Bolting Colts Round 19

Welcome to the next addition of Bolting Colts, where we try and give an insight into our Colts team and their performance as we head into finals and for many of our players this year their preparations for the Draft.

TEAM PERFORMANCE:

After confirming their status as the League’s best through the Home and Away season last week, the Colts were back at it again with another comprehensive victory over Swan Districts on Saturday. With a number of regular Colts players playing up a grade this week, it was great to see other players step up and fill the void. It certainly didn’t seem to impact the overall team defence as it was another week of keeping an opponent goal less. Jackson Knight and Bradley Oldfield both hitting the scoreboard in the first. Taking a 17 point lead into quarter-time, it was a much more even quarter in the second with both teams controlling parts of the term. Zac Trigwell kicked his 1^stfor the day taking a strong mark on the lead and converted from the resulting set shot on a tight angle. The margin remained unchained going into half-time.

It was a shaky start to begin the 3^rd, Connor Heuer kicked the opening goal of the quarter within the first minute, before Swan’s kicked the next couple trimming the lead back to 11-points. With the game on the line, Bradley Oldfield stepped up, not only did he kick his 2^ndand 3^rdbut he also won a number of key clearances (5) and first possessions (6) wrestling the momentum back for the Thunder. At three-quarter time the Thunder went in with a 5-goal lead.

Jack Sears in what was a bit of a down game from the previous few weeks, sprung to life at the start of the last quarter. Kicking 2 goals to put the game well beyond reach. Swans kicked a couple consolation goals, the Thunder running out 39-point winners.

The overall stats from the game proved to be interesting reading considering the scoreline, with Swans winning the clearances by 14 (40-26) and shading the contested ball by 3 (137-134). The score sources show that the Thunder largely profited through forcing turnovers, turning them into 10.5 (65) and +38 on the scoreboard. 

PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS:

Bradley Oldfield (South Mandurah FC): A best on ground performance for ‘Oldy’ leading the way with 23 disposals (11 Contested, 74% efficiency) 6 inside 50’s, 5 clearances, 3 tackles and 4 goals (156 Ranking points). He has been simply awesome since returning from his hip earlier this season, not just as a midfield accumulator but he has really started to learn how to impact the scoreboard, kicking at least a goal in his previous 5 games (11 in 10 games). 

Jackson Knight (Mandurah JFC): Another workman like performance this week for Jackson, 24 disposals, 13 contested, 7 clearances (all team highs). Hitting the scoreboard consistently has also been something he has shown over the past few weeks with 5 goals in his last 3 games.

Killian Rawson (South Mandurah FC): Killian had a great game off half-back, starting many forward attacks intercepting the ball with 8 marks and 6 rebound 50’s. While the third year colt had a career high in terms of disposals, he would have liked to hit the target a little more often only going at 56% efficiency. He didn’t play too much of the last quarter coming off with a slight ankle injury but he should be ok to play Perth in this week.

Isiah Winder (Eaton Boomers): Isiah backed up his 23 disposal game with another efficient 22 disposal (73% Efficiency) display roaming between the midfield and half-back. He provided some run and dash, receiving the ball on the outside (15 uncontested disposals, 7 handball receives) and use his elite skills to set up scoring chains.

SENIOR DEVELOPMENT:

Ben Middleton (Halls Head JFC): Ben made the transition to Reserves level football look relatively easy, kicking his biggest bag of goals since Round 12 (which coincidentally was also against Swans) with 4 goals. With Tyson Powell taking another key defender, it allowed Ben to lead up the ground, which proved effective taking 7 marks and a season high 5 tackles. It will be interesting to see if he remains at this level for another week, before helping the Colts in their quest for the flag. 

Zach Rankin (Eaton Boomers): Another who made the step up this week and looked relatively comfortable. 20 disposals, 4 marks and 4 tackles. Zach was in and around the contest and played his role effectively making the right decisions with his disposals dishing out to more senior members of the team. A very solid first outing.

Jeremy Caratti (Waroona JFC): Grew into the game the further it went, gathering a high in disposals for this season with 11 and kicked an important goal at the start of the third quarter.

LEAGUE:

Tyrone Thorne (Rockingham): A week removed from his massive outing in the Colts midfield. Tyrone was back in the forward line but this time at League Level. A very decent performance first up for a small forward, taking 6 marks including a strong one of the lead that he converted for his first goal. He had double digit disposals with 11 (6 contested). He was also important setting up attacks, with a score assist and a couple of inside 50’s. While he wasn’t afraid to throw himself in amongst the bigger bodies, Tyrone’s tackling ability that he shown throughout Colts level didn’t quite translate as he went from 7 tackles last week to 0 at League. Still plenty to improve upon, we will see if Tyrone remains at League this week.

Jarvis Pina (South Mandurah FC): Probably the best and most comfortable Jarvis has looked at League level thus far. 13 disposals (77% Efficiency) he was a solid option on the outside providing some run with a couple of rebound 50’s to go along with his 4 marks and 8 handball receives. He was also tough at the contest with a league high 5 tackles.

Ryan Bennell (South Bunbury FC): Another disappointing week for Ryan as he only managed the 6 disposals and for the second week in a row didn’t hit the scoreboard, though he did manage to get a score assist. Probably the most disappointing was that his streak of laying 3 tackles or more was broken as he only managed to lay 2 this week. As we have highlighted the last few weeks, the Thunder need to find a more consistent scoring threat in the forward line, especially with Blair Bell out with injury. Look for Ryan to throw everything into the last game of the season against Perth.

The Colts head to Mineral Resources Park to play Perth in the Colts Super Round this weekend, at the unusual 1pm timeslot. With the 5 relatively set, it is sure to be a great weekend for the Colts to get some more exposure before the upcoming draft.O