Round 1: vs Clarence
Venue: KGV
Conditions: Fine

We finally began the 2007 home and away season with the much anticipated grand final reply against Clarence at KGV. The pre-season was finally complete with our preparation not ideal with a number of injuries to key personal. Key players such as Ryan Keeley, Shane Puiselli, Matthew Smith and Cal Garvey all had hamstring injuries. However, we make no excuses as it provided an ideal opportunity for many talented younger players in the squad to play against quality opposition.

The three new players in the team were Jarrod Collidge from the under age, Matthew Dillon from the reserves (via Channel) and Matthew Smith who was recruited from Ulverstone. Other players who were are making the transition from reserves to senior football and were rewarded for their pre season performances were Brock Nightingale, Sam Chivers, Clinton French and Shayne Moles. These players are expected to play a major part in shaping this season's result and beyond.

The game started as planned as we got away to a solid start. We skipped away to a four goal lead at the first change. Our work rate was fantastic in the first half as we continually applied pressure to the Clarence players and ran with the ball when we were in possession. Dave Hunt was providing us with a major focal point in the in the first half with his powerful leads and accurate goal kicking. Matthew Smith and Mark Corbett were finding plenty of the football through the midfield. Blair Kean played in a more defensive role along side Dave Kamaric and Brad Curran and providing good run from the defence. James Armstrong was another player who was doing a good job across the half back line until he was reported and sent from the field for the remainder of the game.

Clarence used the ball much better than us in the second half to supply Williamson who kicked 7 goals for the game. They Clarence got on top of us and we were forced to play catch up football. To the players credit they did not throw the towel in at any stage of the game. We got to within a couple of points during the last quarter but Clarence were able to hold us off and then extend their lead to 28 points at the final siren.

During the review it became obvious that the players felt they performed well below their best and we quickly put it behind us knowing we could improve in a number of areas.

Final Score
Clarence 19-1-121
Glenorchy 14-9-93
Better players: M Smith, M Corbett, Dave Kamaric, Sam Chivers and B Kean.

Source: David Newett - Senior Coach GDFC