By Craig Dooley
The Lions played their second practice match against Port Melbourne on Saturday at Craigieburn’s Highgate Recreation Reserve as part of the Victorian VFL clubs standalone carnival. The Carnival saw all 6 Victorian standalone VFL teams play each other in a triple header. Coburg Football Club CEO Sebastian Spagnuolo stated in reference to the VFL standalone carnival concept “To have a day where all standalone clubs are promoted and celebrated for the role we play in the football industry has long been a goal of ours and it is great that all standalone clubs and the AFL have supported the concept to make it a reality.”
On a warm and windy day out at Craigieburn in Melbourne’s northwest, Williamstown came away the victors over Northern Bullants in the early game by 19 points in a low scoring affair. In the second game between Frankston and Werribee, Werribee took control early and eventually won the match by 48 points.
Senior Coach Jamie Cassidy McNamara was forced to reduce numbers down by 20 players from the 47 players that took the field against the Bullants in Practice Match 1.
Cassidy McNamara also needed to navigate around injuries to a number of 2022 regulars such as Jhye Baddeley-Kelly, Nathan Boucher and Tom McKenzie, thus giving Burger fans an early view of how the potential round 1 team to play Collingwood on March 25th may shape up. Charlie Beasley was named to play his first game for the Lions and Max Thompson made his first appearance for season 2023.
In the first quarter the Lions kicked with the wind which had been the scoring end in the two games prior. Port Melbourne won a clean early stoppage clearance in the centre of the ground and went quickly inside 50 and got off to a flyer with a quick goal to lead 6-0. Several Coburg attacking inside 50 kick turnovers followed with the Lions not reading the wind effectively. The ball was then camped in the Port Melbourne attack consistently for the middle part of the quarter, with the lions not using the ball effectively coming out of defence and repeatedly handing turnovers to Port Melbourne. A free kick in front of goal and an undisciplined 50m penalty led to Port Melbourne’s second goal and a 13-0 lead. A Burgers attacking move inside 50 ended with Ben Reddick unable to capitalise on the opportunity, but resulted in a boundary throw in. Coming out of defence Port Melbourne turned the kick over to Alex Lukic who had a shot that went through for Coburg’s first score in a behind and the score was 14 to 1 in Port’s favour. The ball was inside Coburg’s defensive 50m consistently towards the end of the quarter, but the Lions defence and Port’s inability to capitalise minimised the scoreboard damage. After some great lead up work from Jepson, a Kyle Weightman driving kick inside 50m to Ben Reddick resulted in a behind after Reddick missed Josh D’Intinosante unmarked in the goal square with the handball for what would have been the Lions first goal. A free kick against Mitch Podhajski led to the Borough’s 3rd goal and a 22-2 lead just prior to quarter time.
The first score of the second quarter came from Borough after a Mitch Podhajski spoiled defusing a Port attack. Learning from the challenges of the first quarter, Coburg slowed the ball movement inside defensive 50. A Liam Podhajski take out of the ruck and kick inside 50m led to an enterprising piece of attack for the Lions, however Port were able to snuff this out and the Lions could not capitalise on the field position that followed. After a strong Harry Nolan tackle in front of the benches, Port Melbourne then kicked to space inside 50 to an open running player who kicked from the goal square to put Port ahead 29-2. Shortly after, Port Melbourne went inside 50 again and a loose ball was swept up by a Port player who kicked truly to make the score 35-2 nearing the midpoint of the quarter. From the resulting centre bounce, Port won a clearance with a kick to the edge of the 50m line and another quick kick towards goal led to a mark right beside the goal post and the resulting goal meant a Port 41-2 lead. An extended scuffle off the ball involving the Podhajski brothers occurred, whilst Port played on and kicked another goal to put them in command of the game at 49-2 with 6 minutes remaining in the quarter. Some patience coming out of defence via precise kicking allowed the Lions to get out of defence for a sustained period, resulting in Alex Lukic taking a shot from 50m but missing everything. Just prior to the end of the quarter, a great tackle deep in attack resulted in a free kick and Hugo McGlashan had a set shot that appeared rushed and missed for a behind. With the ball on the wing in front of the benches, the half time siren blew with Port going to the main break with a 46-point lead over the Lions.
