Our latest newsletter recapping Round 13 can be found here: Round 13

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From the President

This week was East Coast Eagles’ largest event on their season calendar, the Back to Baulko Round. East Coast Eagles celebrate their heritage and play in their old Baulkham Hill jumpers, and we play for the Warren Quintrell Cup.

In some sad news, life member, Warren Quintrell passed away this week, aged 98. Ian Parker put together the below tribute to “Pops” Qunitrell.

The Warren ‘Pops’ Quintrell Shield

The Warren ‘Pops’ Quintrell Shield is awarded to the winning Premier Division team in the annual ‘Back to Baulko’ day run by the Sydney Hills Eagles (formally the East Coast Eagles).

Warren is a Life Member of both Clubs, Pennant Hills and East Coast Eagles by virtue of its previously known name of Baulkham Hills.

Warren moved on to start up another new Junior Club in Kellyville and continues to provided a tower of assistance to football administrators in the Hills area.

Warren has also been awarded the prestigious AFL Merit award for his contribution to Sydney AFL over many years.

Warren ‘Pops’ Quintrell is known as the father figure of Australian Rules football in the Hills area, and many in the club say he was instrumental in setting up clubs in Pennant Hills, Baulkham Hills and Kellyville.

Pops was on the sidelines unsure of which team to be supporting, but with many of the senior players running onto the field being his ex-charges, he was a proud man watching their progress.

The Pennant Hills and Baulkham Hills rivalry developed as a result of many players playing football against each other since they were in junior competitions.

The centrepiece of the ‘Back to Baulko Day’ is the Warren ‘Pops’ Quintrell Trophy, which is awarded to the winning captain and coach.

Moving from South Australia in 1996, Quintrell was one of the original Australian football fanatics in Sydney.

“In some ways I brought it up here, because I used to do school clinics and I finished up doing Auskick for a few years,” he says.

“A lot of them out there are players from Auskick, and I believe that my last lot of Auskick players are now under 14s.

“I’d like to still be doing it, but my knees don’t let me do it anymore.”

Pops remembers all too well the challenges he faced bringing Australian Rules to a state caught up in rugby league and union.

“I found that a lot of the kids loved the game, but it was a matter of convincing their parents,” he says. “Their dads had played league or soccer all their lives.”

Sitting on the sidelines is hard for the man who has spent almost 40 years teaching North-Western Sydney schoolkids about his beloved sport.

“I miss it,” he says of the teaching. “It keeps you young if you’re playing with young kids.”

People involved with both clubs change directions to talk to Pops, say g’day and ask him how he is going. It’s obvious he’s a well-respected man.

The Kellyville/Rouse Hill Junior Football Club (the Magpies) was founded in early 2002 by a group of parents who wanted their kids to play the ‘Greatest Game of All’, in their local area.

The instigator of this movement was local junior Australian Football League legend, Warren ‘Pops’ Quintrell.

With the blessing of the Northside Association and the Baulkham Hills Falcons, Pops recruited several ex-Parramatta Goanna’s who lived in the Kellyville/Rouse Hill area to start up the first committee.

After several lengthy meetings at the then Mean Fiddler Inn at Rouse Hill, the club was up and running. Some of the original families involved included:

  • Former SFL Geelong Tigersnakes star, Peter ‘Bear’ Rickett
  • Former garlic salesman and Goanna committeeman, Steve ‘Digger’ Graves
  • Ex-Baulkham Hills Junior and Goanna premiership winner, Paul Eastman
  • Former South Australian umpire of the year, George ‘The Blower’ Acland, and
  • Steve ‘The Butcher’ Terry.

The health of our competition in the North West can be greatly attributable to the early work, and passion, of Warren. Rest in Peace.

We spoilt East Coasts Day from our opening game, where the Reserves defeated them by 80 points in what was a good display of football. Our under 19’s, although going down by only 13 points put on one of their best displays of football for the season as they continue to improve and provide great signs for next season. I think we were a little surprised by the determination of their young Premier Division Men’s team, on their big day, coming away with a 35 point win was harder fought then anticipated. This was far away from our round 6 win of 153 points against them at home.

Women’s Premier Division played three quarters of outstanding football and were leading in the last quarter against the Eagals, top of the ladder team. Unfortunately we were “pipped at the post”.

