Under 12's - Blue

Under 12's - Blue

Coach - Peter Steven 0419 523 955

Team Manager - Lawrie Cole : 0419 73 83 93

Training Times - Friday, 5:00PM, Whatmough Park

Round 1 - 2/4/2006 St Mary's 12.9.81 - v - Nth Brunswick 1.0.6
A great team effort in the first game for the season.  Well done by all the boys.  Thanks to the boys from Gold and Green that helped out.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Marcus Nolan (2), Joseph Zema (2), Jake plunkett (2), Corey Steven (1) Callum Sexton (1), Nathan Daly (1), Johnny Agugiaro (1), Nick Gaylor (1), Charlie Saad (1) Corey Steven, Philip Sammasino, Kieran Bowkett, Joseph Zema, Jacob Rockwell, Nathan Daly, Charlie Saad, Marc Mitrovski, Johnny Agugiaro, Callum Sexton, Matthew Kolotylo, Brady Cole Evan Solakidis & Michael Glouftsis.  Great 1st games for the club

Round 2 - 9/4/2006 St Mary's 2.3.15 - v - Ivanhoe 6.12.48
A good effort against a strong team. Some fantastic efforts throughout the game. Some great improvement in many areas of our game. Well done boys. Have a good break
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
M Glouftsis, M Kolotylo P Sammassimo, C Saad, M Kolotylo, C Steven and J Rockwell Well done B Phillips - 1st game
Well done M Dlouftsis - 1st goal

Round 3 - 23/4/2006 St Mary's 3.8.26 - v - Richmond 14.9.93
We started slowly and allowed the opposition to kick 12 goals in the 1st half. We were more committed and played good team footy to with the 2nd half. A good effort by the boys.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Corey Steven (2), Nick Daisley (1) Rockwell, Kolotylo, Sexton, Steven, Bowkett

Round 4 - 30/5/2006 St Mary's 3.4.22 - v - 4.10.34
We started off well and played 3 good quarters of football, unfortunately we failed to capitalise with scores on the board.

We let ourselves down in the last quarter and allowed them to over run us.

Good 3 quarter effort, but we have to put in a full game if we are to be successful. I know we can do it. Well done boys keep at it.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Nathan Daley (2), Phil Sammassimo (1) C Saad, P Sammassimo, N Kennedy, J Rockwell K Bowkett, very hard at the footy and gets better every week.
N Kennedy, great disciplined game.

Round 5 - 7/5/2006 St Mary's 2.5.17 - v - Heidelberg 9.6.50
Despite winning 8 of the last 12 quarters we have not managed to get a win.

This week saw all players go in hard for the ball, the tackling was exceptional as was the endeavour for the loose ball. Despite numerous opportunities, we failed to capitalise and convert.

Congratulations to all the boys on a super performance, your efforts will be rewarded if you keep at it.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Corey Steven, Mitchell Gardiner Corey Steven, Jacob Rockwell, Charlie Saad, Brady Cole, Callum Sexton Whole team, a much more aggressive effort
Next weeks game is on Friday night, 6.30pm at Bulleen park, training on Wednesday
Round 6- 14/5/2006 St Mary's 1.3.9- v - Greythorn 6.9.45
Fantastic performance against a team that beat us 15 goals to 1 in the last game of last year. Tackling, talking and hard at the footy was what was asked of the boys and they delivered. Once again, we failed to capitilise. Excellant effort all round, keep at it.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Daley 1 Whole team Brady Cole-best game you have ever played.
Daniel Kokonyi-put together a good game.

Round 7- 21/5/2006 St Mary's 3.5.23- v - Fitzroy 8.6.54
Good 1st 3 quarters with a number of very good efforts from all boys. As in past weeks we failed to capitalise the good work. The last quarter saw us put in the same effort but score 3 goals. Despite the loss we can be very encouraged by a good team effort. Thanks to Christian, Clarky, natty and Steven from Gold and Blue. Lets know off North Brunswick next week!
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Luke Clarke, Matt Rutter, Christian Missailidis all 1 each Great team effort

Round 8- 28/5/2006 St Mary's 6.10.46 - v - Nth Brunswick 3.1.19
We came out strongly and did the things we had trained, finally putting it together. There were sme really good passages of team work, good constructive hand balls and lots of talking. They came out hard at us in the second half but the boys responded to a good win. Well done. Thanks to Searly from Gold, Andrew from Green and Jack from under 11.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Jack Flemming 3
Nathan Scarle, Corey Steven, Nick Kennerly 1 each		 Charlie Saad, Jacob Rochwell, Corey Steven, Nathan Daley, David Kakonyi Daniel Kakonyi for his best game so far.

