After voting early and often – to no avail – Guy Gorilla headed to Brunswick Street for an exciting day’s footy as Fitzroy hosted Beaumaris. It was always going to be hard, but did it have to be heartbreaking too?  
 
Having driven to the ground from Officer (what kind of name is that for a town/ suburb?), where I was doing my working class duty, I looked at the scoreboard, the 2s were up 77-4, and I didn't know whether it was my head or the scoreboard that was upside down. It was great to see Jack Dalton running around; I reckon others of his vintage should follow suit. Perfect day weather wise.
 
A goodly part of the backline returned to the Senior lineup; Green, Hart and Ligris, the old man of the quartet. Charlie Faubel to play his first, up from the 19s. Thank god for the fertility of the junior club and Under 19s. Readymade recruiting ground. We need somehow to attract experienced players of quality as well to complement the burgeoning department of youth. Then we'll have the power.
 
The coach was confident of an improved attitude this week, starting from 5.30pm last Saturday. He munches on a hamburger pre-match in the stand – can’t say I blame him – while the players and support staff take on the responsibility of preparation. A few final words and into it. The 2s saluted by 21 goals; a pleasing turnaround.
 
As quick as a wink, however, we were four goals down to Beaumaris in the first stanza. Simple errors, shoddy disposal, overthinking, overuse, turnovers. Behind the eight ball, we persisted, and things started to turn. Captain Turner was marking beautifully around the ground, and some fierce contesting from Sean Laidlaw in the middle of the ground lead to a goal to Will Symons. Faubel revealed he can run, is hard at it, and is a good cut of a lad. The increased pressure and real or perceived lack of time is something he will grow into.
 
Jacob Long delivered beautifully to Ted Clayton, who made a mistake, but won his ball back in his tenacious style, passed to Nomad Jumeau, and a goal. Gus Richardson kicked another after a great contest instigated by Faubel, and we were back in it. Down 26-21, Matthew Gaite rucking well, positive signs. Confidence exuded at the huddle – come at the footy, don't sag off, build and maintain pressure.
 
The second quarter saw an inconsistent application of the ‘deliberate out of bounds’ rule – it cost us a goal in the first and wasn’t paid to us in the second. We had a lot of the ball early for no reward, until a charge through by Ted Clayton, and a flip to Max Davie for a goal. Meanwhile, Deasey was defending easy, and Max Ellis was a complete fortress in the key defensive post. We were dominating large passages of play, and courage at the contest was a keynote, but costly turnover errors were killing us. 39-36 their way at the half, opportunity knocks.
 
We were under a complete Beauie bombardment for the first half of the third. I was worried about the structure of our damn wall, and when it might break. They got out to a 25-point lead. Long put in a super effort and linked up to Davie for his second in the shadows of the siren. A great mark by Luke Baker, a 50-metre penalty and another superb defensive shimmy by Ligga the Dancing Man. The older Clayton Bull scored another free throwing personal safety out the door, passed to Lachie Henderson, another sausage, it was back to 7 points.
 
The coach was still calm at the huddle, when the supporters wanted a ra-ra Killigrew-style address. We needed to continue the pressure, and the crescendo built. We could win this.
 
They kicked the first, but Davie (pictured speaking with Michael Manley) won a free up forward after fierce contesting, for his third.  Then Eric ‘The Red Viking’ Borland pounced on a loosie and the scores were level. Turner then put us in front after a Viking handball – the centre bounce pressure was phenomenal. The crowd factor was building enormously in our favour, we had a couple of gettable shots, only to miss, then they kicked back to backs against the run of play. They missed a couple of sitters, we were 5 points down, stormed forward, only for another strange, strange adjudication – when is a deliberate not a deliberate? When it is a fake push in the back in the forward pocket.
 
I suppose we must acknowledge that we had to take our chances; our skill errors eventually did kill us. That said, we were brave in the extreme. What started out as a nice day, full of promise and hope, turned to dread at 4.30pm, and worse still for some of us around 9pm. Such is life, the sun comes up tomorrow. OG’s away nest Saturday, let’s take the same attitude for a replay of last year’s Grand Finals.
 
Guy Gorilla

Last Saturday was a beautiful day to enjoy footy and the Fitzroy Reserves certainly did that!

Whilst they might have been playing a slightly undermanned Beaumaris outfit, you can only tackle what’s in front of you and tackle they did… and chase, run, kick and most of all they scored.

The goals were shared around as Fitzroy ran up a 21.19.145 to 0.0.6 win. There were three each to Rory Patterson, Will Pickering and Joshua Robinson. The other aspect to put a smile on the face of the Fitzroy fans was the sight of Jack Dalton, senior premiership player, running around and kicking a couple himself. Jimmy Miller just pipped him for best on ground honours.

It was a much deserved first win of the season after several weeks where they have been strong in patches, but not played the full four quarters. It certainly put the smile back on coach Bernie Carter’s face.

“I think the win was great as the boys have been building for the last few weeks improving each game and it was only a matter of time before they got the reward. It’s really good for their confidence and a relief to get the first win on the board.

“Taking into account that the opposition were undermanned, we focussed on working together as a team and executing the game plan we practiced over preseason and at training each week. The preparation has been great considering we haven’t been winning. They are putting effort in each week and l am really proud of that,” Bernie said.

“Considering we’ve had a lot of changes over the preseason, the guys have only playing together for a short period of time and getting to know each. It was always going to be hard to move up a grade, but they are doing a great job of staying positive.

“I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season with excitement and I think they are too.”