All in all, another excellent Back to Baulko round for the Demons.

We look forward to hosting Sydney University at home this weekend, in our Mental Health round. Be sure to enter our raffles and support the very important Gotcha 4 life program, with information on the day available here. Gotcha4life provide extremely important services to our community and have been very active in our club’s mental health program this season. We look forward to giving back to them a little.Our thanks go out to PKF Flooring for their sponsorship of this very important round. All our teams will be taking the field in the Gotcha4Life socks.
We are again the match of the round this weekend. Sportcast will be present, broadcasting and commentating on the Premier Men’s and Women’s games that will be available to view on KAYO. If you can’t make it to the ground be sure to watch.

Our 50th celebration is almost upon us. I look forward to seeing you at the Epping Club on Friday 23rd July to reminisce about our great club and look forward to our future.

Todd Williams – Pennant Hills AFL Club President

Match Reports

Premier Division Men with thanks to Pennant Hills Toyota
(PH 12.11.83 defeated East Coast Eagles 7.6.48)

R13 would see us up against another long time rival the East Coast Eagles.

We knew we were in for a competitive game being their ‘Back to Baulko’ game in front of a hostile home crowd. Both teams would start like bulls out of a gate, no one shrieking any contest… there was a lot on the line for both teams, we had to win to stay in our hunt for finals and East Coast were keen to win their first game of the year.

We would have more than double their scoring shots but only walk away with a 9-point lead into the 1st break. The 2nd quarter would see another desperate battle, East Coast to their credit looking like a much better team than the one we faced earlier in the year, their quick ball movement hurt us a couple of times, however we would keep a one goal lead going into half time. With our season on the line, we had to take our game to another level, the boys responded, and we would play our best quarter in some time, kicking 6 goals in a row… moving the ball swiftly to take a 7 goal lead going into the last qtr. In the last quarter the eagles would hit back with 2 goals of their own, we would also kick a couple more and walk away with a hard fought 35 point win.

East Coast certainly will cause some problems in their remaining games, for us it was an important win. We were served by none better than Stephen ‘Stinger’ Wray, who was moved into the midfield with some key midfields out, he stepped up and gave us great drive and two way run. Jason Blakemore continued his recent run of form, once again dominating on the wing, constantly the link man of many forward thrusts. Mitchell Blow again was instrumental in the ruck and gave our mids first use, he also drifted forward for a goal. Mudgey played a key role with his pressure and slickness, Luke Skrivanic, Matthew Carey & Theo Moraitis were impressive in the forward half with the touch and willingness to compete, down back Mikey Carroll was a key pillar while keeping the Eagle’s dominant forward goalless.

All eyes turn to a huge home game vs Sydney Uni.

Premier Division Women
(PH 4.5.29 loss to East Coast Eagals 4.9.33)

Both teams went into this match with different players brought up from their respective reserve grades, meaning both teams had a chance to show off the depth of their clubs. At the start of the game, I told our players that I think we have a good chance to be more than competitive and win this game, which was exactly the case.

The first quarter saw rivals East Coast win the centre clearance and immediately get a mark in their F50. They missed this shot and the ball was in our B50 for most of the first few minutes. Our players stood up to the defensive challenge, and won the ball through strong tackle pressure and repeat efforts through players like Elly Rudd and Em Carroll. We finished the quarter up 14-8.

Q2 saw us continue to put the pressure on EC, with Riley Quinn having a blinder with her attack on the ball and desperation to not let the opposition beat her as a key forward. There were some great combinations from Eliza McDonald, debutant Ash Grubba and Riley to get another goal to finish the quarter up 21-9.

The third quarter saw us continue to plug away, with East Coast also getting a goal. Our centres were linking well together with great tapping from Madi Hare down to Tayla Duguid to deliver into our forward line. Defensive reading around the centre taps by Liz Gordon also helped us stay ahead for the majority of this game, ending the quarter up 28-17.

The last quarter saw East Coast fire back with their strongest player moving from CHB to the Ruck. We also lost a few players to injuries and cramps, and we were on the back foot as East Coast chipped over the top of our full back and scored a devastating goal. Hayley Lowe was doing the best she could to win the ball up forward but East Coast we’re just too stubborn to lose, and ended up securing a comeback win 33-29.

