The second leg of the under 19’s quaddie got under way on Saturday at the Gordon Barnard Reserve as the 3rd placed Old Xaverians came up against a 5th placed Old Camberwell. Despite the current ladder standings of both teams the unders came in as minor underdogs considering Camberwell’s impressive record of not losing a game at their home ground in 2 years. The first quarter started out as a hard fought shootout in perfect conditions for football. Dom Walker stamped his authority on the game early gaining the ascendency in the ruckwork, yet despite this we were getting smashed around the stoppages and consequently Camberwell got a slight jump early. This wasn’t to last for long as the boys rallied together under the leadership of captain Tom McClusky as our midfielders began winning the hardball and rewarding the strong presence of both Patty Ambrose and Jackson McGrath along the half forward line. 

 After a hard fought struggle for ascendency in the first quarter the unders came out firing in the second quarter and really began to stamp their authority on the game having 18 inside 50’s and holding Camberwell to only one goal for the quarter. Despite suffering some heavy blows with injuries to both in form Rob Follachio and Jackson McGrath, the formidable full back line of Ed Maas, Jack Franklin and Will Maloney were relentless in defence whilst Brendan Goss and Nick Biddlecombe provided a spectacle up forward.

 With everyone up and about the boys ran in at half time with all the momentum and great spirit full of confidence that was only to be replicated in the third quarter. Daniel Curtain, Nidam and Jack Amad continued to win just about all the hard ball out of the centre, whilst Louis Tiernan and Tristan Parker continued to provide some very creative run off halfback linking up with Marek Pietazak and Luke Bisset who had complete control over the wings. Despite a slight lapse in pressure the unders had Camberwell chasing tail all quarter and only continued to extend their lead with some strong in and under work from debutant Matty Vlahos.

Daniel Harangozo showed why he is held in such high regard amongst his teammates, as the vice-captain had the ball on a string all day. He racked up possession after possession as he took control of the middle of the huge ground for the afternoon, even pushing forward to pick a couple of goals.

 The message at 3 quarter time was just to bury these blokes and send a message to Old Scotch who we come up against next week, and despite some questionable time keeping from injured Jack O’Sullivan, the boys ran out a 35 minute last quarter well and truly on top. A fantastic four-quarter effort from the boys in perhaps our best display of the year holds us in good stead for Old Scotch next weekend.