Sam Cox: Royal Hotel Award. Chelton Orchard: Benalla Racing Club. Jordan Smith: Benalla Golf Club Driving Range.
Congratulations to captain, Chelton Orchard on his 50th senior game.
Missing a few senior players through injuries, and only having one player on the bench for rotations, the boys knew they had a challenge on their hands but were up for the fight.
With a focus on ensuring accountability and focusing on game plan the boys were determined to start well. They defended the opposition really well with Dwaine Lancaster , David Button, Jayden Brady and David Whitechurch constantly rebounding the ball. Young gun Sam Cox started to really find his feet playing on ball.
The first quarter saw the boys start slowly and took a while to find their feet. After a bit of realignment at 1/4 time from the coach the boys came out with more intensity in the second and had patches of the game where they really controlled the play, but fell down across half- orward, missing ruckman Jake Jones and Michael Ryan as targets to kick to. Nonetheless the boys still fought out the quarter and really made the visitors earn their scores.
The focus at half-time was to pull together as a team and to ensure that the Panthers boys stuck it out and really cracked in to the contests. The boys started the third quarter well, with David Button constantly laying big tackles, and onballers Chelton Orchard, Sam Cox and Jordan Smith regularly winning the ball in close to give the boys every opportunity.
Multiple inside 50s gave the boys opportunity to score with them eventually registering their first major through Dylan Sinclair.
The message at the last break was to ensure that the boys finished off the game well and to continue to fight in the contests. The boys did this, and again gave themselves multiple opportunities, but in the end, a fitter, bigger and more seasoned Bright team ran over the top of the Panthers.
The boys haven’t registered their first win of the season yet, but if they continue to stick together, apply the game plan and work as a team the first win isn’t far off.
There’s been some really impressive patches of play, and the boys need to maintain confidence and belief in each other and continue to work towards their goals.
Sam Cox played his best game of the year and is starting to adapt really well to senior footy. Dwaine Lancaster has been rock solid in his first two games for the Panthers and is showing the younger boys how to go about it each week.
A-grade
Awards: Royal Hotel Award: Mikaylah Lessing. Stella Stella Award: Meghan Hausner. Jenny Milner Pharmacy Award: Elyse Felstead.
Coming out extra hungry for a win in Saturdays match-up against Bright after having just fallen short last week, the Panthers came out a little flat, letting Bright get a jump on them. Despite the accuracy in the All Blacks goal ring, the girls finished the first break trailing by thee points.
With a rev-up at quarter-time the girls hit the court not ready to give up the chance at taking home a win. A massive day out in the defensive end with huge turnovers and gaining most rebounds the girls were able to convert down to the attack end and hit the boards with great accuracy all day.
Despite some very tough and trying umpire decisions the Panther girls kept calm and proved they are shaping up as a well-oiled A-grade outfit taking out their first win for the season in front of their home crowd finishing up 38-37.
Mikaylah Lessing had another massive day out in goal defence, with the ball on a string taking every intercept possible and again being a key linking role down to the attack end. Ever-reliable captain Meghan Hausner had another cracking game in the centre for four quarters, an absolute workhorse taking most of the possessions down the court and transitioning the ball down and feeding into the ring with precision.
Elyse Felstead combined beautifully with Mikaylah, making the shooters work overtime for every ball and pulling in rebounds, not allowing a second effort from Bright. The Panther girls are keen for a week’s rest before taking on Moyhu where they will look to get a second win on the board.
B-grade
Awards:
Jessica Holland: $50 All Blacks Award). Bernie Gray: Royal Hotel Award. Lilly Robertson: Stella Stella Award.
B-grade came out firing on Saturday against Bright. With some accurate shooting and strong defence, All Blacks went into quarter-time leading 12-9.
Jessica Holland was fantastic in wing attack, making strong leads and passes into the ring. The team was excited to welcome Bernie Gray back into defence with great positioning, setting herself up for countless rebounds and plenty of talk not only in the ring but moving the ball out of defence.
Lilly Robertson had another great game in goal attack with some very accurate shooting but also assisting bringing the ball down court. To their credit All Blacks didn’t give up. However, it was not enough to sustain the lead and Bright managed to get in front and increase its lead each quarter with the final score 30 to 59.
Under-17s
The young under-17s came up against a strong, top-aged Bright on Saturday.
Holding their heads up high throughout the game, the girls tried hard to keep up with a finely-tuned opposition.
Amber Renkin worked hard throughout the game in defence, continuing to keep her eyes up, allowing her plenty of defensive intercepts. Torah Heeps continued to work hard away from the ball to direct play and make space in the attacking end, while also applying great pressure when the ball was turned over.
Emma Snell led hard at the ball. She was able to direct the play, moving the ball from defence to attack. Despite their best efforts the Panthers went down 9-57. The game was a great opportunity to start practising some of the plays they have been working on and highlighting areas in which they will focus on going into the bye round.
Under-15s
Awards: Harley’s Pizza: Ilka Cuneen. Chill Out Smoothie Bar: Harper Robertson. Sports Power: Tahlia Humphrey
The under-15s team started the game nice and strong, with beautiful passes and strong leads, leaving the score at quarter- ime 3-3.
The girls were encouraged to keep up their hard work and to make sure that they look after the ball when they had possession. In the second quarter, we saw our defensive end work super hard, keeping Bright’s shooters to four goals for the quarter.
Our girls moved the ball beautifully down the court to our attacking end, leaving the score 13-8 at half-time. Bright’s defenders started the third quarter strong and ready to put up a fight, keeping our girls to three goals for the quarter.
With the score being 16-12 at three-quarter time the girls were reminded to be patient with their game and ensure they worked together to keep possession of the ball. With the score being so close and both teams wanting to win, the under-15s team began to show its potential and walked off the court with its first win of the season 19-18.
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