By Gary Stocks
Belief and confidence. Two words, impossible to define; two traits equally tough to identify.
To point young players to a locker room and ask them bring them out. To point them to a great teammate and ask him the source. Their location is inexact.
They are sport’s great intangibles. With them you can conquer the world. Without them you cannot execute the simplest of skills. And they can disappear in an instant.
For the O’Rourke Realty North Beach A-Grade team belief and confidence have been discovered. Spawned from relief, those qualities were a by-product of four premiership points finally secured on Saturday.
In truth they didn’t do a lot different to what they did in the first two weeks of the season. They have played with spirit and heart in each game, but this time, against Kalamunda at Charles Riley Reserve, came the reward of winning.
This young combination, the flagship of the club, might have felt an element of pressure, but the weight of that expectation should be lifted after a morale boosting victory – 12.6 (78) to 11.7 (73) win.
Down by 35 points at one stage in the third quarter there were myriad fine individual performances which propelled the collective victory. As it transpired, it was the final win on an epic ANZAC Day when the club won in all seven grades.
Kieren Yakas was superb in the ruck all day, Jamie Sajich was lively up forward and a lynchpin down back, Andrew Nunan was strong and forceful around the stoppages, Mitch Dwyer brilliant in a new role and Nick Reid proved an inspired – if fortuitous – selection.
Reid played third grade a week earlier and was behind a string of midfielders who were ahead of him the selection queue. But he did a Stephen Bradbury, all of those players were injured or unavailable and four years after playing his first senior match, he was back in the senior grade.
He has always had the skill and the capacity to play A-Grade footy and he demonstrated it on Saturday. Indeed, every player in the starting 22 displayed the traits so entrenched in the North Beach culture. They should now have the belief and confidence to do it again. And again. And again.
The Credent Financial Services A-Reserves have been a mirror image of their senior squad mates, winning in the opening two rounds and scarcely tested.
Kalamunda were not expected to provide a serious challenge. And yet they did.
And it required every ounce of their being to get over the line by two points.
Skipper Jacob Griffiths, a man who personifies the North Beach spirit, was superb with three goals and in conjunction with Tim Langsford, Ben DeRosa, Joel Fishlock and Mitch Cameron, helped the Beach to find a way.
In trouble after a slow start, they did what good sides do and found a way to grind out an important victory.
The story of the Coast to Coast Imports Phil Scott Colts has also been intriguing.
Out-classed and out-muscled in round one against University, sublime against Kelmscott and then decimated against Kalamunda when so many of the teenagers put a concert in the south-west ahead of their football.
It put a strain on both colts teams and they responded magnificently.
The Phil Scott Colts won by 15 points, the result of perhaps the most complete four-quarter performance of the season so far and with a number of players elevated for the match, proving their worth.
Each of them played their roles to good effect while regulars like Mitch Evans, Campbell Howie and Adam Swain were superb and Josh Cuzens enjoyed his promotion to the A-Colts.
The Redhill Brett Jones Colts defied their decimation and dominated against Wanneroo, winning 17.10 (112) to 3.2 (20).
Jesse Segal, Angus Edwards and Jamie Carmody led from the front in a disciplined and committed performance that saw the result always under control.
The Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade was also comprehensive victors against Scarborough, setting up a 92-point victory with a near faultless display in the first quarter.
Craig Hall, Michael Hoskins, Rob McComiskie and Dion Cownie were all exceptional in a team performance that was exceptional.
That triumph came on the back of the Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves completing obliterating Scarborough, winning by more than 25 goals, with full-forward Cale Potts producing a remarkable display.
Potts kicked 11 goals and with Damian Premici (five goals) by his side, they were a constant threat, Jake Carter and Shaheed Duke were also inspiring as the Beach won in every position on the ground.
The Express Bins E1-Grade completed a stellar day for the club, coming from behind to score an important win over Coolbellup.
The Beach started slowly, but with the reliable Steve Jopson (four goals) up forward, Matt Lynch, Chris Evans, Paul Cavanagh and John Oxborrow strong in the clinches, the Beach went on to win by 22 points – 12.7 (79) to 8.9 (57)
Round 3
O’Rourke Realty A-Grade
North Beach 2.0 4.1 8.5 12.6 78
Kalamunda 1.2 7.5 10.6 11.7 73
Goals – North Beach: Sajich 3; Dwyer, Foreman, Reid 2; Taylor, Bottechia, M Irvine.
Best – North Beach: Nunan, Yakas, Dwyer, Taylor, Italiano, Reid, Sajich, M Irvine.
Credent Financial Services A-Reserves
North Beach 4.4 5.6 8.8 9.12 66
Kalamunda 3.1 6.3 9.3 10.4 64
Goals – North Beach: Griffiths 3; Cameron, Fishlock 2; Cooper, Ekert.
Best – North Beach: Hart, Griffiths, T Langsford, DeRosa, Fishlock, Cameron.
Coast to Coast Imports Phil Scott Colts
North Beach 1.1 5.2 6.4 8.6 54
Kalamunda 1.3 1.5 2.7 5.9 39
Goals – North Beach: Quinn 3; Adler, Dalton, Harbers, Hughes, Swain.
Best – North Beach: Evans, Howie, Cuzens, Swain.
Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade
North Beach 6.0 9.5 13.6 16.10 106
Scarborough 0.0 1.0 2.2 2.2 14
Goals – North Beach: Cownie 4; Luck, McGuire, Host 2; O’Donoghue, Hall Christie, Hall, Hoskins, R McComiskie.
Best – North Beach: Hall, Hoskins, McComiskie, Cownie.
Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves
North Beach 9.4 16.5 21.9 26.12 168
Scarborough 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.2 8
Goals – North Beach: Potts 11; Premici 5; B Boys, Duim 2; E Cuzens, Spies, Turner, Wheeler, Holdman.
Best – North Beach: Potts, Carter, Premici, Duke.
Redhill Brett Jones Colts
North Beach 4.2 8.6 13.7 17.10 112
Wanneroo 0.1 3.2 3.2 3.2 20
Goals – North Beach: Staines, Hill, Carson 3; Farrell, Lazenby, McCarthy, 2; Petterson, Vance.
Best – North Beach: Edwards, Segal, Carmody.
Express Bins E-2 Grade
North Beach 2.2 4.5 8.7 12.7 79
Coolbellup 3.2 6.3 8.4 8.9 57
Goals – North Beach: Jopson 4; Ryan 2; P Cavanagh, Keating, T McComiskie, Miribile, Missikos, Smith.
Best – North Beach: Lynch, Evans, P Cavanagh, Oxborrow.
