The year has flown along as we find ourselves halfway through the season!
Off the field we've had a great first half of the year hosting a number of successful functions at home matches including Ladies Day, Mothers Day and Past Players & Supporters Day. Seeing plenty of new faces around the club, supporting these events, has been brilliant and we loved to see all the Past Players & Supporters enjoy a cracking day at the new facility.
The club merchandise sale has been a resounding success. It's awesome to see so many people at our matches kitted out in the club merch! Due to the popularity, the club has decided to open up orders again for those who missed out first time.
Click here to go to the merch shop. At time of writing, it's open for the next 12 days (Closes 1 July 2019 - 10am)
There are a number of social functions happening for players later in the year and we will continue to have the home Pavilion open after the A Grade for post match drinks. Post match presentations are always held at Club Major Sponsor, The Bath Hotel - Norwood from roughly 7pm. So feel free to come along there on a Saturday night to celebrate with the players!
On the field, all 5 of our teams are in strong positions to feature in finals.
Our Women's team has battled through an injury crisis leaving them often short of players (sometimes playing with no bench!). Even still, they find themselves 3rd on the ladder after 7 matches, with 5 wins and 2 losses. The 2 losses were to Broadview and Eastern Park, who are first and second on the ladder, both away so make sure you come along to the return fixtures at home, will both be excellent matches!
D Grade have had a mixed first half of the year. They sit 4th on ladder after 8 matches with 5 wins and 3 losses. The nature of the team is generally a turnover of players due to availability, injuries in the higher grades etc. There have even been some players play the C Grade at 10:15am then race over to a D Grade match, arriving at quarter time to top up numbers. With that in mind, they have put together some strong performances and if they are able to maintain a core group of players going into the playoff, they could cause some upsets. Also congratulations to Henry Curtis who takes over as D Grade coach!
C Grade have played 8 matches, 6 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw, 1 bye and are 2nd on the ladder. Golden Grove gave the lads a small reality check a couple of weeks ago and Saturday just gone, the draw felt like a loss vs Plympton. They will look to get back to winning ways against North Haven this week and will want to roll on for the second half of the year to lock in a top spot on the ladder.
B Grade are looking very good so far, after 9 matches they are 8 wins and 1 loss sitting 2nd on the ladder. Their strong performances and ladder position are representative of the club's player depth. There are a number of players knocking on the door of an A Grade spot and the B's are stronger for the competition for spots. The second half of the season will be about staying healthy and building the on field rapport to have a real shot at the Premiership.
A Grade have looked like a very cohesive unit all season long. Sitting top of the Division 3 ladder with 7 wins and 2 losses. The losses coming in Round 1 vs North Haven and Round 7 vs Flinders Park where perhaps if they kicked straighter on the day the result may have been different. Coach Damian Boots has really got the group looking very slick and the players truly look like they are just enjoying the brand of footy he has them playing. Team morale is very high and that flows through the whole club. It's great to watch a team really enjoying playing for each other and that bodes very well for the second half of the season. Make no mistake though, there's plenty of challenges ahead, but I'm excited to see how this group handles the situation and looking forward to a tough finals campaign.
Would be wonderful to have as many supporters come out and watch all of the teams over the next few months. We've seen some fresh faces around as well as a number of returning players/supporters come out (some even pulling the jumper back on to play!). It's exciting at the club and the vibe is really positive so there's no better time to come and enjoy some great footy!
