With a number of injuries and unavailabilities, Blighty found it difficult to get a solid side on the park against Katandra on Saturday.
But the boys did us proud by applying continuous pressure on the opposition on what was a very warm day.
Our boys pushed Katandra to the limits during different stages of the game, forcing a number of errors upon them, but found the well drilled fit young side to strong.
It was only probably the last 15 minutes that our lads were totally spent and the score blew out, which did not give a fair indication of the way the game was played.
The Melbourne boys showed some scintillating speed and were a real pleasure to watch as they continually mowed down the opposition, laying some fierce tackles.
Dane Leyden was strong in the midfield rotating to keep up the pressure at the bounce.
Kyle Bain was solid in defence laying a number of tackles in the last line, supporting Arron Litchfield and Issac Suckling who was later moved to the forward line to offer a target and goaling.
Luke Charlton was good on a wing and defence, and Henry Micheal and Hugh Burton tried hard all day after Hugh already had played in the reserves.
Final score: Katandra 26.14 (170) def Blighty 7.3 (45).
Reserves:
Blighty were eaten by a good margin at the Kattery on Saturday, but the intensity on the field was still pretty good given our 15 players reduced to 12.
It was the first time in the past three weeks the boys finally played as a team for the last few quarters, keeping possession of the ball and sharing it around with confidence in what looked like a hopeless situation for us.
Kev Kerr dropped down from the ones and Jarrod Andrews combined with tall Zac Thompson, brother Brock Thompson and Chris Hoveyson to start the process that became infectious.
Kyle Ives busted his hump all day, winning nearly every ruck contest and giving us a fighting chance in the middle, showing the class that he must have had in his younger days.
Dion Winter was also doing his usual best.
Final score: Katandra 28.12 (180) def Blighty (0).
Fourths
The Blighty fourths had a big loss against Katandra, but once again to their credit they didn’t stop trying.
They fought the whole four quarters.
They were out matched by a much larger team but there were some big efforts from William Frost, Pip Bain, Mitch Bain and Ruby Gordon.
Josh Singleton tired all day in the ruck and Pip Bain got the goal for the day.
Thanks once again to all the fifths who came up to the fourths and tried tried their hardest, sometimes playing on opponents twice their size.
Over the next week we will work on learning from the game at Katandra and move forward!
Final score: Katandra 23.22 (160) def Blighty 1.1 (7).
Fifths
The fifths had a great day, winning by two goals (although the game is not officially scored).
In a great team effort, it was a great win for Blighty.