By Frank Seal
It was a big week for Olinda Ferny Creek’s senior side, the club needed to regroup and review their method after two disappointing losses back-to-back. This week, the challenge was against a hungry Upwey-Tecoma side, fresh off a dominant win over Officer the week before. In cold, but otherwise perfect conditions, both teams were eager to take the 4 points and the Bendigo Bank Community Shield to go with it.
The bloods intent around the ball was positive from the first bounce, with no player preparing to take a backward step, unlike in previous weeks. The territory battle was in Olinda’s favour early, midfielders Pat Rosier and Pete Lucas were hunting the footy and clearing it forward. The most encouraging sign, however, was the ferocious display of forward pressure by the likes of Lachy Taylor and Percy Hyett, laying tackles and locking the ball inside 50 on numerous occasions, forcing slow exits and nervous fumbles from their opponent. Despite this, the Tigers managed to hit the scoreboard through fast offensive transition and turnovers, nailing three goals for the quarter to Olinda’s two.
The quarter-time address was positive, but the Bloods were well aware of the scoreboard and looked to respond early in the second. Through sustained effort and intensity around the contest, Olinda did respond by getting well on top in the midfield and feeding the forwards with damaging kicks. The forwards were impacting every aerial contest inside 50, forcing numerous defenders to fly. Noah Desta and Matt Rosier were damaging at ground level, gathering the ball cleanly while prohibiting their opponents from doing the same. The highlight of the quarter, however, was a significant gesture of bloods leadership from Lachy Taylor, who marked the ball inside 50, saw an open Ned Ford running toward goal, and passed the ball off to give him his first goal in senior footy. This gave the Bloods a major boost heading into half-time, leading 42-26.
From here there was no turning back, as Olinda put their foot to the floor and blitzed through the tigers in the third quarter, piling on goals to put the game out of reach. The back six were confidently playing high up the ground, forcing forward half turnovers and killing the energy of their opponent. Defenders Dale Rohrmann and Callum Beatie were refusing to let the ball past them, taking powerful intercept marks and launching the bloods into quick offensive transition. Tyler Belloni was valuable through the midfield, adopting a solid defensive mindset and halting the tiger’s offensive flow. It was a dominant quarter which saw the Bloods add seven goals to Upwey’s one, establishing a 53-point lead into the fourth.
The final quarter was heated, as Upwey amped up their physicality in response to Olinda’s gameplay dominance. Olinda were up to the fight, continuing to win territory and threaten the tiger defence. Lachy Taylor and Noah Desta each kicked their sixth goals for the match, while Matt Rosier and Percy Hyett joined in, adding five between them. With the result beyond doubt and the tension building between the two teams, an all-in brawl broke out in the dying stages, adding some crowd entertainment to an already decided match. As the final siren blew, Olinda were 124-58 victors in a convincing performance to get their season back on track.
In other results, The Olinda reserves (7-5-47) were defeated by Upwey-Tecoma (10-5-65).
Upwey-Tecoma’s senior women (5-7-37) defeated Olinda (2-1-13).
The Olinda u/19s (3-7-25) were beaten by Mt Evelyn (18-13-121).
