An 8.30am muster at Camberwell for the curtain-raiser to the reserves, and to start a triple header against Scotch, evoked recent memories for most of yesterday’s Saturday morning footy at the College.

The coach had asked the players to arrive early, be fit and ready to play.  And so with a break in routine and after the initial stretch and warm up, a 10 minute session at 100% effort was ordered to focus the group’s attention on the importance of a good start for the game and for the day against the traditional old enemy.

From the first bounce it was obvious that the boys were on, with their assault on the footy and consistent work rate and good skills which resulted in a 7 goal blitz in the first quarter setting the standard for the day.  From then on, it’s fair to say the game was one sided.  The Ménages dominated possession, maintained great pressure and held the Scotchies scoreless for the second half.

Matt Romanin won the Dimattina Restaurant award for best afield with his silky skills and his physical attack on the ball and his second and third efforts were inspiring in an uncompromising four quarter effort.  Charles Chisholm asserted fantastic forward pressure with his tackling and his in and under courage to create many opportunities for the forwards.  Matt Altis, at full forward, was a strong focal point all day and finished with 5.  Matt Dimattina kept his growing goal sneak reputation and his crisp white shorts in tact with a faultless display in the forward pocket, also kicking 5 goals for the day and taking his tally to 19 for the season.

Rory Lynch led the backline at centre half back with his best performance for the year and the dashing Johnno Meehan broke the lines on a number of occasions with his strength, run and carry.  Josh Evans has hit form and was a powerful presence around the ground all day, whilst Luke Knight down from the 2’s for his first game with the Ménages showed the poise and skill that would suggest a recall wouldn’t be too far away.

Clearly one of the success factors in the team this year is the fact that there is so much pressure on each and every player to perform each week as there are just as many good players who have missed out just waiting for their next chance to impress. With another 8 changes to the side this week, it was one of the toughest at the selection table for the year, as the 2010 Ménage side begins to fuse.

Against moderate opposition in the last two weeks it has been really pleasing to see the side stick to the basics and maintain full pressure on the opposition for 100 minutes to record a couple of big wins.  But as we head into Round 9 next week against second placed OM’s, it is back to reality in what is effectively a mid-season final and clearly the most important round of the 2010 Ménage season to date.

A win would see us undefeated at the end having played every other team once and go to the break with a 2 game buffer and healthy percentage lead on the pack – a loss would put us back in the mix.