By Gary Stocks
Famous American football coach Vince Lombardi, a man of various quotes that are part of the sporting vernacular, once said ‘show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.’
When the O’Rourke Realty North Beach A-Grade team lost to Fremantle CBC at Morris Buzzacott Reserve last Saturday, it wasn’t so much about accepting the defeat, but taking a sense of reality out of the loss.
While the Beach did all within its collective power to win the game, it was not good enough. For all the heart and endeavour thrown at the contest, it lost by 46 points. The opposition was simply too polished, too classy and blew open the game with one telling burst in third quarter red time.
In that five minute period, CBC rattled on four goals and created the game winning advantage.
The youthful North Beach team lost concentration in that time and the match was done, but coach David Hynes, although bitterly disappointed with the result, could not question the effort. The Beach, unfortunately, made too many errors at critical times to beat one of the competition’s premier outfits and this clash will need to be used as another learning tool.
With eight members of this side eligible to play colts this season, there has been a heavy emphasis on building a team for the future. It’s also about winning games in the present and hopefully that will come soon.
Against CBC, captain Beau Witheridge, who has led from the front all season, was again outstanding, with support coming from the tenacious Mitch Dwyer, Jamie Sajich and ruckman Kieren Yakas.
In addition, a couple of those youngsters of colts eligibility, Jack O’Gorman and Jordan Gray, as well as Kyle Cranley, who kicked three goals in his first game of the season, were prominent.
Gray and Mitch Cameron joined the list of teenage debutants this year and like those before them acquitted themselves well. The A-Grade made four changes for this clash and that had a knock-on effect with the Credent Financial Services A-Reserves, who had nine different faces from round four to round five.
Keeping a consistent line-up together generally is a pre-requisite for on-going success and not surprisingly, the reserves lost their first game of the year against CBC.
Beaten by a little over 10 goals, the Beach also boasted a youthful presence in this team although it was the more experienced players like Tim Langsford, Rob Scantlebury and Dion Cownie who led the way.
The Coast to Coast Imports Phil Scott Colts have remained a powerful outfit despite the spread of players across the three most senior grades who could be playing in the under-20 competition.
It took four full, consistent and committed quarters to get past CBC, but eventually that occurred with a meritorious 16-point victory.
Tough and disciplined it was one of their most impressive wins of the season where they were so well led by Liam Pardini, Adam Swain, Nathan Adler, who kicked five of the team’s 11 goals, and Josh Cuzens, who continues to excel after getting an opportunity a few weeks ago.
The Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade continued their unbeaten start to the season with a blistering last quarter that saws them rattle on seven goals on the way to a 34-point win.
After scores were level at three-quarter time, thanks largely to North Beach’s inaccuracy (5.10-6.4), the home side slipped into gear and took charge after the last break.
Adam Miotti kicked four goals, while other strong contributions were provided by Trevor Lang, Liam Spencer and Ben Bubnich. Coach Bill Duckworth is still waiting for a four-quarter effort and knows anything less against Trinity-Aquinas this week will not get the job done.
The Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves produced another commanding performance to despatch CBC Fremantle by points – 17.9 (111) to 5.7 (37).
The Beach put the game to bed in a dominant first half with Luke Spies and Jon Turner leading the way, while Cale Potts and Michael Bramley were prominent up forward and kicked nine goals between them.
The Redhill Brett Jones Colts started the day off with a bang at Charles Riley Reserve, opening proceedings with a 70-point victory against CBC.
In what was a brilliant four-quarter team performance, Mathew Senton dominated stoppages, Pierce Rollo controlled the back half while Richard Nguyen and Caolan O’Connell were also outstanding.
Up forward, Joey Hill and Darby McCarthy each kicked three goals.
The Express Bins E1-Grade found Roleystone a tough nut to crack and lost by 49 points.
Results
O’Rourke Realty A-Grade
Frem CBC 3.5 5.7 10.7 13.8 86
North Beach 2.0 4.1 5.4 6.4 40
Goals – North Beach: Cranley 3; Cameron, Italiano, Reid.
Best – North Beach: Witheridge, Dwyer, Sajich, O’Gorman, Cranley, Gray, Yakas.
Credent Financial Services A-Reserves
Frem CBC 3.7 7.9 12.10 14.12 96
North Beach 0.2 1.3 2.3 5.4 34
Goals – North Beach: Cownie 2; Hackett, Hitchcock, Scantlebury.
Best – North Beach: T Langsford, Scantlebury, Cownie.
Coast to Coast Imports Phil Scott Colts
North Beach 3.2 5.5 8.4 11.8 74
Frem CBC 4.0 5.3 6.3 9.4 58
Goals – North Beach: Adler 5; McAuliffe 2; Dalton, Hoffman, Kavanagh, Swain.
Best – North Beach: Pardini, Swain, Adler, Halley, Cuzens.
Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade
North Beach 2.6 4.9 5.10 12.11 83
Frem CBC 2.0 4.2 6.4 7.7 49
Goals – North Beach: Miotti 4; Christie, Lang, Tonus 2; Foley .
Best – North Beach: Lang, Spencer, Bubnich, Miotti.
Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves
North Beach 4.2 11.5 15.9 17.9 111
Frem CBC 1.3 1.5 2.6 5.7 37
Goals – North Beach: Potts 5; Bramley 4; B Boys, Orr-Young 2; J Boys, Bryce, T Cavanagh, L Quinlan.,
Best – North Beach: Spies, Turner, Duim.
Redhill Brett Jones Colts
North Beach 3.4 7.6 10.8 16.11 107
Frem CBC 2.2 2.5 5.5 5.7 37
Goals – North Beach: Hill, McCarthy 3; Baty, Brooks, Reidy, M Holden 2; Farrell, Manou.
Best – North Beach: Senton, Rollo, Nguyen, O’Connell.
Express Bins E1-Grade
Roleystone 15.13 (103) def North Beach 8.6 (54)
