A typical Saturday out at Warrior park saw the Seniors take on a St Mary’s/Salesian unit for the second time this year. SMS took the honours in round one in a close encounter and the word around the grounds was that this was going to be a similar story. Improved form from Westbourne in recent weeks saw the team come into the game quietly confident, and confidence was again boosted by an almost full strength line up named on Thursday night.
The almost gale force wind saw the advantage for the team kicking to the school end which Westbourne took advantage of in the 1st quarter seeing four goals kicked to St Mary’s one going into the first break.
Coach Andrew Horsburgh called on the team to stick tough in the 2nd, and the players heard the call not only restricting St Mary’s to two goals but matching their first quarter efforts by slotting through another four goals into the strong wind.
Troy “Fish” Whiting was a stand out in the first quarter, while Damien “Lock up with” Lockwood and Frank “Captain Cool” Pavez were at their usual best around the ground.
There was a buzz in the Warrior stable at half time with the home team holding a 38 point leave.
The 2nd half was one of the best quarters of football for the Warriors for the year with a 7 goal to zip period extending the home teams lead. Back line pressure for the experienced brigade of Miller, Benn and O’Keefe put the Warriors in a commanding position coming into the last breaj
Westbourne did not let up the pressure in the final quarter and again the strength of the backline held up the SMS forwards, plus excellent run from Shaun Gill and Andrew Maki meant that the Warriors again outscored their opponents into the wind.
It was 12 rounds in the making but the Warriors finally had 4 points against their name with a more than convincing win. The words “Westbourne’s the team that you all want to follow …” were heard once again coming from the Westbourne clubrooms. The win satisfied the hunger for many a Warrior follower, but others feel that there will be more opportunities to sing the song before the season is out.
The only worries to come out of the game was a serious knee injury to Oden Hickey and Paul Hudson being put on report for charging.
Old Westbourne
4.5 8.10 15.15 18.16.124
St Mary's Salesian
1.0 3.4 3.4 5.9.39
Goal Kickers: T. Whiting 7, F. Pavez 2, D. Lockwood 2, J. Ferguson 2, S. Gill , P. Hudson , K. Miller , P. O''Keefe , S. Laird
Best Players: D. Lockwood, F. Pavez, K. Miller, A. Maki, D. Benn, S. Gill
In the Reserves it was almost a repeat of the week before with Westbourne kicking off to a great start taking a 6 goals to 2 first quarter lead, led up forward by Jason Andrades with a stunning 5 goal start. The quarter saw some great work up forward but in the conditions allowing 2 goals to be kicked into the wind could hurt the end result.
The SMS defence held out in the 2nd with their forwards doing just enough to put them within a kick of OW going into the main break.
A disappointing 3rd quarter from the warriors saw them miss opportunities to kick away from SMS, but also give their opponents confidence coming into the last with a 2 goals to 2 quarter.
In the last SMS didn’t do much, but they did enough to nail 2 goals and hold the warriors to 1 point and run away with a 7 point victory.
The standouts for the Warriors were Jason Andrades plus some of the old crew in “Grouse” Gerace, “Blazers” Stanley, Adrian “The Plank” Board, and “Sniper” Jenkinson.
Old Westbourne
6.2 6.4 8.8 8.9.57
St Mary's Salesian
2.0 6.1 8.1 10.4.64
Goal Kickers: J. Andrades 5, B. Knee , C. Walgers , J. Andrades
Best Players: J. Andrades, B. Gerace, D. Stanley, A. Board, G. Jenkinson, B. Smith
