After an impressive Round 1 victory, the pressure was on the boys to keep up the good work and not rest on their laurels. Come Thursday, the task was made much harder when we lost 7 of our best from last week to the 1s who were struggling with injuries. Nevertheless, it gave us a chance to test a few blokes who missed last week’s game and we felt our depth would be sufficient and hold us in good stead against Melbourne High.

The pre game mood was certainly upbeat and as we moved towards the unlabeled away coaches’ box, we were confident we could keep the ball rolling. Whilst we had a lot of the ball early, our inaccuracy cost us the opportunity the break the hearts of Melbourne High who stuck with us and contrastingly took their chances.

Our lack of aggression at the footy and failure to stick to our game plan meant that Cossie who volunteered as runner was getting his best workout in so far in 2010. Barry aside, our boys looked lost on the tricky Melbourne High oval and the quarter time siren could not have come quick enough. As we called everyone into the huddle we demanded a lift across the board in the 2nd quarter.

The 2nd quarter did not get better but in fact it got worse. Joe Rush was blowing a gasket on the sidelines as we were forced to drag several players for selfishness, stupidity and a lack of intensity. Our disappointment at the end of the 1st quarter hardly compared with our mood at half time and as we ventured into the rooms the coaching staff cared very little for the scoreboard which still showed the Xavs up by 20 points.

Unfortunately the boys felt the wrath of the coaches and we put it upon them to show some pride in the jumper and make a mends in the 2nd half. We knew we had played our very worst football and had the feeling that MHSOB had played their very best.

It was a compliment to the lads that in the 10 minutes following the resumption of the game, we put on an absolute exhibition. Lob lifted as captain and brought up with him many others. Finally things started to gel, we were moving the ball quickly and using our run and carry style of game which broke Melbourne apart. Baz continued to make the 45m arc his own and commanded the football from our mids who kept pumping it in to him. Our runners kept feeding it to Balmey, Lilley and Vlahos who got on the end of several brilliant team goals.

At the 3 quarter time speech the mood was electric and we urged the boys to be relentless. Pane, Ralphy and Curtis were workman-like through the on ball division and put on a superb performance in the absence of the rotations we had enjoyed 1 week prior. Boz was dominant everywhere we put him, from the wing to the forward line where we isolated him one out. Others to mention were Dils and Hess who both did everything we asked of them.

To finish with a 90+ point victory was satisfying and we look forward to meeting MHSOB again next week in a fixture that can only be described as bizarre