Please find attached the summary of the latest club 18 game held last Saturday.           

Old Trinity 3rds played Whitefriars in Round 2 which saw all 4 teams come together at the Marles Playing Fields.  Unfortunately, with two teams preparing at the same time and 3 Cades in the 3rds, the sports trainers were working overtime on rub downs and taping.  The thirds lost Richard Mason to the seconds but had an injection of skill and experience through Dubba, Jed (in his return to Trinity colours) and Andrew Medland, his first game back since a facial injury that had all single women baying for blood.

The first quarter set the tone for the match.  It was clear early that Trinity’s runners were superior and with Norman and Bernard lurking dangerously up forward, we threatened to score every time we went forward.  Tim Cade and Jed were getting a lot of it early and were well supported by John Gillies and Scotty Meighan who were getting well amongst it on opposite wings.  Johnny showed his ability to work in hard for the ball, but also broke lines and showed blistering pace to get the ball inside forward 50 a number of times.

The work rate dropped of a little towards the end of the quarter, but Whitefriars were unable to punish Trinity on the scoreboard as the green and gold heading into quarter time 3 goals up.  Trinity lifted their workrate in the second quarter, sensing an opportunity to build a healthy lead on a team who’s skills and run were clearly no match.  Jose was again ferocious at the ball across half back and with Amiconi and C-Man directing traffic from the back line, Whitefriars were finding it near impossible to get it inside 50.  Medland was starting to get into a groove as was Jed and other runners such as Bilney, Brady and Stu Cade were forcing the ball forward at a phenomenal rate.  Dubba and Norman were providing an excellent target for each forward thrust and with Bernard, Norman and Albert showing a magical connection, Trinity managed to pour in 6 goals to one for the quarter. 

The message at half time was clear, keep running, keep supporting, tackle hard…DON’T LET UP.  The previous week the Trinity thirds showed how easy it is to turn things around as they scored 6 goals in the last quarter after being down by 50 points.  This week, we would give Whitefriars no such chance.  As Norman continued to put on a show up forward, the rest of the team continued to work hard around the contests.  Whitefriars had a few chances in the 3^rd quarter but were unable to capitalise.  Scores for the quarter were Old Trinity 4.0 to Whitefriars 1.3 as the green and gold stretched their lead beyond 60. 

The last quarter was a formality.  The Trinity players were getting a little tired and slightly lazy as Whitefriars sensed their chance at some consolation goals, however they held their own and Norman managed one more piece of magic from the boundary, a wonderful snap goal from 25m out, before the siren sounded to give Trinity an impressive 65 point victory.  Special mention should go to the Tiwi islanders that combined for 14 of 17 goals for the game and to Rohan Workman for managing to head butt a midget’s elbow in the last quarter.  Trinity are on the board and face a Caulfield team that will be looking to respond to consecutive losses by large margins.  This will be the Club 18s third straight home game on the beautifully prepared Hudson Oval before commencing the road trip in rounds 4 and 5.