it was a good game. newtown were on top physically all game, just like first grade last week, so it was nice to see the right result. some of the defence was a bit shoddy near the halfway line, with dragons making many breaks, but it was excellent on our line.
first try was a good sign for the future. kingston runs from dummy half about 40m out, ciraldo charges on to it, smashes into and through two dragons defenders, and gives a beautiful offload to aitken running through. aitken dummies to reece simmonds and scores under the posts.
aitken was involved in most of the tries. he played very well though maybe some of the nice touches he does might not work so well in first grade. still hope there might be a way he could stay if dykes goes.
some others tries i can sort of remember. bear in mind it was absolutely freezing, coldest night i can remember, and hard to concentrate on who was doing what so some details may be wrong.
one was quick hands from aitken to mcgoldrick to mellars in the corner. another was cliff manua crashing over, carrying a few dragons defenders. one involved a run-around with aitken dummying to a runner and throwing a basketball pass behind the runner's back to put a player perfectly in a gap (maybe manua's try). can't remember the second half tries much, but one involved a lot of players and was a beauty.
ciraldo was top class, and mellars on the wing was impressive, looks very strong. kingston was also really good, top effort as usual. scott and mcgoldrick werent real heavily involved but both did what was needed. ise played solid, always the first to dive on a loose ball, stosic looked big and strong, really dominated in the forwards at times. hall was on the bench. the 5/8 geoff johnson liked to run across field a lot, one reason centres didnt get much ball.
our defence was like in first grade. at least a one man overlap every time on the wing. sinisa and merritt did well to cover many breaks down the right hand side defence. scott and sinisa were on the right, mcgoldrick (centre) and mellars (wing) on the left.
the jets supporters were great, very loud, and good to see them rewarded by the players coming over and singing the victory song very proudly in front of the newtown bay. it is a shame the partnership could not continue.
