Round 10 of the Hills Football League produced a nail-biting game with the Blackwood and Mt Barker Football Clubs playing out a thrilling draw at Able Storage Oval. Fine but chilly conditions greeted the sides for the encounter as Blackwood made three changes from the previous side. Scott Bricknell, Denam Moore and Chris Williams came out of the side replaced by Sam Fotheringham, Nathan Dunn and Senior Colt Captain Levi Grigg, the latter two being on debut. The hosting Barkeroos also made three changes with Andrew Jarrad, Zain King and Billy Stokes being replaced by Nick Hill, Ben Pomery, and Sam Spain who was also making this A-Grade debut.
Both sides entered the clash looking to continue on recent strong form with Blackwood undefeated in the opening nine rounds whilst Mt Barker had won the previous five matches. Mt Barker started the round with second best defence in the competition conceding only 58 points per match whilst Blackwood had the best attack averaging 101 points for in the opening nine rounds. The Woods started kicking towards the Alexandrina Road end of the venue and made much of the play in the opening part of the quarter. They entered the forward 50 metre arc on multiple occasions but poor kicking in front of goal lead to only behinds being score. The first goal of the match came through big man Jan Warbout who converted from directly in front 20 metres out. The Woods then got on a roll kicking goals through Mark Reynolds (x2) and Ryan Dijksman to lead by 29 points at the first break.
Nick Homburg prepares to launch the ball into attack
Steve Woods looses his balance
Mt Barker coach Scott Tidemann addressed his players at the first break with a positive vibe as even though they were trailing by 29 points they had their fair share of the ball, particular in the second half of the quarter. This was shown by the statistics with Blackwood only leading the inside 50 count, 15 to 13. It was emphasised that Mt Barker were making skill errors, shown by turnovers which they lead 10 to 5. Blackwood once again started with the early play but couldn’t put the score on the board scoring early behinds. Centre half forward Phil Hopton got his first major of the match to get the ball rolling for the Woods as once again they controlled the play. Mt Barker got a couple of goals in the quarter through Henry Johnson and Malachi Lines to keep in touch. When Blackwood’s Levi Grigg, who was making his A-Grade debut kicked his first major the Woods lead by 30 points as the half time siren sounded.
The crowd in attendance refreshed during the break as both sides regrouped in the confined change rooms under the clubrooms. At half time even though the Woods were leading by five goals, the statistics showed it was a close game. Blackwood lead the clearances 11 to 10, the inside 50s 28 to 24 and had less turnovers, 14 to 20. As shown in the below graphics, the area which Blackwood was really on top was scoring shots to inside 50 ratio. Blackwood were having a scoring shot 61% of the time they went inside 50 compared to only 29% for the hosting Barkeroos.
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Half time: Woods inside 50s to scoring shots percentage
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Half time: Barkeroos inside 50s to scoring shots percentage
The third quarter started in a dour struggle as Mt Barker looked to shut down the run of the Blackwood players. They added extra numbers around the contest and isolated a loose player in defence. This seemed to work as they game turned into a contested affair. With Luke Giles back in the ruck, Tom Hughes and Michael Pope began to get their hands regularly on the ball. Blackwood held strong with Kurt Thompson and Brad Jones intercepting the ball on numerous occasions. When Paul Magarey scored a goal for the visiting Woods at the 13 minute mark of the third quarter, the lead was 36 points and many at the ground thought the Woods would bring up their eighth win of 2017. The Mt Barker players had other ideas as they scored three late goals to pull the margin back to 19 points at the final change.
Both coaches gave their chargers some final advice, with Blackwood urged to finish the game off, stay composed and start to kick straight. Whilst at the Mt Barker huddle, opportunity was the word of the moment, with the players told this was their opportunity to show they could match it with a top side. It was stated if they worked hard, won the contested ball and beat their immediate opponent the win was there for the taking. Mt Barker started the final quarter at the dominate side winning the ball around the contest mostly through Tom Hughes and Sam Callins who were playing exceptional second halves. They entered the forward 50 on numerous occasions. Blackwood’s defence held strong until a free kick was paid to ruckman Luke Giles at the top of the goal square. He converted truly to pull one back for the home side.
The home supporters found voice when Sam Hammond kicked a long range goal and the game was on with 10 minutes to play. Mt Barker was dominate the final quarter as Blackwood went into their shells and began to kick down the line. Blackwood moved the ball forward and got it right to the goal line however a key defensive mark was taken and stopped the Woods from getting that valuable point to give them the lead. As time ticked away Mt Barker moved the ball down the coaches’ box side of the venue.
