Woods win in the Torrens Valley

Round 12 of the Hills Football League was a successful weekend for the Blackwood Football Club. The 45 point victory over the Torrens Valley Lions broke the six year curse. It was the first away victory against the Torrens Valley Lions since Round 4 of 2011. The victory also brought up the eighth win of the 2017 campaign.

With a change of venue during the week, both sides arrived at Hughes Construction Oval in Mt Torrens and were greeted by good but cold conditions. The Woods made three changes to their side from the previous game against Mt Barker with Daniel Benson, Sam Fotheringham and Jan Warbout replaced by Scott Bricknell, Lucas Herbert and Jess Watchman who returned to the club from a stint playing league football down at West Adelaide. For the home side they had one change with Senior Colt Dylan Rowe replacing Josh Newnham.

The visiting Woods started the match by kicking down the second biggest slope in the HFL and got the first goal of the match inside 30 seconds. The goal came from a centre clearance which was crumbed by Michael Minuzzo who kicked truly. The goal was celebrated by all Blackwood players who were up and about early. Torrens Valley worked into the game through some fierce attack around the contest. Blackwood was however able to control most of the play and bring up their second goal of the game through Ryan Anderson. When Anderson kicked his second goal of the match at the 14 minute mark of the quarter, the home side was in trouble. Blackwood were looking too quick over the ground and too many players were finding acres of space. At the 21 minute mark, crafty half forward Ryan Dijksman (who was being manned up by Toby Schultz) got his first goal of the match after a wonderful snap much to the delight of the visiting Woods supporters. Torrens Valley player Braedon Renshaw managed to get one back for the home side late in the quarter to see them trailing 23 points at the first change.

Torrens Valley regrouped at the first break with some instruction from injured captain Tom Eichner before Dale Eichner reached the huddle. The Valley Lions were in unfamiliar territory having lead at quarter time in all matches since Round 7 and Eichner was not happy about this. In his traditional fashion, he raised his voice and questioned what his side was doing. He asked them to lift and worked harder. Once again the Woods got the first goal of the quarter inside of the first minute. This goal came through Jess Watchman who had returned to the club after playing the first part of the season for West Adelaide. Statistics showed second quarters were weak for the Valley Lions only winning two of the previous ten they had played to date in 2017. This trend continued as the Woods kicked three more goals through Scott Bricknell, Matt Tuck and Paul Magarey. The Valley Lions only highlight on the scoreboard came at the eleven minute mark with Anthony Burgoyne kicking a goal after receiving a free kick deep in the forward 50.

Key note: Before this Round 12 match, Torrens Valley had only won two from ten second quarters played. The pattern continued as they lost the second quarter by 18 points.

Michael Minuzzo gets a kick away as Brad Walkley closes in

Mark Reynolds attempts to spoil the ball away from Kurt Waterman

The supporters who had travelled to the Mt Torrens venue huddled in front of the small heaters with some chips and gravy as they looked to stay warm during the main break. When the football restarted, the Woods got the first goal of the quarter once again with Ryan Dijksman kicking his second major of the match. This is when home side had their best period of the game. They lifted their work rate with Tate Giadresco working his way into the game after having more handballs than kicks in the first half. They managed to kick three goals in 4 minutes to pull the margin back to a getable 24 points. Blackwood absorbed the momentum and then counterattacked his ferocity kicking five goals in 12 minutes to take the game away from the home side. The goals came through Dijksman, Matt Tuck (x2), Adam Ridley and Anderson.

The three quarter time siren sounded and the Woods lead by eight goals at the final turn. Dale Eichner urged his chargers to win the final quarter whilst Damien Salievic questioned whether this side would be ruthless and finish the game off. The home side kicked the first two goals of the quarter through Burgoyne and Kurt Waterman who was having a quiet game. The Woods managed to kick two goals for the final quarter as the game petered out. When the final siren sounded the Woods recorded a 45 point victory, their first win away win over Torrens Valley since 2011.

The better players for the victorious Woods were Ryan Anderson who kicked three goals to be awarded the MAC best player. Other players to get recognition of the coaching staff were Brad Jones who took several intercepting marks across half back, Bricknell who fought through a tag to have many damaging touches, Minuzzo who had continued his recent run of form and Tuck who kicked three goals.

Best a field Ryan Anderson gets a high-five from captain Kurt Thompson

Jess Watchman takes a contested mark in front of three opponents

Summary

Overall, whilst both sides were sitting in second and fourth before the day, the Woods looked a class above the side from the Torrens Valley. Their ability to get the ball into space and slingshot the ball across the oval was something that has to be seen. The Lions had several better players missing including Tom Eichner, Brad Hunter, Josh Newnham and Dane Thompson. This certainly tested their depth and it showed with the bottom six players for the Woods having a greater impact on the game. Blackwood coach Damien Salievic acknowledged the performance of the visiting Woods saying “it was good performance to kick over 100 points and win against Torrens Valley away”. He however suggested there were still several areas to work on and “we must continue to improve ourselves across the remainder of the season.

The defining statistic:Torrens Valley simply haven’t performed against other top 5 sides in 2017. To the end of Round 12, Blackwood have played 24 quarters against the other top 5 sides. From these quarters, they have won 63% (15 of 24). Compare this with Torrens Valley who have only won 10% (2 of 20) quarters against their fellow top 5 sides.