Jackas gallant in grand final defeat
With both AJAX's senior men’s and women’s teams making it into their respective grand finals, 2019 'will be remembered as a successful and positive one for the club'.
AFTER notching nine straight wins, including two finals series matches, a gallant AJAX could not produce a VAFA Men’s Premier C upset win against undefeated minor premiers Williamstown CYMS in front of a bumper crowd at Trevor Barker Oval last Sunday.
But after finding themselves in a deep hole at half-time, when they trailed by 35 points, the men in red, black and white made a real fist of it in the last two quarters.
They staged a comeback that sent decibel levels of cheers from Jackas fans in the stands soaring, coming to within just nine points of their opponents with 25 minutes left, only for Williamstown to shut the game down through dogged defence, to prevail by 18 points.
In a high intensity game, the Jackas showed their defensive grit to eventually halt Williamstown’s opening attacking blitz, making 103 tackles to restrict them to scoring just one goal in the second half.
Williamstown’s best-on-ground Dylan Jones had a thrilling duel with AJAX ruckman Brent Shapiro all afternoon, and Jackas captain Nick Lewis had 15 possessions and made 16 tackles.
Hope for AJAX remained when they scored three unanswered goals deep into the third quarter and then scored the opening two goals in the final period.
The brilliance of Jordan Cohen (26 possessions and 3 goals) hurt Williamstown, as did Jackas’ star midfielders Charlie Hamilton (28 possessions and 5 tackles), Brad Caplan (26 possessions, 4 marks and 5 tackles) and Kane Nissenbaum (23 possessions, 4 marks and 8 tackles).
Young guns Benji Krongold (20 possessions), Toby Sheezel (16 possessions and 1 goal) and James Fisher (16 possessions, 6 marks and 7 tackles) continued their good form, as did defensive leader Richie Simon (22 possessions) and the whole back line, who earlier had been under siege by Williamstown’s tall and speedy forwards.
Losing forward Dov Paltiel due to concussion midway through the second quarter was a blow to the Jackas’ forward structure, but Jake Lew – the leading goalkicker in Premier C footy this season –
battled hard, adding 2 goals, along with Brandon Joel.
Captain Lewis and coach Adam Andrews spoke from the heart after the game in front of a packed Jackas change room, acknowledging a sense of disappointment at the result, but also expressing how proud they were of their team, and the gutsy and hard fought effort of every Jackas player, echoing the sentiments of all of the club’s fans in the stands.
Their grand final efforts have resulted in plenty to look forward to next season too, with AJAX earning promotion to Premier B footy.
AJAX president Ronnie Lewis said “with both our senior men’s and women’s teams making it into their respective grand finals, 2019 will be remembered as a successful and positive one for the club, and we look forward to the exciting journey ahead”.
comments