With only a handful of U17 players from the previous season of which only a few had U17A experience, we headed out to Auburn Road for the first round of the season against TEM.

Having spoken to a good young TEM player earlier that day who hadn’t made it into the Shield team I was a little worried about how our young team would go. I need not have worried – our guys came out blazing and with the help of the more experienced players our new Shield players held their own against the more experienced TEM side.

It was 0-0 at half time and a goal off a short corner with about 10 minutes to go put the pressure firmly onto the SUHC side. The highlights for me was the never say die attitude displayed by all the players and the passing and sharing of the ball was exceptional – they truly played as a team and hopefully they will continue to play like this for the rest of the season.

Well done to coach Lachy and the boys!!