The boys had a tough match against Payneham away on Sunday.  It was a close game with some hard tackles that saw us get over the line by 7 points.  We started really well in the first half to establish a lead with excellent team football.  The second half saw the boys relax, and Payneham came back hard to really push us.  It did highlight to us that we need to improve on our defensive skills of picking up a man, and not kicking in front of goals.  Our encouragement awards this week went to Blake Sanders, Anton Chehade, James Damin, Geordie Muller, Will Proudman and Maxwell Fisher  - David Chapman - Coach

The U9Blue team defeated Para Hills 11.5 - 71 to 3.3 - 21 at home today.  It was a much more free flowing game and allowed our boys to kick to positions on the gound where we had the numbers.  The really pleasing part was the number of shepherds given that gave teamates that extra time to steady their kick.  There was also a couple of courageous plays where a boy backed into a pack, or put themselves in a position to be "crunched" yet they still did it and both times really helped the team.   Encouragement awards this week to Will Proudman, Mitch Warren, Sebastian Maslen, Damjan Jurkovic, Ethan Powell and Jack Mills. 

A group of very excited boys and their parents gathered at AAMI Stadium on cold and wet Saturday afternoon to play Payneham in the curtain raiser for the Crows/Hawthorn game. But when the siren rang at 5:15 curtains of freezing rain swept across the nearly empty stadium, showing no sign of raising.

Walkerville gained the early momentum, kicking into the gale, scoring a behind after five minutes to put Walkerville on the board. Payneham steadied and play moved to what would be the scoring end, giving our half-frozen defenders a chance to get warm. The weather cleared and when play resumed at quarter time Payneham scored a quick goal. From there on it was a more even game, with both teams jumping on their chance to play on 'Footy Park'.

After a brief pause to admire themselves on the big screen the Walkerville players made the best of their opportunities, giving Daniel Tanczos two goals going into the final term.

In the cold and slippery conditions marks and goals were hard to get, and as full time approached Walkerville held on to a four point lead kicking with the wind. Then in the closing minutes Harry Collison kicked straight and the Cats were home.

Every player had a great game on an afternoon to remember.

This round showed us that a team that attacks the ball will win. And on Sunday Golden Grove did that extremely well. Walkerville needed more players to support the 1 or 2 teammates who put their head over the ball and tried to get it forward. After a close first quarter in which we kicked our two goals, we failed to trouble the scorers after that. Whilst it looked like a few of their players drove to the game themselves, we did not work as well as a team as we would have liked. Areas such as shepherding and bumping will be areas to focus on, as well as finding the target with our kicks.

It was good to hear our own players at the breaks identifying areas of improvement, and hopefully in the next game we can demonstrate this. No 6am swim has been called for… yet!!!

Thanks to all the helpers both on the day and at training, we couldn’t do it without your support

David Chapman

June 3, U8 Blue 10.3. 63 v Broadview Black 2.6. 18

This week saw a much closer match than many of our previous clashes. And given the lack of chances for our backline in past matches they saw a lot of the ball. And they were able to defend really well. The boys kept their structure and took plenty of marks when the ball came their way, thus they were then able to rebound quite well and put us into good scoring positions. Broadview played well especially with a couple of ball getters in the middle and that showed us an area to improve on, especially in regards to picking up your man and sticking with him. The shepherding, which we have been working on was excellent. I feel that the closer games will do a lot more to help us improve as a team. Also there were a number of “champagne football” moments, including a chain of ball movement from full back to a goal that was kick mark kick mark kick goal, as well as a torpedo from the goal square that went though untouched for a six pointer. Well done boys on a well fought out match, as when Broadview did put us to a challenge in the 2nd quarter, after halftime we really played well. Thanks again to the parents, relatives and friends who came along to help and cheer on the team – David Chapman

U8 Blue 17.6. 108 v Athelstone 0.1. 1

Another fantastic team performance by the Walkerville Team saw the U8 Blue team home by a comprehensive margin. The team has a large number of players who consistently play good footy. Things like looking for your teammate rather than blazing away, handballing to a teammate in a better position, picking the ball up cleanly when on the ground and sheer ferociousness when bumping and getting hold of the ball are hall marks of this team. The area that we will be focussing on, will continue to be the “one percenters”, especially shepherding and protecting the ball carrier. And on Sunday we saw a few excellent examples of this, which we expect to increase in the coming weeks. Also our work around the rucks was excellent with numerous taps directly to runners which often resulted in goals. Our quick running play helps with setting up these types of scores and so for the season our percentage now sits at 2442%. Our defence each week continues to play a key part in stopping the opposition, as our ability to hold our structure means that any attacks coming our way are mostly met with the “Walky Wall” which sees the ball rebound back into our attacking zone. Well done boys and thanks again to all the parents who helped out this week – David Chapman

The U8 Blue team had a fantastic win against Hectorville on Sunday. The really pleasing part was the focus of the boys in protecting the player with the ball by shepherding and bumping opponents. There were also numerous times when the boys handballed to players in better positions that then set up many of the goals we scored. The boys also kept their structure in regards to field positions, which bodes well for future games. The challenge for this team will be to keep improving in the area of “one – percenters”, which will really help improve its team football approach. There were many excellent performances by the players, and with a commanding scoreline - all played well.