Rye Football Club played Pearcedale Football Club today (29 April 2017) at RJ Rowley Reserve, Rye and for the first time in 4 years, each of Rye’s under 19s, reserves and senior teams won their games.
In the seniors, Rye produced a very different game than the game on display just 7 days ago at Sorrento, with Rye beating Pearcedale by 23 points. Rye’s defence was on fire and the drive out of the back 50 into the midfield runners and into the forward line were excellent. Rye’s pressure and tackling was strong, and the return of the skipper (Adam Kirkwood) and Matt Macindoe were telling – some strong bodies and calm minds to support Leigh Morse and Dayne Thompson. Dekodda Thomson-Irwin made his Rye seniors debut today – congrats Dekka. Tim Churchin showed today why Rye recruited him – plenty of attack on the ball and some terrific goals from him. He’s a difficult matchup for opposition defences.
The senior game was also a significant milestone for Ben Winters-Kerr, who played 200 games for Rye today. Hyphen has played 197 of those games in the seniors, and will become just the 32nd Rye player to reach this significant milestone. There is a separate gallery of photos of Ben before, after and during the game here.
Final scores from Seniors game: Rye 14-11-95 def Pearcedale 9-18-72
Here are photos from the game: