RAMS fall short against Western Australia

The NSW/ACT RAMS have fallen agonisingly close to defeating Western Australia on Saturday, going down by 16 points at a wet Visy Park.

Despite a strong showing in the second half, the RAMS couldn’t translate their hard running and swift ball movement to the scoreboard as their division one opponents kept finding a way to have a shot on goal.

In slippery and cold conditions it was Western Australia who got out to an early lead, with the side creating a number of goal scoring opportunities.

The RAMS fought their way back into the contest with Josh Bruce the lively target up forward kicking three goals, while Kane Murphy was again dominant also booting three goals.

Encouragingly the players took themselves away after the match and reviewed the footage of the game to identify areas for improvement.

The first quarter started promising for Western Australia as they took advantage of kicking with the wind. The RAMS responded in the second quarter and capitalised on their goal scoring opportunities but went into halftime trailing on the scoreboard.

A resurgent RAMS outfit emerged from the halftime break determined to fight their way back into the contest and despite a gallant effort and some accurate kicking the RAMS fell short by 16 points.

The RAMS now have one less day to prepare for their division two championship match against Tasmania with the clash moved to Tuesday, June 29 and to Visy Park instead of Etihad Stadium on the Wednesday.

AFL (NSW/ACT) State Talent Manager Darren Denneman said despite the change of date and venue the RAMS will be ready for their match against Tasmania.

“It’s [recovery] never been an issue in the past, our medical and conditioning staff do a great job and the players are professional in the way they go about it,” Denneman said.

Denneman said the RAMS will be ready for their match on Tuesday, with the winning side set to claim the 2010 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships for division two.

“There’s good rivalry between Tasmania and NSW/ACT and we respect them highly. We’re playing for the division two championship and we hope our players produce on the day and put their best foot forward.”

The match will be played at Melbourne’s Visy Park at 2:30pm.

Western Australia 10.18 (78) defeated NSW/ACT RAMS 10.2 (62)
GOALS
WA: Shane Kersten 4, Harley Bennell 2, Kieran Butcher, Reece Conca, Shane Nelson, Jack Darling
NSW/ACT: Kane Murphy 3, Josh Bruce 3, Josh Cole, Ben Ried, James Webster, Kurt Aylett
BEST
WA: Shane Kersten, Reece Conca, Ben Newton, Kieran Butcher
NSW/ACT: Kane Murphy, Josh Bruce, Ben Ried, Mark Whiley, Tim Segrave, Steven Joliffe