Round 8 Match Reports (2026)

“The Midday Show” faced its second away trip to Bennettswood Reserve in four weeks, taking on the Wattle Park Animals on a cool and wet morning. The pre-game message from assistant coach Mark “Mobbla” O’Brien was to bring pressure to the ball carrier, reduce their run and spread and hit the scoreboard. The reserves were going in with a somewhat makeshift line-up, with quite a few friends and family giving up their Saturday to ensure we fielded a side.

The first quarter saw the Trobers bring some heat against the much more fancied Animals, taking the run and spread game away from them and making it much more of an arm wrestle. The midfield, led by Ernie “Fanman” Fan, crashed in and put their bodies on the line to try to congest the game. With some good pressure and good passages of play, we managed to restrict the home team to 2 goals for the quarter, but unfortunately didn’t convert our own opportunities, kicking a wasteful 0.4 for the term.

The second term saw The Animals increase their possession and gain more foothold in the contest, however the makeshift back 6 led by captain Laughlin Cargnali and Bryce “Doull” Dowler held strong and repelled multiple Wattle Park entries. The Trobers began to win clearances around the ground and began to hit back. Joseph Moio took a strong mark on a lead and converted truly, and some smart inside 50 stoppage work gave us 2 in as many minutes. Restricting The Animals to 2 goals for the term helped to keep us well within striking distance heading into the long break.

The message coming out of half time was to keep holding our structures, keep laying the tackles,  and hit the scoreboard. After flipping some magnets around, the third term started similarly, with Wattle Park maintaining most of the possession. Michael Cudmore was everywhere and popped up wherever he needed to impact in the 3rd quarter. Whilst switching Tate Tregea-Copeland to the wing proved rewarding with him patrolling that side of the ground and winning some ball himself. Wattle Park kicked 2 and held La Trobe scoreless for the quarter. However, the Trobers kept the intensity up around the contest, holding our defensive structure and running hard to create scoring opportunities.

Going into the fourth quarter, there were a few sore bodies but the Trobers kept fighting. Rebounding multiple attacks, with Lachlan “Strava” Straney showing grit as he won all of his 1v1 contests against bigger opponents to kickstart the Trobers rebound game. Some clever work deep in the forward pocket saw La Trobe snap truly but would be ruing missed opportunities kicking 1.5 for the quarter. Alex “Crocky” Crockford continued to battle in the ruck and worked tirelessly to give our midfielders first use. Wattle Park kicked 2 late fourth quarter goals, taking their tally to 3 for the term. La Trobe eventually falling to a 39 point defeat.

A big thank you to everyone who made the drive to Burwood to help us get on the park, your efforts are much appreciated. We are very keen to build on this really positive performance as we look ahead to Richmond Central back at Tony Sheehan Oval next week.