After waking up on Saturday morning something immediately struck as being out of place.  For the first time since September there was no headache, no desire to throw up, no dryness in the mouth, no nightclub stamps on either wrist, no KFC wrappers beside the bed and the surroundings of the room were totally familiar.  It could only mean one thing – Round one of Season 2010 was upon us!

 

Rocket Marshall was the first man down to Ross Gregory oval and was busy lining out the boundary perimeters as the rest of the team filtered down.  The condition of the oval deserves a mention as the dust and holes from previous years have been replaced with soil and grass.  The Oval hasn’t been in such good shape for years and is a credit to the hard work and dedication of the powerhouse committee.  There was of course the ever present wind blowing from the lake side of the ground but other than that conditions were ideal for footy.

 

SENIORS

After a great pre-season and lead up, Pikey delieverd the pre-game speech to have the boys focussed and excited before the first bounce. There still were some nerves throughout the group as Dogga Watson had difficulties deciding what words of wisdom to right on his hands, Dave Burnside apparently had some car troubles and only Jados could manage to sprain an ankle pre game on a pine cone.

 

1st Qtr - The house started in a blaze, dominating all over the ground, it was men against boys. Simon Beardley, Frank ‘the body’ Macek and Tang racked up the possessions early to have the house enter their forward 50 countless times. It was however the Paul Edwards show with the big fella booting a lazy 4 goals before the first break.

 

2nd Qtr - Starting in similar fashion, the house yet again kept charging forward and working hard. The pressure exhibited put the Sainters under extreme pressure causing turnover after turnover. Warde, Benny, Lynchy and co down back were all outstanding, providing plenty of run and carry to give the forwards and midfielders the best opportunity to increase the lead.

 

3rd Qtr - Despite leading by 10 goals at half time, the house seemed a bit flat and needed to lift once more. An injection of small forwards to help out Eddo worked well with Chocco, Jados and Cappa all getting amongst the goals. T-Bone controlled the wing and demanded Eddo convert from his lace out delivery.

 

4th Qtr - By this stage the Ross Gregory had received 4 seasons of weather in 2 hrs of footy and the sun was finally out. The sainters rallied early on but it was the House who continued there good form. Eddo finished with a respectable 12 goals, but the main highlight was how the boys went about their footy today. The house tackled hard, ran in numbers and played unselfish football. A great first up win, now we look to West Brunswick in Rd 2….I heard the kebabs are good down that way!

 

RESERVES

With a solid preseason under the belt and huge numbers on the track Warde had the unenviable task of selecting 22 players from a possible list of 40+ players.  After much head scratching, swapping and changing he named a side that included eight debutants, Greg “Chuck” Norris, Jimmy Dywer, Jimmy Reid, Ben Gair, Tim Matheson, Andrew Barr, Ash “The Tank” Rankin, Joe Cunsolo & Tristian “Jesus” Patralakis. The side also included the return of 2006 senior premiership winner Bernard Brady.  The experienced Jade “Bakers Delight” Fiorini was elevated to the senior list after the late withdrawal of newly appointed senior captain Reece Humphreys.  This paved the way for the “Helicopter Maloney” to slot into the reserves side.

 

Drew Ashworth led his troops into battle for the first time and had his side focused on team values.  At 11:40 the season was officially underway.  Gerry won his first of many taps for the day and set the boys on their way towards the St Francis goal.  There was a bit of tooing-and-froing before the deadlock was finally broken by a goal from Jaye Kurts.  Big Ash was doing some trojan work around the middle of the park and left three or four St Francis players in his wake every time he got the ball.  The house added two further goals for the quarter and a late reply from the visitors left the score at 3-8 (26) to 1-2 (8) after the first siren.

 

The second quarter was another procuctive one for the house, extending their goal count to 7 majors.  Unfortunately the behinds tally was increasing at a more rapid rate but the 16 minors at halftime can be excused by the lack of goalposts on the track for the entire preseason! The second quarter saw former rugby player Greg Norris come into the game and had the footy on a string for large periods of time.  Down the back Patty Arnold has shown why he is worthy of the vice captaincy with a solid display on a taller opponent.  The helicopter was also flying high in this quarter making numerous interceptions across the half back line.  At half time the house had extended the lead to 7-16 to 1-3.

 

The house were determined not to drop off in the second half and continued to hurt the opposition where it mattered most and that’s on the scoreboard.  Matt Wallis was showing why he would make a great replacement for the Roadrunner should he ever get caught by the Koyote!  His speed and ability to sneak goals seen him bag 4 majors for the day and undoubtable clock up a few votes for brownlow night.  Stevo also found his range in the second half and clocked up 3 goals of his own.  Drew was able to put any “chutney” sledges behind him as he kicked goal after goal in the final two periods.  Jaye Kurts was also kicking goals for fun and will be giving the senior coach something to think about. At three quarter time the game was as good as over with the homeside leading by 15 goals.

 

At the final break there was a blatant display of discrimination as the coach informed Gerry he was starting on the interchange bench cause he was "looking a bit ginger".  Gerry was last seen leaving the supermarket with a bottle of bleach (which came highly recommended from Scratcher) in his shopping bag.  Back on the footy field the intesity level seemed to drop off in the final term and with the saints flooding all but one of their players into the powerhouse half clean possesion was hard to come by.  That didnt stop the house tacking on a few more goals though and at the end of round one the scoreboard informed those gathering for the senior game Powerhouse had registered 21-24 (150) to St Francis Xaviers 5-3(33)

 

Congratulation to all those who donned the powerhouse jumper for the first time and well done to the rest of the list both players and helpers alike.  Lets hope we hear you all sing the song after round 2!

 

Goal Kickers: J. Kurts 5, M. Wallis 4, D. Ashworth 4, G. Norris 3, K. Stevens 3, B. Brady , A. Rankin Best Players: J. Callahan, P. Arnold, J. Kurts, G. Norris, K. Stevens, D. Maloney

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