Round 9 - 4/6/2006 St Mary's 6.8.44 - v - Ivanhoe 3.0.18
We got thrashed by this team twice last year and also the first time we met them in round 2 this year, so we owed them a solid game.

Despite injuries, the boys were committed and kicked 3 goals to nil in the first quarter. It was an even contest from then on but there was no way that our boys were going to let this game slip. We responded to every challenge and played great team footy and pulled off a great win. This makes it two in a row, something this team has never achieved. Thanks to Conrod, AJ and Spinksey from Gold, Steven from Green and Nick, Hubbie, Jordan and Kieran from U/11 Blue
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Steven (3), Bruhn, Dupont and Hutchinson Whole team but one stand out - Evan, your best game ever Jack - great first game for the club

Round 10 - 18/6/2006 St Mary's 2.2.14 - v - Richmond 10.20.70
Fantastic performance against the top team in the competition, a team who has been thrashing most teams they have played.

At half time there was only 5 points in it, the second half was a very even game with the exception that Richmond was able to capitalise on a couple of occasions.

Well done boys, thanks to Marcus from Green and Luke from Gold.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Nathan Daley (2) Great team performance Jack for another good performance and David for being hard at the footy.

Round 11 - 2/7/06 St Mary's 3.3.21 - v - Greythorn 5.1.31
We let a game slip through our fingers that we had every opportunity to win.

The opposition has always beaten us easily, so to be only 3 points down at three quarter time in cold, wet and windy conditions was a great effort.Unfortunately we just couldn't go on with it.

Despite that, it was a great team performance, something the boys can be proud of.

Thanks to Nick and Pat from Gold and Jarrod from Green.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Joseph Zema (2), Jarrod Bunker Corey, Rocky, David, Adam, Nick, Evan and Marc Adam - great first game. David - another solid performance. Marc on a great 50th game.

