The Cygnet Football Club played host to the Lindisfarne Blues at Cygnet Oval in humid conditions in round two of the home and away roster season last Saturday.
Unfortunately, the Lindisfarne Club are not able to field a Colts side at present, meaning a day on the sidelines for the Cygnet youngsters who were really keen for a game of footy. However, they all turned up as a group to watch the reserves and seniors play their respective matches.
The Reserves ... were put under the microscope before their match by Coach Brett Direen after a very poor first up performance against Dodges Ferry. The side was keen to make amends to it supporters and themselves for a very lack-lustre effort. The first term was a fairly even affair with the Port holding a seven point lead at the first break. The Port started to play instinctive team football, linking up and running the ball well in numbers in the second term and were getting great drive from Captain Tim Bone who was feeding off some great ruck-work from returnee Gerard Brereton in the middle of the ground. The Port held a 21 point lead at the main break. The third term saw the Port have the wind but they failed to utilize it to its full advantage only kicking a couple of goals. However, the Port finished the better of the two sides in the last quarter to pull away and show some real character and determination for a well deserved team building 42 point victory.
Better players included the ever-green Captain Tim Bone who led by example, won plenty of contested football, and never wasted a possession. He was ably supported by big Gerard Brereton who showed his class in the ruck with a dominant display giving the on-ball brigade plenty of the football. Paul Cowen in his first game of the season racked up plenty of quality possessions. Craig Phillips adds plenty of dash to our on-ball brigade and for the second week in a row showed he is growing in confidence. Shane Clark was very good in the forward line and young Tom Slevin who was called in from the Colts played a great game as well. The back six were great all day, especially Josh Wilcox, Loic Auderset and Paddy Wilcox. We also welcomed big American Paul Sawyer in for his first game of Australian Rules Football. Welcome to the Club Paul.
Major goal-kickers included Shane Clark with 4, while Andrew Paul, Jamie Direen, Craig Phillips and Tom Slevin all contributed 2 each.
The Senior side ... took to the oval knowing that the Lindisfarne side contained a couple of very good Clarence players and that a good start was going to be critical in the match. The Port also welcomed Ben Free in for his first match of the season in the Ports colours. Both sides had plenty of the football early, but both really failed to convert it onto the scoreboard with things pretty even at quarter time.
The second term saw the Port probably have more possessions than Lindisfarne with a number of uncontested marks in space but they just could not penetrate the strong Lindisfarne defence. The Port trailed by 20 points at the long break but the blues had the wind in the critical third term.
The second half was all Lindisfarne and with 3 or 4 quick goals to begin the third term put the game beyond the Ports reach. In a poor last half by the Port, the Blues ran away with the game to record a well deserved 72 point win.
Coach Matthew Tyrrell was extremely disappointed with his players and certainly let them know in very certain terms that such performances are not acceptable.
Better players on the day included the ever reliable and consistent Mark Fenton who played a great game, and he received good support from Captain Bradley Watson and Vice Captain Rhys Synnott who both played well all day. Andrew Palmer turned in another very good game and Kane Nielsen continues to grow in stature and Rhys Jennings was a solid contributor.
The Ports major goal-kicker was Dillon Davie with 2.