So after a great win against last year’s premiers the week before, the Old Xavs Reserves outfit were up against the boys from the beach in a crunch match.  The feeling before the game was good, some new and old faces made their way into the change rooms but there was something missing - It was our full forward Dangerous Dan who finally got his chance with the seniors! 

With a new forward structure in place we were confident yet a little unsure as to how we would respond without the big man deep.  Things didn't start well with the Tonners kicking the first two goals of the game without any real pressure from the boys in black.  The Tonners were hard at the Sherrin and harder at our boys initially until Liam Ginnivan found space and kicked the first for the day.  This was quickly followed up by John Pasceri (two goals) and one further from James "The General" Morton.  By quarters end, the ledger was square and we asked the lads for a little more intensity.

Going into the second quarter, we did get that spark with Dustin and Tyson Lloyd creating opportunities in the midfield, as well as some very hard running from Tim Agius and David "Becks" Stean.  Stuart Skidmore showed his leadership value with tackle after tackle and also a cheeky goal from an errant kick in.  The score board was ticking over with goals from Larkins and Ginnivan, again showing his value as a scoring on baller.

The premiership quarter as they say saw the home team start to flex their muscle with 6 goals to zip.  The move to put stalwart Andrew Oswald forward was a master stroke, with the usual backman kicking three goals in as many minutes.  His strength and accuracy was a good sign and showed we didn't have to rely on one man to kick goals.  The zippy veteran Stean, Marcus Allan and Chris Larkins again kicked goals and the things were looking good going into the last quarter.  Our backline again showed strength with Jack Davies, James Glen, Tyson Lloyd and Vice Captain Dan Higgins repelling anything coming into the opposition forward fifty.  Tim Agius showed some form with his hardness at the ball and delivering opportunities for most of the second half.

We asked for a six goal last quarter and nearly got there.  The General kicked his second and lively small forward who plays tall Tim O'Meara snuck in for one and gave another off to Marcus Allan 25 meters out after a strong mark against 4 Tonners!  John Pasceri ended the day with three majors so our forward line really shared the honours all day.  James Ulbrick came into the team for his first game after some good form with the Thirds and gave David Sapuppo a hand in the ruck.  The latter really pushing his body to the limit time after time and helping out the backline and  Dan Higgins was a standout with his hard running all day and creating from half back.

A good result and more importantly, a good team oriented performance.