Harry Wake gets a kick away
Ryan Anderson takes a mark as his Mt Barker opponent watches on
The Blackwood defence held strong again with Thompson and Daniel Bennetts stopping the ball from entering the forward 50. Blackwood moved the ball forward one last time. It was intercepted by Mt Barker who then took a risk switching the ball. They managed to find Henry Pope free in the middle of the ground with 50 seconds left. He took the mark and played on and ran the ball up to the 50 metre arc. The crowd roared as they could sense this was the moment the Barkeroos were going to steal the win. He elected to take a long shot on the run from 50 to be the match winning hero. Unfortunately for the Barkeroos it came off the side of the boot and went out on the full deep in the old scoreboard pocket. Blackwood cleared the ball out of the defence and over the boundary line as the final siren went with the sides locked together at 58 points each.
Kurt Thompson takes a strong mark in front of Sam Hammond from Mt Barker
The team celebrates the first goal of senior colt debutant Levi Grigg
Final Score
| Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 | Final score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.7.31 | 2.4.16 | 1.4.10 | 0.1.1 | 7.16.58 |
 | 0.2.2 | 2.3.15 | 3.1.19 | 3.4.22 | 8.10.58 |
Best players
The better players for the Woods were skipper Kurt Thompson who took many intercepting marks across the centreline, Ryan Anderson who provide attacking runs all match, Matt Waldron who spoiled the ball on many occasions, Nick Homburg and Brad Jones.
Summary
Overall, this game was played with a finals like atmosphere. Neither side gave an inch making it a close contested game and scoring was hard to come by The saying of bad kicking is bad football came to bite the Woods who allowed Mt Barker to stay in the game with poor kicking in front of goal in the first half. To the credit of Mt Barker and their coaching staff, they changed things up at the main break and things began to work. They huddled their forwards at centre half forward after half time and used the ball better coming into the forward 50. As shown below Blackwood dropped away after half time only scoring 32% of the time they went inside 50 (at 17% accuracy) compared to Mt Barker who scored 50% of the time they went inside forward 50 (at 55% accuracy).
For Mt Barker, Luke Giles provided their midfielders with first use of the ball in the last quarter and ultimately probably would consider themselves unlucky to not be walking away with the two points after Henry Pope sprayed the final shot of the match. The Woods once again switched off in the last quarter and coach Damian Salievic was not happy about this in the rooms after the game. He suggested “we need to find another gear. Sides are coming after us and we must step up.” He further suggested that there is plenty of work to do on the track into the upcoming two weeks off and “goal kicking is the first thing we are going to work on.”
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Second half: Woods inside 50s to scoring shots percentage
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Second half: Barkeroos inside 50s to scoring shots percentage
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Second half: Woods accuracy
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Second half: Barkeroos accuracy
Other results
B Grade: Blackwood defeated Mt Barker by 66 points
C Grade: Blackwood defeated Uraidla Districts by 117 points
Senior Colts: Blackwood defeated Mt Barker by 59 points
Junior Colts: Blackwood defeated Mt Barker by 28 points
Mini Colts: Blackwood defeated by Mt Barker by 33 points
Under 14s SANFL: Blackwood defeated Flinders Park by 72 points
Under 12s SANFL: No result uploaded at time of publication
Under 18 Girls: Blackwood defeated by Mt Barker by 88 points
Under 16 Girls: Blackwood defeated by Goodwood by 21 points
Under 14 Girls: Blackwood defeated Goodwood by 4 points
Haydn Kenny looks up field as Mitch Smith supports during the B-Grade match
Multiple senior colt players spoil the ball
Next weekend
Despite most of the Hills Football league teams (A Grade, B Grade, Senior Colts, Junior Colts and Mini Colts) having a bye, you can still witness the Mighty Woods this upcoming weekend. The games are as follows:
Friday
Under 18s Girls: vs Kenilworth @ St Marys Park from 7.45pm
Under 16s Girls: vs Flinders Park @ Flinders Park Oval from 7.30pm
Saturday
C Grade: vs Milang @ Milang Oval from 1.00pm
Sunday
Under 11s SANFL: vs Mitcham @ BFC from 10.40am
Under 12s SANFL: vs SMOSH @ BFC from 12.00pm
Under 14s Girls: vs Brighton @ Brighton Oval from 12.00pm
