The Blackwood Football Club recorded its second loss of the season, going down to the Hahndorf Football Club by 36 points in Round 4 of the Mortgage Choice Hills Football League. Despite drawing to within seven points of the Magpies early in the final quarter, the Woods were overpowered with Hahndorf kicking six final quarter goals to secure their third win of the season.
Blackwood once again made three changes to their line up from the Round 3 victory over Uraidla Districts with James Catford, Moe Milsom and Ryan Williams coming into the line-up. For Williams, it was his first A Grade match after receiving a late call up. Williams is the fourth player from the 2017 senior colt premiership to make their A Grade debut in 2018.
Hahndorf started kicking down the hill in the first term getting the first behind on the scoreboard after only thirty seconds. Both sides were feeling each other out in the opening period of the quarter with ball movement quiet slow and skill errors aplenty. Blackwood got the first major of the match through Ben Macreadie after 8 minutes. The goal was a result of a contested mark in the goal square after half forward Ben Papps had a long range shot which failed to make the distance. The Woods were able to get a second shortly after with Michael Minuzzo slotting a long range shot from the boundary line after catching Hahndorfs Aiden Musolino holding the ball. Late goals to David Hankin and Sam Williams saw the Magpies take a slender three point lead into the first change.
At quarter time, Blackwood coach Damien Salievic said “we were even in the stoppages but slightly down on the inside 50’s. We must start to get first hand on the ball more and stay calm kicking the ball forward.”
During the second quarter both sides began to find more free flowing ball movement as their skill levels picked up. The visitors were able to get three majors on the board for quarter, the first coming from Daniel Bennetts after 5 minutes. Taking the ruck deep in the forward line he grabbed the ball out of the air quickly putting it on the boot. Somehow the ball got through all the players and was given a goal, much to dismay of the Hahndorf defenders. A nice mark and goal to Minuzzo (his second of the match) saw the Woods take the lead by two goals shortly after. With the Blackwood defence repelling the Hahndorf ball movement in the opening part of the term, the Woods were looking like the better side.
Key forward Darcy Hourigan who was playing a deeper role moved up the ground to help his team move the ball forward in the middle part of the quarter. The move had an instant success with the Magpies able to push the ball deeper into their forward line. Getting a lucky bounce in the goal square Hourigan was able to convert his first major of the match. Hahndorf got their fourth goal immediately after from the next centre clearance. Key midfielder Dylan Matsen got the centre clearance kicking the ball out the coaches’ box side of the ground to Sam Williams on the half forward line. Moving the ball deep into attack, Matsen had pushed forward and received a handball form the ensuring spillage to snap his first major on the match. When the half time siren sounded, Blackwood trailed by 10 points.
The Magpies had worked their way back into the match in the second part of the second quarter, leading both the inside 50s and the clearances. The home side came out the blocks in the third quarter with Hankin, Matthew Virgara and Matt Jaensch kicking goals in the first 15 minutes of the quarter. Making the most of their dominance in the midfield Hahndorf controlled the play for the opening part of the premiership quarter. With a limited bench the Woods were fighting the tide to get back into the match. Michael Minuzzo bobbed up as time-on clicked over the scoreboard. When Ryan Dijksman got his first goal deep into the quarter the Woods trailed by 13 points at three quarter time.
Continuing to reinforce a strong message at the three quarter time, Salievic said “we clawed ourselves back in the latter half of the quarter. We must get our hands on the ball around the midfield and move the ball forward.” With the assistance of a 50 metre penalty Scott Bricknell was moved to 15 metres out directly in front and was able to convert truly to draw the Woods to within seven points.
Hahndorf then stepped on the accelerator kicking three goals in the next 10 minutes to stamp their authority on the match. Controlling the play through the midfield, the Magpies were able to win the last quarter kicking another three goals in the latter half of the quarter. Daniel Bennetts was able to get a late major for the Woods to pull the margin back to 36 points when the final siren was blown.
Speaking in the rooms after the match, it was mixed feeling amongst the Woods group. Damien Salievic talked about how the side needed to play out a full four quarters. “We had some good patches but still need to work on playing out the match. We need to step up and find an edge in key moments, whether you’ve played five matches or 200 matches.”
The loss sees the losing streak continue for the A Grade at Hahndorf Oval with the steak now set to extend to 5 years, 2 months and 10 days with Blackwood next set to face Hahndorf at Hahndorf Oval in Round 18 of this season.
Final scoreboard
Blackwood 2.2 5.3 8.4 10.6 (66)
Hahndorf 2.5 6.7 9.11 15.12 (102)
Goals – Minuzzo 4, Bennetts 2, Bricknell 1, Catford 1, Dijksman 1, Macreadie 1
Best – Dijksman, Woods, Minuzzo, Catford, Bennetts
Other results
Blackwood 8.5 (53) defeated by Hahndorf 13.8 (86)
Blackwood 4.10 (34) defeated by Hahndorf 8.7 (55)
Blackwood 5.3 (33) defeated by Hahndorf 10.6 (66)
Blackwood 3.1 (19) defeated by Hahndorf 2.9 (21)
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