By David Walter

The Gryphs hosted Elsternwick in a relegation battle and the second Murphy/Wells Cup clash of the year.

With Elsternwick kicking with the aid of a strong breeze in the first quarter, the team started well. Intensity at the contents was high with two and sometimes three players putting their bodies on the line and tackling opposition players. Bad kicking is bad football and Elsternwick were keeping us in the game by missing numerous shots at goal.

The second quarter saw the side fall asleep. Young gun Andrew Barrett did an ankle and was done for the day, dubious umpiring saw Matt Savage reported and sent from the field for 15 minutes and the rest of the team reverted to individual non-team orientated football. Elsternwick continued their poor kicking at goal but we were unable to really make them pay for their inaccuracy.

A significant and well deserved spray from Mitch at half time re-invigorated the side who came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter. Milestone man Adrian Flowerday was brilliant until our umpiring nemesis on the day gave Flowers a 15 minute spell. Poundy continued to drive the team forward and Alex Ross was providing much needed drive and polished skills after being moved onto the wing.

The side continued to give their all in the face of adversity. In the end, send offs, 50 meter penalties and a determined opposition proved too much of an obstacle for the side to overcome on the day.

We need to play smarter footy and limit mistakes to one in a row. Blind Freddy could see we got a raw deal from one of the umpires but we weren’t smart enough to limit his influence and allowed him to increasingly penalise the side.

Highlights:

Polly: Gained even more respect as a natural born leader of men with another whole hearted performance.
Dan Petsinis: Defeated his man and won plenty of his own footy. Terrific delivery of the footy out of the back half.
Squid: Consolidated a great month of footy. Another outstanding performance.
Flowers: Wound back the clock with bursting centre clearances and exquisite foot skills.
DB: Again proved why he is one of the premier backmen in the division with another professional performance.
Matt Savage: As his name suggests, savage at the contest with brilliant tackling pressure and efficient disposal.

Honourable mentions to Alex Ross, Stevecat, Poundy (as always) and Mitch Ryan.

Get on the training track this week. We have a very winnable game against Old Paradians this week. This is an excellent opportunity to wreck their finals ambitions whilst maintaining our own chances of remaining in Division 2 next year.