Plenty of Endeavour

By Justin Robertson
IT WAS always going to be a tough ask for Endeavour Hills when it took on Wyndham City on Saturday afternoon.
Coming into the game there were two key omissions – five-eighth Lemi Faimoa and damaging winger Galu Teo – and faced a parochial away crowd. To make things worse, six players from the first team had to fill in for the reserves match before their 3pm start.
While coach Archie Kennedy said some of his players should not have been affected by playing two games, he did concede 160 minutes of football was a long time to play for anyone.
“ My players are fit but, playing 80 minutes is a lot different to playing 160 minutes,” he said.
The 20-13 victory to the Hills did not reflect how the game was played. It was tough and uncompromising rugby. The Hills traditionally are slow starters and this round eight match was no different.
By half-time they found themselves trailing 13-10, but worked themselves back into the match by scoring early in the second half.
The Hills held Wyndham City scoreless for the entire second half, on the back of some gritty defence work that resulted in some scoring opportunities – limited but enough to secure the premiership points by the final whistle.
Kennedy was pleased to get over the line with a win and that most of the players had contributed solid games.
“We had some good performers on Saturday,” he said. “The game was even all day and we took ascendancy right toward the end of the game when we scored the last try for the win.”
Kennedy said Ahli Shadrock, Nepa Faimoa and Charlie Palupe played steady games and he was happy they stepped up in the absence of their five-eighth and winger.
A massive game looms this week between first and second as the Hills will seek revenge for the 19-21 round three loss against an undefeated Footscray. Not too concerned, Kennedy said he just wanted his team to be in finals contention by season’s end.
“As long as we are peaking at the right time, all we need to do is to make sure we are not slipping backwards,” he said.
“Our fitness levels are pretty good at the moment so hopefully we’ll wear Footscray down this week.”