It was another challenging week for Con’s men, going down narrowly against a strong opponent in Therry Penola. As has been the case most of the season, the boys started slow with Therry kicking the first 3 goals of the game to lead by 18 points at quarter time. The effort and intensity that followed in the third quarter was great as the NOBS kicked 4 goals to bring the margin to just 8 points at half time. The highlight of the quarter, the game, the day and potentially the year was Stuart “Bubsy” Matherson who’s spectacular mark over 3 opponents deep in the forward line had the crowd on their feet.

The backline were solid throughout the first half with Gabe Williams in his first game back, Bones, King, Emmett, Whitworth and Fox repelling a number of Therry attacks. Our midfield also worked tirelessly, shutting down Therry’s run and carry with relentless pressure. Spud, Bubsy, Rapa, King and BJ would have laid 50 tackles between them for the game.

In the second half, under the leadership and brilliance of the great Scott Sleep the forward line got going. Sleepy took matters into his own hands kicking one from 45 out on the boundary while running backwards, prompting the Therry coach to yell out the all too familiar “someone man up the silver fox!!”. Sleep then set up Chiz for an easy conversion inside 50, showing patience and class. Dobbo was busy dishing off goal assists and kicking one himself.

The second half started well but some contentious umpiring saw 2 NOBS get sent off the ground and left us undermanned. Despite this the boys kept fighting all day with Davo and Junior really lifting in the second half to do the hard things for the team. Junior in particular caught Con’s attention, motivating him to scream out from the sidelines, “WELCOME BACK JUNIOR!”.

Unfortunately the hard effort went unrewarded with a well drilled Therry side hanging on for the win on their home turf.