It felt like we had every opportunity to win this game, and I think that being ahead for 3 quarters just shows how good we can really be. This was our 4th loss of the season by 7 or less points, and while they continue to hurt, we continue to learn.

Daniel Fiedler – Premier Division Women’s Coach

Premier Division Reserves 
(PH 13.17.95 defeated East Coast Eagles 2.3.15)

Qtr by Qtr Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
East Coast 0.1 – 1 0.2 – 2 1.2 – 8 2.3 – 15
Pennant Hills 2.7 – 19 5.10 – 40 8.14 – 62 13.17 – 95

Goal Kickers: O Williams 4, B Thompson 3, A Murdoch 2, N Sparks 1, J Rene 1, T Scoular 1, P Witt 1
Best: O Williams, H Rivers, B Thompson, M Browne, A Murdoch, P Witt
Players Player: O Williams

With speculation around grounds being open with the amount of rain we had during the week, it was good to get a couple of fine days, cooperation from councils and Kanebridge was in great condition.

We had a strange build up having to make 10 changes – 4 promoted to Prems, 4 out with COVID, one out with a concussion from last week and another out with the good old fashion flu.

We welcomed seven boys back in from injury, illness, being away and Prems plus Cian Furlong and Xander Vink from Div One who backed up after us and went to MKO to help Div One to an important win.

We also welcomed in Cameron Mitchell for his first game of senior footy and he performed like a veteran.

We started well out of the blocks although could have been more accurate (hey Scarlo?) with nine scoring shots to 1 in the first quarter for 2.7.

We tidied that up somewhat during the second and third quarters before coming home with a 5.3 last quarter to run out winners by 80 points.

Big test this week at home against the unbeaten top side, Sydney Uni.

We’re up for this. Watch this space!

David Pinker – Premier Division Reserves Coach

Division 1 Men
(PH 7.6.48 defeated UTS 6.6.42)

The ever-evolving wet weather situation led to a favourable outcome with the game moved from Trumper Park to Mike Kenny Oval. The rare 2pm start for Div 1 was a bonus.

Although the opposition were sitting in 6th, it was fair to say they had pencilled in this game as an opportunity to knock us off and register a win. They certainly took the fight up to us with scores tight throughout.

A moment of madness in the 3rd and a subsequent rest for 15 minutes then led to a period of brilliance from Durkin who kicked 2 valuable last quarter goals. These would end up helping seal a hard fought 6 point victory.

Big thanks to Ian C and Alex Vink for backing up after Ressies. A good team effort across the board from all 22 and with 3 wins from our last 4, momentum is heading in the right direction. Better players were Scottttttyyy in the ruck once again, Kizza roaming free as always, Will Anson and Jack Lucas down back, Furlong after his early morning warm up at Kanebridge and Jules Alford who looks more and more comfortable at this level by the week.

Seb Parker – Division 1 Men’s Coach

Division 2 Women
(PH 7.7.49 defeated Penrith 0.3.3)

A change in venue meant that we played Penrith at Greenway this week and we were looking forward to getting back into playing after a week off.

We started off strongly winning the ball out of the ruck thanks to great tap work by Emma Richards, but we were very congested around the ball to start which didn’t allow us to open up the play and get the ball moving how we like. We showed patches of this in the first quarter and that’s when our scoring opportunities came, with both Amanda McMenemy and Natalie Morrow kicking goals in open play.

The second quarter we managed to begin to open the spread more and work the ball quickly into our forward line. Great one-on-one work by Jodie Llamas made sure that the pressure in the forward line was immense and won all her contests and kicked a goal as well. We continued to maintain the ball in our forward line with a great wall setup and goal opportunities arose from this with Nat Morrow kicking her second already. We led at the half 29-1.

Second half we continued where we started and worked the ball through the middle. Some great run by Amy Court, Ellie Cooper, Laura Stockwell and Emily Phelps helped drive the ball into our forward line and with goals converted by Laura Donohoe and another to Nat Morrow, we were able to establish a dominant lead up 43-1 at the end of the 3rd.

