Round 14 – Match Reports
Contrary to rumours circulated by unnamed club sources, the boys trained at an excellent level; the 1’s buoyed by the recent success against South Melbourne, and the 2’s with their season on the line.
For the second week running, the boys took to the field with a serious breeze at their backs. This week however, it was accompanied by some severe weather warnings form the Bureau of Meteorology. The conditions did beg the existential question: if a player kicks the ball and it goes backwards, has it even been kicked? Undeterred by any silly questions, the 2’s ventured out into Hurricane Katrina’s little sister and began what would become the blueprint for both games – a hard fought contest where the boundary line was everyone’s best friend.
The Reserves began the game strongly, with the likes of Jarryd Bruton and Darra Conlan winning it through their sheer hard work, and even contributing a goal apiece on a day where everyone found it hard to get a kick, and even harder to get it to go straight. Stalwart Patty Arnold went about his business in a systematic manner, leading the goal kickers with 2 important majors.
Led by best on ground Greg Bell, the backline was gallant all day, with more repellent power than a brand new can of Mortein. But even with strong performances from Rick Cowper and Conor Costello, nothing could stop the mighty forces that be. It has been rumoured that after a particularly strong gust, an umpire’s shirt became untucked, revealing some blue, white and red stripes underneath. Regardless, it truly was Christmas in July for Point Cook. Of their grand total of 6 goals, 4 were gifted to them from whistles unkind to Powerhouse. Despite scrapping it out all day, it was a disappointing result for the Reserves.
In the Seniors, it was milestone madness. The baby faced killer Jimmy Theofanis ticked off a great 50 games for Powerhouse and in his tenth year at the club, Darren Baker became the 50th player to reach 150 games for Powerhouse. The team went all out and secretly spent all week making a huge impressive banner for him to commemorate the milestone. Unfortunately, we tasked the slim pair of Tal Sardone and Ryal Yak with holding it up in the wind, and their young hands just couldn’t stop it blowing away. The banner disappeared so unfortunately Darren had to run out the same way he has for the last ten years. Despite this pre-game disappointment, the 1’s were chomping at the bit to repeat their clinical performance from last week and headed out to begin what would eventually become a thrilling match.
The breeze was behind the House to begin the game, and the most was made of it. The ball barely left the forward 50, but with almost every player on the field around the frequent stoppages, goals were still had to come by. The midfielders were impressive with their attack on the ball, and the cleanliness of Charlie Betts shone through in trying conditions. Declan Nannery had the ball on a string, finishing with a team high 4 goals and taking some impressive marks as a loose man in the backline when the House were under the pump.
The milestone man, Darren Baker was everywhere. It was a great game for his personal legacy. The conditions forced him to handball almost every time, which helped make a dent in his historically unbalanced kick to handball ratio. Skipper Adam Collett was up to his usual tricks, barging through packs and setting up a goal from the first centre bounce of the third quarter with his sublime crumbing.
Heading into the final term with a precarious 5 goal lead, the 37 minute quarter saw Point Cook take advantage of their continuous inside 50’s. But it was the heroic gut running of midfielder Dominic Mitchell and his teammates beside him that delivered Dom his first major of the year. The only goal scored against the wind for Powerhouse all day stemmed the bleeding and carried the seniors to a 2 goal win over Point Cook. Bruised and battered from one of the most physical games all year, the team is looking the good as we head into next week’s huge clash with top of the table UHS-VU.
