In a world of fairytales, underdog matchups, Rocky vs Drago, and England vs Iceland, the U10 Monsters trekked over to Matlock Reserve on a chilly Saturday morning to take on the undefeated Camberwell Blue.
A hard fought game from the first blow of the whistle, the team went into the half-time break with a nil-all draw, a rollercoaster of emotions awaiting them in the following half.
The Mens 2s can be notorious slow starters, so an early morning, long car trip, and a knee-peeling surface made the possibility of a tight first half against St Bernards at their home ground all the more likely, but our boys were having none of it.
From the opening whistle it was clear Monash were a cut above their opposition, and an early drag flick to Marty Fielke was a sign of things to come.
The 2s have welcomed Jay Wijerathna back into defence, providing some extra spark going forward in the absence of Jessie Hoo. The stout backline was aided by some midfield dominance, as Joe Connell managed to sneak forward for a cheeky goal while keeper Bimbo Willing kept himself entertained with the latest New Idea.
While there were contributions from all around the ground, the man at the end of most of them was this years current leading goal scorer Jayson Hammond, who finished with a casual bag of 5 goals.
St Bernards were left ruing the absence of a mercy rule at the final whistle, Monash winning 8-0.
Check out the rest of the results below:
M1 @ St Bernards 5-1
M2 @ St Bernards 7-0
M3 vs TEMs 0-3
M4 vs Frankston 5-0
M5 vs Bye
Masters 1 vs Masters 2 4-0
W1 vs PEGS 1-2
W2 vs PEGS 0-1
W3 vs Footscray 3-1
W4 vs Waverley 3-2
Masters A vs TEM 3-1
Masters B vs Mentone 1-0
U14 @ Bayside 2-1
U10 @ Waverley 1-9
With umpiring in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week, it’s a good time to reflect to how this translates for us onto the hockey field.
Chris Scott and NMFC cop fines for false umpire claims
While I’m sure there are no Brad Scott’s among us, Monash Uni HC and Hockey Vic want to see an improvement in the way hockey officials are treated.
At the end of the day umpires are a rare breed, and the game can’t continue without them. There are certainly no players who go an entire game without making an error, so next time tempers flare and blood boils, try to take a breath and remember we’re all human, and we’re all there because we love hockey.
These are going to be run over the Queen’s Birthday weekend, 11-13 June.
A coach on debut and a lack of goalkeeper may be enough to put most teams off their game, but not the Women’s Pennant D side, who are this week’s team of the week.
Starting strong right out of the gate, they took an early lead and went into halftime up 2-0, only to face some resistance in the second half.
Bit of a mixed bag for the farm this week, but the mens 4s were the highlight of the round with a huge victory over Mornington in their Metro B division.
When asked who played well in the post game conference, Coach Connell quipped “It was 8-1, who didn’t play well?”
For someone whose love of winning is only outweighed by their distaste for losing, it was fitting to be reminded last weekend of why a lot of us play the sport.
On a dreary Sunday morning in Dandenong, when most of us were giving our mothers breakfast in bed or hand delivering flowers, the Monash Womens Metro B South team faced an undefeated Dandenong side with just seven players, and managed to take a 1-0 lead early in the second half.