The final quarter was a credit to our defence who had been superb all day. Jamie Regoli and Steph Martin had set up well behind the ball and took countless intercept marks. Alex Williams and Sam Oyston made contests of everything, spoiling marks and laying great tackles/winning contests that stopped Penrith from breaking through to score. When the ball did get through, Dani Cahill was there to clean it all up and stopped numerous opportunities for Penrith to score.

Overall, it was a complete game by the team and everyone played well and did their role. Brooke Schwenke converted the final goal and the game finished 49-3. We are looking forward to a tough game next week against UNSW.

Jed Corbett – Division 2 Women’s Coach

Division 3 Men
(PH 1.3.9 loss to Wollondilly 12.7.79)

Today we faced the undefeated, top of the table, Wollondilly down in Catherine Field. It was going to be formidable challenge for our group, particularly on the back of a disappointing loss to North Shore last weekend, but we were primmed and ready to give everything for our club.

Jack Newton and Tommy Pellizzon shared ruck duties and competed well in the opening exchanges, but when our opponents did clear the centre, their delivery was of a high quality, as was their overhead marking in the forward line. Our backline of mile, Bloom and Acheson combined well to disrupt their attacking force, and with a reasonable breeze at our backs, we were able to clear the ball on multiple occasions and provide several half-chances in our forward line. One moment of brilliance starting with Jack Newton who calmly marked and delivered smoothly to Mick Elsley on the wing, who found Daniel Crompton at the top of the 50. DC had to earn this mark, but re-set beautifully to delivery to our menacing Captain Hull in the pocket. Words were exchanged with the umpire and Patty was presented a shot from the top of the square, and boy did he make the goal umpire work! The goal was given and we were on our way. DC provided another highlight in the 1st quarter with a spekky leap which started approximately 2 minutes before the ball arrived in the contest. He missed the mark, but we had a good laugh at his attempt.

The second half killed the contest with Wollondilly claiming 6 goals, 2 behinds, but that provided an opportunity for the ever-improving Ryan Pascoe to again demonstrate his talent across half back. Together with Trent Summers-Levin, Luke Bray and Geir O’Rourke, our opponents knew with every contest, this tough tackling group were not going to allow one easy possession. TSL has taken his game to a new level in terms of his attack on the football. Previously known for his pace and kicking skills, this pocket dynamo has added another string to his bow and is now one of the hardest combatants in our squad.

We actually won the 3rd quarter, albeit 2 behinds to 1 behind, but nobody has kept this side to just 1 point in a quarter all season. It would have been easy for our boys to look at the score card and accept defeat at half time, but we cam out storming and matched them at every contest. Nick De Gorter, Harry McDiarmid, John Plater and Mitch Yabsley in particular won their individual battles and gave us great run all quarter. Their performances lifted the team and it became 2nd nature to see players making 2 and 3 efforts to apply considerable pressure. Real positives from the 4th quarter were from Harry Patchett and DC who were goaded and tormented by their opponents in physical, off the ball confrontations, which in days gone by would have escalated and distracted them and the team from the game. To the credit of this pair, they did not react and showed real maturity and composure and inspired the team into the final quarter.

The moment of the afternoon however, was after the final siren. After a debrief delivered on the boundary as we waited for the change rooms to be vacated by Sydney Uni women div 4. As the Uni side had one final huddle before entering the field, our boys spontaneously formed a guard of honour for them to run through. I think everyone was a bit surprised by this gesture, but to their credit, the Uni team ran through, cheered on by our boys, and actually ran out as winners against Wollondilly women. To me this shows the character of the young men in our club. They showed humility and respect for this team and were more interested in making another team from another club feel good about themselves, rather than waller in their own disappointment of our loss. You, gentlemen, are a credit to Pennant Hills and showed why we are indeed the best club in Sydney AFL.

I will see you in the next one.

Nigel Blow – Division 3 Men’s Coach

Division 3 Women
(PH 1.3.9 defeated UTS 0.0.0)

The Women’s Div 3 faced off against the UTS Bats for the second time this season this week in what was a must win game if we were to keep our finals hopes alive. The game was relocated about 37 times in the buildup to the game which in the end was held in Parramatta – Neutral Territory. Unfortunately, Katie didn’t get the memo and rocked up to the 36th iteration of the game location at greenway park but made it in time for the first quarter.

