Coopers Friday Night Footy - Match Review

Woodies go 5-0 to sit top of the table

The Woodsmen took on competition new comers and one of the in form sides of Friday Night footy in the Maroochydoore Roos at McCarthy Homes Oval last Friday night.

Marchoochydoore are a quality outfit from a quality club, who won Premierships in 2017 in Seniors, Reserves, Colts and Thirds in 2017 - so they know plenty about winning!

It was a frenetic start with Chris Judson combining with Sam Curtis to win the opening clearance after sharking the Roos tap leading to an early goal from the in form Matt Hockley.

From there it was a bit of end to end footy with the ball zipping around, thanks to an injection of youth to the Woodsmen outfit in recent weeks and what appeared to be a young Roos side (relatively speaking!)

The quarter time break came with the Woodsmen holding a slender 2 point lead.  However from there, the Woodsmen took over the contest playing some excellent footy to kick 10 goals to 5 over the remaining 3 quarters.

The attacking run from half back was particularly strong, with Kiran Verma, Josh Young and Gabe McKinnon providing a 4 quarter effort of quality rebounding defence, often turning defence into attack with intercept marking and linking up with wingers in Sempatike Kwizera and the hugely impressive Braydon Thomas who played a superb game after a few difficult years with injury.

Some depth through the midfield was also extremely handy with a combination of Chris Judson, Sam Curtis, Will Lloyd, Ben Ness and Ryan Colcough rotating through the middle to give the Magpies constant attacking drive that has been lacking in recent years due to limited rotations through the engine room.

Up forward, Irish Sam Banim was at his usual exciting best, with some high flying and crumbing goals, while Alec Parsons presented well all day as a hit up forward and found himself in dangerous positions to finish with 2 goals.  Matt Hockley has finally been released from the midfield and has flourished in his last 2 outings in the forwardline to again finish with 6 goals, including an absolute beauty from the boundary line approx 45m out from a set shot.

The aforementioned depth through the midfield has also allowed Chris Davis to be released to a half forward flank where his superb defensive pressure and quality delivery going inside 50 is a feature.  Meanwhile, down back - Scott Burnsy Matthews has quietly slotted into fullback and provided leadership and footy smarts to direct traffic and lock down on quality opponents, like a fine wine...!

While the Woodsmen eventually ran out 33 point winners, many of the players agreed that Maroochydoore were the best side they had encountered in 2018 so far, but with the Woodies naming a strong side and taking their opportunities they were able to get on some for a strong win.

Woodsmen 12.10 - 82 defeated Maroochy Roos 7.7 - 49

Best: Hockley, McKinnon, J.Young, S.Curtis, Judson, Thomas

Goals: Hockley 6, Parsons, Banim 2, Davis, Ness

The Woodsmen head down the Mt Lindesay this Friday to take on traditional rivals Jimboomba Redbacks.