MONIVAE had 23 very keen Year 9 and Year 10 footballers venture to Marty Busch Reserve, Sebastopol for the Greater Western Region Football Carnival on Tuesday.

The day consisted of two short matches for all competing teams, who were separated into two pools, with each of the matches consisting of 2 x 15-minute halves with the winner of each pool ultimately playing off in a final.

The Dolphins first game of the day was against Trinity College, Colac, and the players quickly realised they had a contest on their hands as the opposition matched them at every contest.

After a tight match across both halves, Monivae ultimately managed to come out on top, 24-16.

For the second match, Monivae played against Emmanuel College, Warrnambool, who came out in the first half and put on a dominant display that the Dolphins simply couldn’t match.

To the credit of the team, they didn’t drop their heads and lose their composure, as ultimately in the second half the Dolphins managed to come from behind and win 26-20.

Winning both pool games meant that Monivae progressed into the final, which was played against Mercy Regional College, Camperdown, who finished on top of the other pool.

Monivae came out in the first half of the final and played its best football for the day, which couldn't have been timelier.

Despite Mercy coming back somewhat in the second half, the Dolphins answered again and eventually won the final 48-25.

Across the day, Monivae had a significant amount of fantastic individual performers, with every single player contributing and having their moments at different stages throughout the three matches which was excellent.

Some of the better players overall included Hunter Van Someren and Hugh Fitzgerald who both played very well throughout the midfield and up forward at stages throughout all three games.

Jack Sobey, Lachlan Bourke, Brodie Phillips and Hamish Myers were all fantastic across the day in the backline, not only with their solid defensive work but also providing plenty offensively which allowed the rest of the Dolphins to run off them.

Zac Elliot and Archie Page were great through the midfield for much of the day, having their own stages of dominance across the three matches.