Round 12 - 9/7/2006 St Mary's 3.7.25 - v - Heidelberg 3.4.22
Yet another team we have never beaten but with good signs in the last few weeks, we knew we would be iin with a chance if we hit them hard from the beggining. This is exactly what we did and Heidelberg were never allowed to recover.
Our first half was clearly our best first half fort he season, the tackling across all lines was fantastic and there were many instances of second, third and sometimes fourth efforts.
Great game boys, you are now showing the competition that you are a team that is not to be taken lightly. Thanks to Jarrad and Mitch from gold and Archie and Sam from green.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Joseph Zema 2, Corey Steven 1 Great all round team effort Charlie and Johnny for their tackling, Daniel and Nathan for working hard, Joseph and Kieran for a great last quarter.
Round 13 - 16/7/2006 St Mary's 5.5.35 - v - Doncaster Heights 1.5.11
Snapshot back to round 1, 2nd April, St Mary's under 12 Blue won our first game by 75 points, our greatest ever winning margin, we were sitting on top of the ladder with a huge percentage and were talking premierships!!
Snapshot forward a couple of weeks to round 3, 23rd April, we were 1 win and 2 losses, and with the three under 12 teams all settled, we only had 16 on our list before any illness and injuries, and of those, 5 were first year players.  The other two under 12 teams were also depleted in numbers with a maximum of 21, so some tough decisions had to be made.
Under the guidance of Football Director, Paul Millett, and with great assistance from the Under 12 Gold and Green coaches, Macca and Andrew respectively, a rotation policy was implemented.  That is, bringing players in to the Blue team from the other two teams on a rotation basis.
There were several advantages in this program;
- it provides the Blue team with some experienced players around them;
- these experienced players show by example;
- the Gold and Green players learn valuable leadership skills;
- it allows the Blue team to be more competitive.
The program took several weeks to really kick off on the score board with several losses to the team, in games that were certainly very winnable.
Snapshot forward a few more weeks to round 9, 4th June, we were 2 wins and 7 losses and were playing Ivanhoe, a top 4 team who had absolutely crushed us twice in 2005, and beaten us convincingly in round 2.  On game day we had one first gamer, and only 12 of our squad fit to take the field with injury and illness crippling us.  In kicked the rotation policy as it had done all season and with a little assistance from under 11 players, we just managed to put a team on the track, yet clicked into a gear we had not thought possible.  All the regular players stepped up, and they were well led by the experienced players.  We had to chuck a few players around into positions they weren't used to; Corey went from his usual position in the centre to full forward and off his own boot kicked 3.2, more than the opposition's entire score (and he was wild because he said he should have kicked 6!!); first year player Evan finally flicked the switch and dominated on the half back flank showing that he is really a player of the future; AJ from gold was dominant in the centre, at the ball ups and boundary throw ins, and he can thank our regular ruckman Rocky for palming the ball down his throat time and time and time again.  Rocky's ruckwork was brilliant, no one can remember him losing one rucking contest for the whole game and this gave all our on-ballers every opportunity and they didn't let him down; Marc, Callum and Kieran, our regular full back line showed how much they had improved and there was no way they were going to let their mates down up the field, and on and on and on it went.
Snapshot forward to round 13, 16 July, playing Doncaster Heights who had beaten us in our last encounter in a game that we should never have lost.  So to the mix we added a teaspoon of revenge, and a tablespoon of a possible finals berth if we won all remaining games of the season, and another teaspoon of pride with a St Mary's under 13's game on directly after ours and lots of spectators there to cheer us on.  With regular ruckman Rocky out for the season, Evan away and Braden a late withdrawl, the rotation policy kicked in and we were able to secure Keenan and Shane from Gold and Luke and Aaron from Green.
Kicking down the steep hill at Riescheicks Reserve in the first quarter we really took it up to them, discipline, hard tackling and hard at the footy was what was asked and the boys delivered, again and again.  Regular winger Brady playing for the first time in the back pocket played the best game of his career; Corey was on fire as usual in the centre; usual back flanker Nick stepped up and gave his opposition a bath at centre half back; Kieran moved from the back pocket and was thriving in some space on the wing; usual centre half forward Matt completely took up the challenge of rucking all day in Rocky's absence and all our forwards stuck to position to create opportunities ......... and there has not yet been any mention of the rotation players.
This was clearly a magnificent performance by a team, a team in every sense of the word that has used the experience of the rotated players to learn from their example, the most pleasing aspect of this win was the the rotated players blended and whilst they played well, they did not dominate such was the improvement in our team.  Doncaster tried valiantly but they were simply not a match on the day.
We still have a long way to go, three games left and three wins needed to be a finals possibiity.  What all this has proven is that the club's policy on balancing teams within age groups (as fully detailed on the St Mary's web site) can take different forms, and the rotation policy has proven to be the most valuable to our boys this year; it is difficult to put into words how much they have improved under this system.
Perhaps it might be appropriate here to put in a quote from a famous Italian artist and inventor, or better still, and more correctly, a German poet, but I'm not that smart (and our under 12 Gold coach probably wouldn't understand it!!), all I can say is well done boys, you have deserved your wins, SENTATIONAL effort from you all.
Many thanks from all the boys and the parents to the club, and particularly Paul, Macca and Andrew for supporting such a worthwhile program, our boys would never have improved as much without it.  Also a big thankyou to all the parents who all put in every week, without you the boys could never take the field.
Three games to go boys, our aim is three wins, you can almost smell fourth spot!!
See you on the track on Friday..................

Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
L Carallo (2), K Possar, J Zema, C Steven Whole team
Round 14 - 23/7/2006 St Mary's 3.4.22 - v - Fitzroy 10.8.68
Great performance against a better side on the day. The result did not reflect the effort, particularly as Fitzroy has a strong wind for 3 quarters.

Boys you can be proud of your effort, you provided a great spectacle for parents and supporters of both teams

Thanks to Spinksy, Jeremy, Tom, Cam and Jack
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Joseph Zema (2), Daniel Kakony Great team effort Daniel and Adam for a great effort.
Rocky for his help on the bench
Round 15 - 30/7/2006 St Mary's 3.6.24 - v - Nth Brunswick 8.4.52
Beat by a better team on the day, one who has improved dramatically during the season.
Well done to them for a good effort.

To my boys, the best part was you tried hard and that is what is important. Heads up, lets knock off Ivanhoe next week.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
N Kennedy, K Bowkett, D Dober K Bowkett, C Saad, C Steven, M Kakony, N Kennedy Kieren - best game ever
Round 16 - 6/8/2006 St Mary's 0.0.0 - v - Ivanhoe 11.18.84
Great effort, the scoreboard did not indicate the effort we put in today against a far superior opposition.

Thanks to all the boys for a great season, to all the parents for their effort and particularly Laurrie, Gary, Daryl and Mal.

Great season, you all improved, we had fun and we won a few games along the way.
Goal Kickers Best Players Encouragement
Whole team, particularly Charlie and Jack.
Friday 18th 5.00pm "training and game night" followed by pizza and drinks in the club rooms. Please attend!