Captain Jesse Corigliano stopped a Port attack from the initial centre clearance of the third quarter with a strong intercept mark. Port transitioned into attack and Jesse Corigliano again intercept marked and was awarded a 50m free kick. From the free kick Corigliano hit up Aaron Clarke in the left pocket who marked. Clarke went back and kicked truly to finally give the Lions faithful a goal to cheer about. An enterprising passage of play soon followed with Mitch Podhajski driving out of the backline towards Josh D’Intinosante who had led up to the wing and made a strong contest at the ball. From the resulting free kick, D’Intinosante took the Lions inside 50m, however, Port intercepted and stopped the Lions attack. Borough then worked their way down the ground and were able to kick the opening goal of the second half. On the end of one of the best passages of Lions play to date, Flynn Gentile kicked inside 50m to hit up Aaron Clarke in the right pocket, 35m from goal. Clarke kicked truly again, scoring the Lions second goal. At the 14-minute mark of the quarter, Port streamed down the ground and Gasper kicked his 3rd goal to give Port a further advantage. Nic Quigg soon launched the Lions into attack with a dangerous kick inside the Lions 50m, however the Lions were unable to maintain the pressure and Port cleared. Yet again, Captain Jesse Corigliano intercepted a Port kick and the resulting play ended up with another dangerous ball in the Clarke direction, but Port were able to diffuse the threat. A 50m free kick against Jesse Corigliano after a tackle near the 50m arc meant that Port goaled and took a 69-15 lead at the 19min mark. As the quarter drew to a close, the Lions had field position in attack but were unable to convert with Josh D’Intinosante making several hardball contests to no avail. With the ball now deep in Port’s attack the siren went to close down the quarter.
Port started the last quarter in command of the game and with the advantage of the breeze. Early play was down in the Port attacking arc. A free kick to Aaron Clarke allowed the ball to head inside 50m but the Lions were outnumbered, and Port easily cleared their defence. Max Kennedy launched a dangerous kick to Aaron Clark and Kyle Weightman pounced on the loose ball from the Clarke contest to score the third Lions goal. From a clearance, Weightman found Kennedy who kicked towards the ever-present Clarke who was unable to mark. Josh D’Intinosante attacked following this but was unable to hit Ben Reddick deep in Lions attack. A free kick to Max Thompson hit Clarke a kick and a half from goal who then drove the Lions into attack causing a stoppage. A free kick to Will Bella post that stoppage led to a point for the Lions after a wayward Bella kick. A strong effort on a ground ball from Josh D’Intinosante and a quick kick in the same motion resulted in another point as the ball was touched on the line. After some up and down the ground footy from both teams in latter stages of the last quarter resulting in several behinds, Port went all the way up the ground to score their final goal. Soon after, the final siren rang out signalling a 50 point victory to Port Melbourne.
Score breakdown
Coburg: Q1: 0.2 (2) | Q2: 0.3 (3) | Q3: 2.3 (15) | Q4: 3.7 (25)
Port Melbourne: Q1: 3.4 (22) | Q2: 7.7 (49) | Q3: 10.9 (69) | Q4: 11.9 (75)
Goalkickers: Clarke 2, Weightman
The Lions final practice game takes place on Friday 10th March against the reigning VFL premiers Casey Demons at Casey Fields commencing at 6.45pm.
The Coburg 2023 VFL Season Launch will be held on Saturday 18th March in the Parkview Function Room at 6.30pm. Secure your tickets via this link: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/2023-coburg-fc-vfl-season-launch-tickets-531350994127
To ensure you don’t miss any of the Lions VFL action this season, make sure that you activate #LionMode and become a member of the club in 2023. Please head to www.coburgfc.com.au/membership/ and join the hunt today!
