I was at a bit of a loose end on Saturday so I went out to Yeronga to watch them play the bears.Yeronga were pushed the whole way and I actually thought they were going to get done, but they ended up winning by about 4 goals. Kenmore were leading at half time and into the third quarter, so don't anyone pretend this was a walk-over.
The conditions didn't suit the Yeronga boys at all. They've obviously decided to play a high possession style of footy, which suits their older, bigger, slower, more experienced and more skilful side. It brought them unstuck a number of times and the younger, faster and fitter Kenmore side managed to move it well in the conditions on the rebound.
The bears were helped by at least 3 goals directly from 50m penalties so I'd say Yeronga need to work a bit on their discipline. I imagine a lot of it was caused by frustration that resulted from them realising they weren't the world-beaters they thought they would be in this division.
Got chatting to a couple of Kenmore boys on the hill. One of the blokes said they've lost 5 of their best players from last year including their 4 highest goal scorers, and haven't really replaced them. So Kenmore won't be playing the standard of footy they were last year. This leads me to wonder whether Yeronga are actually as good as they think they are. I realise the conditions were no good, but surely if Yeronga were going to be far and away the best side in the competition, they'd have done to Kenmore what Robina did to Wynnum.
Well thats dumb at this level (and any level below NEAFL imo) - no side has enough players skilful enough to maintain possession under any sort of pressure and they won't win games they should and they will win games by less than they should bc it is a pretty simple game at suburban level that doesn't need tinkering with in the main.
BOC - Maroochy have done a huge reversal over the past 2 years - decided that spending money (which they didn't have) on players in an attempt to win premierships was stupid and there was enough talent within the club and around the coast to sustain a pretty good squad. Made this decision 2 years ago, went thru some big pain and the tough guys stuck fat. Very good coach (disclaimer - good mate!!), very good admin, excellent junior set up and a great facility. Maroochy should be strong - it just had a bit of a hickup when it went out of business in 2000! Saying this we are hoping that both Nambour and Caloundra do very well this year! Despite the rivalry bn SC clubs we love seeing any of them do well which is often shown when someone plays finals and usually a good contingent ends up coming from a rival club to support..