Football
THIS weekend the Mighty Dons hosted Augusta Margaret River at VC Mitchell Park in a glorious, sunny day for football.
Supporters were looking forward to seeing the Dons cement a position in the top five were not disappointed, with the Dons pushing hard for a top three finish.
The League side were bolstered by the return of target man Jeff Smith who appears to have put his buttock issues behind him. With strength in depth now, the Dons have several other players pushing for a spot in the last few rounds.
Coach Lewis and his brains trust will be looking at all the options before September.
This week’s side was perhaps two or three short of the best 22, but competition for places gave an edge to every performance. The Dons started the game with individual and collective intensity.
The slow starts of the first part of the season were forgotten as an aggressive Donnybrook took the game up to AMR. Scoring first, the Dons were never behind the whole day and outscored their opponents in every quarter.
The Dons were relieved to have gun midfield trio Curtis Guglielmana, David Roche and Simon Parry back fully fit from their victorious Landmark championship campaign. Guglielmana and Parry were also backing up from State representative duty on Saturday. These three are an awesome combination and AMR had no answer to their use of possession provided by huge ruckman Disco.
The midfield moved the ball forward more quickly this week and forwards Jeff Smith and Jarrad Brennan capitalized well all day. Smith had a steady day kicking eight majors, with Roche chipping in with six from midfield. Special mention to young Jayden Ripper who had a fine league debut, kicking two goals and making space intelligently for Smith. Young Reece Ralston backed up from last round for his second league game this year and caught the eye of watching East Perth scouts.
The Dons defense also performed well this week, with Lance Smith and Hayden King outstanding. Coach Lewis will be pleased to have a strong squad going into the pointy end of the season. With finals football assured, the next challenge is to secure the double chance.
With games against all the top sides in the run in, this will be a tough job - but on today’s form the Dons are up for it.
Final score Donnybrook 20-7-127 AMR 9-9-63. Best for the Dons were David Roche, Lance Smith, Hayden King and Jeff Smith.
Earlier the colts went down to a strong AMR side heading for the finals. Undermanned by injuries and league selection, the young Dons nevertheless tried hard with captain Jackson Chalker leading from the front. Final Score Donnybrook 4-3-27 AMR 22-15-147. Best for the Dons were Jackson Chalker, Shaun Towers, Sean Robertson and Zane Gamble.
The reserves recorded a good win. Coach Cross has instilled more discipline in the group this year and with the progressive selection policy and league finals on the cards several younger players had their eyes on the prize. Final scores Donnybrook 11-15-81 AMR 7-9-51. Best for the Dons John Hearman, Brad Swarbrick and Clint House.
Next week the Dons travel to Kelly Park to take on Carey Park, who are looking like playing finals in all three grades this year.
Go the Mighty Dons!
