From Coach and Director of Student Wellbeing, Matthew Porter
Waverley AFL First XVIII
The season started in fine fashion with the Waverley First XVIII (83) defeating St Joseph’s XVIII (48) on Saturday May 5th. Waverley started well in the first quarter with a quick flurry of goals. Unfortunately, a few Waverley errors saw St Joseph’s finish the quarter strongly and the game was evenly poised going into the second quarter. Baxter Oleksyn and Steve Morrissey got Waverley off to a great start with 3 goals between them in the opening minutes. However, obvious early season skill errors and a series of free kicks to St Joseph’s kept them within reach with the score 42-30 at half time. The third quarter was a real arm-wrestle with spirited efforts from Xavier Slezak, Toby Renshaw, Ashley Backlund and Darcy Mullins. This combined with clean skills and many defensive efforts to give Waverley the edge going into the final quarter. St Joseph’s played very well all day although a strong last quarter from Waverley lead by Thomas Tysons, Harry Whitaker and Max D’Agostino’s 4 goal performance gave Waverley their first win of the season by 35 points.
Waverley 12-11-83 defeated St Joseph’s 7-6-48
Goals:
Max D’Agostina – 4,
Darcy Mullins, Baxter Oleksyn – 2
Toby Renshaw, Will Davison, Tommy Tyson, Steve Morrissey – 1
From Coach Fred Pawle
Waverley AFL 9/10’s
After a much anticipated first clash of the season, Waverley 9/10’s (136) defeated Riverview 9/10’s (21) on Saturday May 5th. Waverley came out of the sheds with a bang, converting almost every chance they had at goals. Waverley kept Riverview scoreless for the first quarter and cleared the ball on every opportunity possible, this was due to the ability for Waverley’s mid’s to stream back and assist the back men. Waverley once again came out hard in the second quarter with the midfield taking control of the game and handing it off for the forwards to convert opportunities. Waverley made good use of their wing players to run the ball, the quarter was filled with more goals from Waverley and by the end of the first half Reid McNamara had bagged a handful of goals, once again Waverley kept Riverview scoreless. During the third quarter Riverview began to fight back and provided an arm-wrestle for the premiership quarter, scoring 20 of their 21 points during this quarter. Meanwhile Waverley’s scoring was quickly reduced and we were restricted to only 3 goals and a few behinds. Just as Waverley came out of the sheds with a bang, they also went into the sheds with a bang and drove Riverview into the ground, making good use of skills through the midfield and used a few long bombs and runs to energise the team. Zac Murphy and Bodhi Reiners finished the game with a few snags each and showed the competition that Waverley is a team to be feared. Waverley showed they have potential from the start of this season and they must capitalise on what they have done well and tweak a few parts of their game in order to have a shot at the premiership.
Notable performances were, Bodhi Reiners, Xavier Ruppert, Zac Murphy, Reid McNamara, Ollie Rinder, Jack Harris and Will Mazor.
From Coach William Tyson
Waverley AFL 7/8A’s Team Report
7/8A’s Waverley V St Aloysius
Round one of the year brought us out to ELS Hall oval in North Ryde. A good pre-season training had the boys eager and determined to start the round right. The way they played made them look like a team that had been together for years, but this was the first time most of them had played together which was very impressive. St Aloysius had packed a respectful, tough side to take on Waverley playing a very similar brand of footy the Waverley boys like to play. The first quarter was tightly contested and very tight for most the duration, but a few handy goals gave us a lead that would only grow. As the game progressed the heat of the contest lowered, and the boys really started to take control and play the way they like to play, fast and skilled football. By 3-quarter time there was talk of mercy rule being put in place but St Aloysius never seemed to go completely away. The game eventually closed out giving Waverley a convincing win to start the regular season. All the boys had put in respectful efforts. The structured and clever backline often had to play with one man down as St Aloysius brought their wingers into the forward line, this was no problem for the boys as in attack they would shift up the field and help the rest of the team and when the ball turned over they would quickly transition into defence. The midfield was tough, they tackle hard, put their head over the ball and run all day. The forward line also had a good day in the office, with minimal behinds and the ball being used for scoring in the best possible positions, they played for the team not themselves.
Waverley 79 defeated St Aloysius 10
Best Players: Luke Higgins, Louis Kitto, Angus Anthony, Max Murphy, Sam Stewart
From Coach Matthew Miller
Waverley AFL 7/8B’s Team Report
This week the 7/8B’s Waverley boys came up against a strong Cranbrook team in their first game for the season. The game started off evenly with both teams trading goals and behinds throughout the first two quarters however, Cranbrook was beginning to gain control as the half came to a close. With some key performances from the midfield group, the Waverley boys were able to storm out of the gates into the second half and quickly gain back the lead. Waverley ended up continuing these efforts throughout the rest of the game and as a result started the season off with a comfortable win. All up it was an excellent effort from all players on the field and we hope to see the same in the next game when the boys come up against Shore on Saturday.
Waverley 45 Defeated Cranbrook 33
Best Players: Jude Duckman, Jay Palm, Tobias Malzard, Charley Roberts, Charles Hudson
From the AFL Coordinator, Alan Riordan
AFL Umpires Course
This week saw our annual AFL umpire course start for the third consecutive year. It’s a great course with all participants being registered and having their AFL umpire qualifications at the conclusion of the course. The boys learn and experience plenty of ‘on field training’ while also respecting the Umpires final decision. The boys are also able to earn money for umpiring actual games which is all organised and run by AFLNSW.
If there are any students interested in completing this free course, which runs each Wednesday morning from 7am at the Queens Park Pavilion, please feel free to email your interest to Mr Riordan, the College’s AFL coordinator via email ariordan@waverley.nsw.edu.au.
