and it was great to see Nic C, Nick K, Alex and Elliot all volunteer their services to ensure we had a match (even though a certain player of ours scored 2 goals for them….)
Once again an even scoresheet saw everyone contribute to the win, with strong midfield running and goalkeeping a highlight of the day.
A strong team focus was evident on the scoresheet with every goal being assisted
The rotation policy of positions continued, meaning that everyone got a chance to be involved in the play.
Goal Scorers: Darcy 6, Jordan 5, Rupert and Nic C 3, Roadrunner and Benny 2, Mr Air Guitar Hugo and Jumpshot had singles
Assists: Darcy 5, Benny 4, Jordan and Nic C 3, Timmy, Hugo and Alex 2, Rupert 1
Final Game next week is out at Moreland, and hopefully we can finish the season off on a positive

U12 Reds – Camberwell 13 Malvern 4

The Under 12 Reds were beaten by Camberwell by 13 to 4.

Malvern battled hard all day, getting better as the game progressed. Despite the final scores, we were still in the contest in the last quarter. However, we couldn’t convert our chances.

There were the usual heroics in goal. Ally had her first shot at playing in goal. She did a good job and made some good saves. Katie, Aaron and Tom took over for the rest of the match.

Coach Steve Bown noted that the focus in the last quarter was great and the catching and throwing has improved.

Well done.

What’s happening

Thu 7th Aug: Last Week of Regular Season Junior Pie Night

Sat 23rd Aug: Open Mic Entertainment Night

Sun 14th Sep: Season Close – Presentation Day and AGM

This week’s games