The boys again performed admirably at the 2017 ACC South West AFL Carnival on June 21. Our first game against Mandurah Catholic College saw us go on a goal scoring spree, with the final score line of 9.3 57 to 0.2 2, indicative of the fine effort put in by all players. A critical part of the carnival became the need to score fast and furiously in each game and try and catch the opponents off guard, in order to achieve the highest percentage. This approach and playing to a Pagan’s paddock plan provided pivotal percentage points in pushing for the premiership. Our next game against Mandurah Baptist College, the trend towards taking percentage points continued with the score line reading 10.3 63 to 1.0 6. Paul Northover’s team from Mackillop provided an early contest, however they ran out of legs against our resolute and rigorous robustness, with BCC again winning by a large margin, 8.6 54 to 3.1 19. All players performed to above expectation and considering we were three players down on the day, this was a fine effort. This brings us to the last game, which was against traditional down town rivals Bunbury Grammar. In a tightly fought contest, which saw some vigorous match ups and tags applied, we managed to score 2.1 13 to 0.1 1 in the first half. The second half then became a battle between the half back and half forward lines of both teams, with Grammar managing to post 2.1 13 for the half, and BCC a solitary point, which left the scores level at full time. Our team was in attack towards full time and we are sure that had we gone into extra time, the necessary points to claim a victory would have eventuated. It was however a suitable end to a quality game between two very keen combatants. The carnival cup came our way because of our superior percentage, which appeared to be the reward for our earlier efforts. Captains on the day were Jonathon Ietto and Thomas O’Brien, and they led well from the front. Bailey Edwards played well consistently, Rocco Versace and Anthony Vitalone also made solid contributions, with Jaxon Pitts and Jaxon Frisina providing good scoring options in attack. Hamish Hutton and Connor Lord also deserve a mention for providing defensive and shutdown efforts. This result sees us proceed to the next stage of the competition, where we will play in the finals taking place in Perth next term.
Mr J Leyendekkers and Mr J Frisina
