The GV Giants had their family day plus fundraising for the MND cause, with merchandise profits and donations going towards the continued research into this terrible disease that has touched many in our communities, and has had a direct impact on the GV Giants with one of their loyal club member’s, Maxine Gee, being diagnosed 11 months ago.
With a few late withdrawals from the team, we were able to give all players plenty of game time and in true Masters spirit, we also had Stu Coster and Benny Douglas pull on a GV Giants jumper to support their depleted squad due to injuries and illness.
The coin toss honour was given to Maxine, and she was able to support her GV boys by flipping the coin to their advantage.
The game started with great intensity. The Pigeons' midfield controlled the ball and gave our forwards continued supply, putting us 5 goals up at the end of the first quarter.
Jeremy Orme was electric in his return from injury and was involved in everything across the ground.
Stretch and Burnsy combined forces in the ruck, and both gave our boys plenty of opportunities, with great tap work feeding them constantly throughout the game.
The backline was in red hot form, led by Dodge, Swampy, Blocka, and Brad Gleeson. Any GV Giants forward entry would be repeatedly repelled and quickly transferred along our flanks and wings to the ever-reliable Freestone, Haydo and Clyne.
The second quarter started with the GV boys getting a quick break out of the centre to score their first goal of the day and start to get their tails up. The Yarra boys seemed to have been caught out, left flat-footed and not accountable to the opposition.
The Godfather, who was still a little sore from previous games and had opted to take on the “runners” duties for the game, started to reconsider his decision as he seemed to be covering a lot of ground, delivering Coach Hawk’s messages and organising positional changes to steam the GV’s sudden new found hunger.
Our two scoring opportunities in the second quarter only resulted in two behinds.
With Hawk giving clear instructions for the 3rd quarter, our boys went out with a better mindset and started to dictate the game and played a better standard we have strived to achieve.
Luke Brennan, Peter Beasley and Clint Nunn led the way and were ably assisted by Gatty, Trent Russell and Steve Jones up forward. Hayden Long and Captain Simmo also made many great contributions across the quarter, allowing us to outscore the GV boys before the end of the third quarter.
The last quarter saw the Pigeons “take flight” and go on a goal-kicking spree, with Luke Brennan kicking 2, Jezza adding another, and Jonesy adding another 3 to give him 6 goals for the match.
Final score: Yarrawonga 16 .10 (106) def Giants 4 .2 (26)
Unfortunately, we suffered a few injuries across the day, with Gatty and Dylan sidelined with suspected hamstring and ankle problems and “unlucky Phil” dislocating his finger and having to attend the GV base hospital for further treatment; we wish you all a speedy recovery.
The best on-ground performance of the day went to Jezza Orme, followed by Shaun Clyne, Luke Brennan, Brad Gleeson and Steve Jones. Hawk also made special mention of Matt Wilson, Peter Beasley, Swampy Lincoln, and Captain Simmo for their team efforts.
Our hosts put on a great afternoon spread for all to enjoy, and we thank them for this; it gives the players from both sides the opportunity to build new friendships within this great format of “footy for fun “ and “ mates helping mates”.
A special touching speech was also delivered from a close family friend of Maxine Gee due to her losing her vocal control with MND.
It spoke of her love of the club and what it meant to her, how she cherishes the times at the club and how much she appreciates everyone who has supported her unconditionally over the last 11 months of her current fight against MND. This was truly touching for all of those in attendance and made us realise we need to appreciate our good health more and ensure we live the best lives we can.
To honour the game, Maxine chose a player from each team she deemed showed courage on the ground for their team and also played in true master spirit; from the GV Giants, the recipient was Rob Hearn and for the Pigeons, Co-Coach Duane “Stretch” Kelly.
