Officer Football Club

Football

It was a long year for Officer, who won just one game from their 16 matches, to finish last.

They averaged 49 points per game and conceded a tick over 120 points per game.

Perhaps their season could have ended differently had they banked some early wins and built some belief.

Round 1 saw them lose to Upwey Tecoma 66-77, following an inspiring last quarter comeback after trailing by six goals. Round 2 was similar with an eight point loss to Pakenham, kicking 4 goals in the last quarter to Pakenham’s one.

Two near impressive come-from-behind wins would have been the perfect start to Officer’s season, however it was not to be.

They finally got a win in Round 7 against Mt Evelyn (111-77), with nine individual goal scorers. This included five multiple goal scorers, with three each to Anthony Bernardo, Riley Clark and Sean Roach. It was a 10 goal second half which sealed the victory.

For the season, Matthew Rogers topped the goal scoring with 16, followed by Brent Moloney with 11 from just 11 games and Sean Roach with nine from 11 also.

Anthony Bernardo and Luke Smaluch both had fantastic seasons, with Luke Smaluch being honoured on the interchange bench in Team of the Year.

Joshua Westra also enjoyed a fine season.

Although Officer have a handful of strong players, their defence needs bolstering as they leaked massive scores in plenty of matches. Some more supply to the forward line would also make a big difference for the better.

2023 looks like it should be a more promising season as if they improve, they could well win those tight contests that they were unable to this year.

Written by Jordan Peeler