EAST Gambier Football Club hosted a special pre-season match Friday night at McDonald Park against Mount Burr.
While the two premiership sides from their respective leagues used the opportunity to gain valuable game time, the night had a bigger focus.
Proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets, arm bands and other donations went to help Tai Martin-Page, a footballer who was paralysed during a game in Darwin recently.
According to Bulldogs coach Matt Willson, the night was well patronised by the football community.
“It went really well,” he said.
“There was huge support from the Mount Gambier community, with probably 1200 or 1300 people there.”
“A lot of donations were made, the raffles went really well and we sold out of the wrist bands.
“We raised just over $2500 which was really good.”
Willson said the main aim was to show Martin-Page the Mount Gambier community was behind him.
“It was a really positive response,” he said.
“Everyone was really interested in Tai and how his recovery is going, genuinely showing concern for him.
“No one down here would really know him personally, but it was about country football getting behind other country footballers.”
As far as the game was concerned, Willson said he was pleased with the performance overall, after a “rocky” start in the first half.
“I think both teams would be pretty happy and walk away with a lot of positives and some areas to work on,” he said.
“For us it was about working on what we have done over summer, then finding areas we may need to improve on with just five weeks to go before Round 1.”
Willson said plenty of players put their hands up to be included in the squad, with younger and new members performing well.
He said the game came together in the third quarter, where a strong performance saw plenty of goals kicked.
“We threw things around a bit through the game, but in the third quarter things started to click a bit for us and we got onto the end of a couple up forward, which was good,” he said.
“It was always going to be be a bit rocky in the first half against genuine opposition, but I think once we got those nerves and excitement out of the system, we played some good footy.”
