2019 U10 Blue Season Report

Coach: Dan Pinnuck / Team Manager: Jason O’Sullivan

Coaching this group of young people has been a privilege and something I’ve really enjoyed again this year. I’ve been amazed at how much more mature they returned to training from last year.

We added 4 new players this year (Joel, Josh, Zaine & Ryan) all of whom acquitted themselves exceptionally well, their enthusiasm for the game made coaching them a joy.  It has been very rewarding to see all the players develop their football and great to see their personalities come out as they have become more familiar with the coaches and other parents.

In terms of on-field we had a season of 2 half’s.  During grading (1^st 4games) we won games against AJAX (narrowly) & South Melbourne (8 goals) both of whom went down to the division below post grading. This resulted in us being placed in the very competitive Div. 2 and being the only club that didn’t have at least two Under10 teams.

Round 4 to round 8 we lost all 5 games in similar fashion, as soon as our more advanced players were rotated out of the midfield we were dominated resulting in our forwards and the opposition backs not having an opportunity to access the ball because they were stuck behind the zone boundary.

Round 9 onward we set up all games with a core midfield group of 4 but still sprinkled others through. The backline and forward line rotated at half time. Round 9 to Round 14 we won 4 out of 6 games but more importantly the ball was distributed evenly across all 3 zones allowing all players the opportunity to get a kick.

This year’s lightning carnival was the 1^st time in 3 years we were playing for something – a Flag. The wind made it difficult to play skillful football but the intensity and attack on the ball across the whole group was the best I’ve seen.

We won our 1^st game against AJAX which was a fantastic contest, then narrowly held off Beaumaris in the second game before facing off against St Peters whom also were undefeated. The Grand Final against   St Peters we were down all game but pressed hard late in the game, Cams kicking a set shot right on the siren to seal the game and the Premiership.

My other highlights for the year:

The game against St Peters R12. Score:  Mentone 6 3 39 def. St Peters 5 3 33.

The toughest contest I’ve seen in the 3 years and we had 6 individual goal kickers. Great game.

Lightning Carnival Win (and a flag!) All 3 games were awesome contests – 1^st Goals to Gene, Ryan, Cams, and Zaine & TJ

Special thank you to my Coaching Assistant Michael, TM Jase, Umpire Steve Ryan and Runner Steve Kringas.

Thank you to the parent group for your support and assistance during the year with the multitude of jobs that come with fielding a junior footy team. Thanks also to Matt & Anna for sponsoring the team.

 Dan Pinnuck