There were a number of positives for the Brunswick NOBs on Saturday. For starters, they were lucky enough to be back playing footy on an excellent surface on a pleasant day at picturesque Peninsula Grammar.

Next, the reserves, who had been steadily improving after a rough beginning to the season, broke through to record their first victory in an exciting display. The twos had faced a four goal to one deficit at quarter time, but showed spirit, composure and even a bit of flair to kick 11 to three thereafter. Congratulations to coach Trevor Ludeman and the players for the well-earned win.

Unfortunately, there were also some negatives, in the form of a disappointing performance from the seniors, who were jumped by a more switched-on home side early and couldn’t get going until it was too late.

After suffering the frustration of seeing a number of games against teams in the bottom part of the ladder cancelled, the seniors went into this game against the ninth-placed Pirates full of optimism.

It proved telling that the home side had the advantage of the breeze in the opening term and used the conditions well, largely owning the ball and applying pressure to us when we got our hands on it, which we didn’t cope with very well.

When our turn came with the wind we couldn’t capitalise, with skill errors killing us, including missing gettable chances in front of the big sticks.

The third term saw some improvement in effort and execution, but critical turnovers led to a number of easy goals for the Pirates to establish a match-winning lead at the final change.

By the final quarter we had worked out how to play the conditions, and we outran the tiring Pirates, but a return of 4.8 summed up a frustrating day.

On a tough day, Reubin Fulton-Grigg was probably our best contributor over four quarters and capped off his effort with two goals, while Liam Whelan and Josh Perez were warriors in the backline. The exciting Liam Weightman showed some excellent skills, as did the live wire Dave Marchione, while skipper Nick Burgin tried hard all day.