Two Blues Finish Practice Match Series with a Win
Prahran Assumption Football Club has ended its pre-season in resounding fashion, thumping country team the Woodend-Hesket Hawks at the Woodend Buffalo Sports Stadium on Saturday afternoon March 26.
The Hawks, who compete in the Riddell District Football League (RDFL), were simply no match for Prahan with the Two Blues running away with a 16.16.112 to 7.11.53 victory.
The game had no signs whatsoever of a practice match early with both sides attacking the ball ferociously at every contest. The game see-sawed from one end to the other until two late goals to Adam Coff and Ged Hogarth pushed Prahan’s lead to 16 at quarter time.
After a relatively even first quarter Prahan put the foot down in the second term to take full control of the game. An early goal Matt Pell, who snapped a gem across his body, set the tone for the rest of the quarter. The Two Blues controlled all areas of the game as they began running all over the ground, leaving the Hawks in their wake to take a comfortable 32 point lead at the half.
From then it was cruise control for Prahran, outscoring Woodend seven goals to three in the second half, en route to a comfortable 59 point win.
The two Hogarth brothers were dangerous in attack, booting six goals (Ged Hogarth – 4, Josh Hogarth – 2) between them and marking anything that came in their sight. Pell was influential attacking through the middle kicking two goals, while Beau Adams’ talk and leadership were a standout.
Adam Sleight also showed some positive signs in his first game back for the year. Sleight doubled up and played half a game through the ruck after kicking 3.2 in the Reserves.
The game was very encouraging for Prahan Assumption with many members of their best 22 not taking part, which showed the depth Prahran will have at their disposal this season.
As for the Hawks, there weren’t too many winners on the day, with a mid-fielder wearing number 3 the only true standout, working tirelessly and kicking two beautiful goals, bursting through the middle of the ground.
No major injuries occurred in the Senior game, although a host of niggling injuries to Prahran saw them without a bench and no rotations for much of the final quarter.
The match, which had a scheduled 2pm starting time, was delayed about 40 minutes due to an horrific broken leg to Woodend-Hesket player Shannon Jones in the third quarter of the Reserves game. Play was immediately stopped and the ambulance arrived shortly after to take Jones straight to hospital. The last quarter would be shortened due to the incident and Prahran would defeat Woodend 1.5.11 to 11.9.75.
The Two Blues will now have a week off before Round One kicks off against North Old Boys/St Pat’s at Gillon Oval, Brunswick. The match, which was originally schedules for St Pat’s College in Ballarat, has been moved back to NOBs traditional home ground due to the unavailability of St Pat’s College’s oval that day.
