After 11 rounds and 10 unbeaten matches, the Yass Roos were finally felled by the Goulburn Swans on Saturday afternoon.
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The Roos, who had been by far, the best home and away team in the Canberra AFL Fourth Grade division all season, were heavy favourites coming into the match, but coach Sam Campbell admitted that he was wary from the outset, for good reason. Goulburn's Goodhew Park has been their record breaker in the past.
“I don’t think I’ve ever beat them here at home, in my time playing football,” Campbell said.
On a bright and unusually warm winter day, the Swans began strongly against the Roos, and by the end of the first quarter had limited Yass to their first goal-less period for the year (4.0.24 to 0.3.3).
The lead continued to grow ahead of half time, and midway through the match Yass trailed by 39 points. The key in Goulburn’s early lead was their aggressive defence and clever placement of players behind the contest.
By heaping pressure on Yass’s midfield, the Swans forced the Roos to rely on long bombs into their forward 50, where the home side’s tall back line made contested marking nigh on impossible for the Roos.
When the ball inevitably fell to ground, Goulburn’s players behind the contest were able to out-run Yass’s forwards, which meant that many of Goulburn’s goals were a direct result of rebounds from the half-back.
While the Roos woke up in the second half of the match and managed to reduce the deficit, it was too little, too late, and the Swans emerged victorious 13.6.84 to 7.10.52. Last year the Swans won by a similar margin in their home game on Goodhew Park.
Although Yass suffered from player unavailability on the day, Campbell did not see that as an excuse and said that the team struggled with a poor tactical decisions and simply had an off day.
“We’re normally a really strong contested ball side, but today we’d have three people go to the ball, not one man in,” Campbell said.
“They’d have the ball and we’d have three men in on one man. That’s not how it works, you’re not gonna win the ball on the inside and the outside like that.”
To compliment the Roos’ sluggish start, Goulburn played what was tactically an ideal match to counter the number one team’s strengths.
The result sees Goulburn climb into the top four on the ladder, only behind Yass, Woden, and the Southern Cats.
The Roos will maintain their top spot on the ladder, however they will look to re-establish their authority with a win over Batemans Bay Sea Hawks this Saturday, July 21, at Joe O’Connor Park. Game time is 2pm. Goulburn Swans plays Woden at noon, on Goodhew Park.
