The battle of the universities went to the UWS GIANTS, with the young GIANTS proving too strong for their Sydney University counterparts running out 47-point winners on Sunday at SKODA Stadium.
The win is a major boost to the GIANTS, after a difficult past few weeks, and will ensure they go into next weekend’s clash with top of the table, Ainslie at full confidence.
With GIANTS Senior Coach, Kevin Sheedy and General Manager of Football, Graeme Allen watching on, a number of players pushed their claims for senior selection in the coming weeks with impressive performances.
One player who did his chances no harm was Tom Downie, who was impressive up forward kicking four goals, and was almost unbeatable in the ruck.
Downie spoke to the GIANTS website after the game, and was not getting carried away with today’s performance.
“The boys came out pretty desperate after a win today, and I was just lucky to get onto the end a few and it turned out alright for me today. We will celebrate today’s win, but now we are looking forward to next week against Ainslie, and get a couple on the trot. We played really well today and showed a few signs, so I reckon we will go pretty well next week,” said Downie.
Downie played down talk of an AFL debut in his near future, instead he hopes to simply keep improving and stick to his individual goals.
“It’s very exciting, but my time will come. My goals this year have just been trying to get used to playing a bit of footy and continue to get games under my belt and just see what happens after that. If I’m down forward I’m trying to work on my marking, and in the Centre bounces I’m trying to get across the line and get into the ruckman, so there is always something to work on.”
Downie said the victory was a good reward for the side, after some tough weeks and praised the Slater & Gordon GIANTS players for their performances over the period.
“The last month or so I’ve been really impressed with the top-up players, they have given a lot and that’s been the difference with a few goals in the game”, said Downie.
Best on ground for the GIANTS was Anthony Miles who again found a lot of the football through the midfield, and gave his team great drive forward.
Gerald Ugle put in another impressive display, kicking three goals, and will again ensure his name comes up for discussion after putting together a string of strong displays in recent weeks.
Will Hoskin-Elliot ensured he will be right alongside Ugle in the selectors thoughts, with an eye catching display that saw the youngster kick three goals, and his run off half back was too much for the Sydney University players.
Jacob Townsend found himself amongst the best in his first game back from injury, and showed his usual fearless attack on the football, despite returning from a brocken jaw. Andrew Phillips and Sam Frost were also solid for the GIANTS, with Frost continuing his terrific recent patch of form.
The GIANTS travel to Wagga Wagga next weekend where they will take on Ainslie.
UWS GIANTS 18.18 126 – Sydney University 11.13 79
Best – Miles, Phillips, Hoskin-Elliot, Townsend, Frost, Ugle
Goals- Downie 4, Ugle 3, Tomlinson 3, Hoskin-Elliot 3, Stuart 2, Eastman, Austin, Schulz