The first quarter was a tight tussle, our opponents had a strong defensive net that counteracted our game plan of dropping an extra into our backline well. Ultimately they weren’t able to completely stifle our flow and we managed to snare a couple of behinds to start us off.

In the second quarter, UTS began to play some attacking footy of their own, but Rachel Ingram and Rebecca Gurka were unstoppable in the backline – rebounding everything that they had to give. We managed to add an additional point to our tally and succeeded in keeping the opposition scoreless.

Unfortunately, the long break meant we lost 2 players, Jesse to a social commitment and Bec to a broken thumb, wishing for a more flexible social calendar and a speedy recovery for each of them respectively! The third brought more success to the team, with our midfield synergising through some excellent ruck work from Alyce Reilly, allowing Katie Wellfare to extract the ball and Lucy Boyd to score her first for the season!

The remainder of the game was scoreless but the efforts of Maddie MD and Jordan Stout in the midfield allowed us to keep piling the pressure on UTS which they were unable to overcome. Credit goes to UTS for their sportswomanship in matching us 15 on 15 for the second half following the loss of two of our players.

Congratulations once again to our girls, on not only winning the game but keeping our opposition to nil for the game. The result is that we are still in the race for finals and we face North Shore this week in a rematch of the ages.

Nick de Gorter – Division 3 Women’s Coach

Under 19’s
(PH 7.4.46 loss to East Coast Eagles 8.11.59)

The Under 19’s squad took on cross-town rivals East Coast, fair to say there is a fair bit of history between the two sides.

The hosts started really strong, kicking two goals from clearance in the first two minutes. If I was to think about the way this group has developed, 7 weeks ago this happened against East Coast and we fell apart. This time we continued to fight, scrap and claw throughout the contest. The boys ensured that we broke even for the next 2 quarters and even hit the front early in the last.

Oscar Irwin continued his great form kicking 3 goals, M Gillbee was prolific in the midfield and Jack Kinane was awarded best on field taking plenty of intercept marks. Zac Morris was also fantastic all day competing hard for the footy and rewarding his hard running with two goals.

The coach certainly feels like we are building to a strong end to the season. Just got to keep turning up and the reward will come.

Joel Cousens – U19’s Coach

Masters
(BYE)

Round 14 Fixtures

This week, we are catching up on many games lost to rain in the early two rounds. We only have our top oval available so it will be an early start and a late finish.

Team Opposition Ground Time
PDM Sydney Uni Mike Kenny Top Oval 1:40 PM
PDW Sydney Uni Mike Kenny Top Oval 12:05 PM
PRM Sydney Uni Mike Kenny Top Oval 10:10 AM
D1M Sydney Uni Mike Kenny Top Oval 5:30 PM
D2W UNSW Henson Park 9:00 AM
D3M UTS Mike Kenny Top Oval 8:30 AM
D3W North Shore Gore Hill Oval 7:20 PM
U19 Sydney Uni Mike Kenny Top Oval 3:45 PM
MAS St George Picken Oval 1:20 PM

Events

The following is our calendar of confirmed events for Season 2022:

Rd 14 – 16th July – Mental Health Round –  Raffle Tickets & Prize Information can be found here
Rd 15 – 23rd July – 50th Anniversary Celebration (The Epping Club)
Rd 16 – 30th July – Partner’s Day
Rd 17 – 6th August – Demon Disco (The Underground – UTS) – Buy your tickets here

Demon Disco

Grab your akubra, dust off your boots & start practising your best country moves because the Demon Disco is back and this year we’re heading to the Wild West!

Saturday 6th August will see the Demons return to The UTS Underground for the most anticipated social event of the year! Ticket includes 5 hour drinks package.

Tickets are $80 and can be purchased through Athlete Tracker: www.athtracker.com.au/pay

This event is 18+ only

Toyota Good for Footy Raffle

The Toyota Good for Footy Raffle is back, giving you another chance to win 1 of 3 brand new Toyota cars whilst also supporting the club!

There are $250,000 worth of prizes to be won and tickets are $5, all proceeds from sales go directly to the club!

Head to the link below to purchase your raffle tickets now!
https://toyotagoodforfooty.raffletix.com.au/pennanthillsfc?v=1&sref=xncyrbpg