The Under 19 Blue side today (12/5) headed over to the great house of learning to play Monash Blues were they gave their own classic lesson in guts and determination. With a starting line up of only 18 players against Monash Blues who had 24, it seemed the odds were stacked against them from the start. With the aid of the westerly breeze, the Tigers opened brightly and by quarter time were up by 25 points in a great team display. However, by midway through the second quarter, we had Callum Byrnes off with an injured knee and Jake Townley concussed in a heavy knock.
The boys were now down to 16 players with Monash Blues in front at half time by 2 points. By the start of the second half, the number able to take the field dropped to 15 players as David Goodchild could not continue with his already damage back. The beeze died and midway through the third quarter, Taylor Gogerly came off with an eye injury and blurred vision. Player count was now SBMT 14 Monash Blues 24 and the meager lead did not seem enough. Stand in coach Tony Bova once again encouraged his charges to continue with the extraordinary level of effort and commit – and they did not let him down. While the Monash boys sprayed a few in front of goal, the Tigers boys took their chances. The endeavour, unity and self belief in our boys to fight it out until the end to achieve a drawn game at 63 a piece was something to witness and really appreciate. A fantastic gutsy effort by all the boys who really did stand tall. Well done boys. You should all be very proud!!