Coolgardie Prospectors

Back on the road, and out to country Victoria, to face the Manangatan Orangutans, and the Prospectors are still doing just what it takes to get the job done and stay at the pointy end of the ladder. Its not always pretty, its not always big, but its always entertaining, and its almost always a win. This time it was a 68 pointer in favour of the visitors, taking out the match 1125 to 1057. The weeks off celebrating, missing the trade period, and having only a very small participation in the draft, was still enough for the boys to stay in the winner circle.

For the first time in club history, there was a tie in the points, with both Captain JPK and the returning Mummy leading the way on 115 points apiece. We're going to let them split the points for now, and hope that it doesn't come back to bite us come seasons end.

Third in the points in his first outing in the blue and gold was new recruit Cam Pedersen, showing exactly why the coaching staff had faith in him, with a solid 106 points leading the backline. The remainder of the Prospectors backline really let themselves down this week, well below their usual lofty standards. This was however nothing in comparison to the midfield, which must have still been hung over. A combined 215 points between Ebert, Wines, and O'Meara was absolutely shocking, at an average of less than 72 each the entire Prospectors side is hoping that this was just an anomaly.

It was good having Mummy back in the ruck, pumping out a ton, which freed up Coxy to join the interchange with Jackson. Once again the forwards are the bug-bear of the side, 179 between the four of them (including Ellis' halved 50 points) was simply not good enough.

The fact that three forwards didn't even turn up to play, and those that did were absolutely shocking, is just not good enough. The saving grace was another new face, Sam Frost, who put in a 64 point performance in his first game, to lead the forwardline. They've all been told to pull their fingers out from now on!

Onto next week, and the Prospectors are back at home, taking on the Southern Cross Sandgropers in the WA Derby (not darby), with both teams fighting it out for the Gold Nugget Cup. This rivalry has been brewing since day one, with the two WA sides readying themselves for the biggest match in the local calendar.

It should be an absolute slugfest, a tight game of great skill, and a victorious captain Kennedy placing the cup next to the stein on the Coolgardie mantle-piece (cabinets are for scotch, not trophies!)

We welcome everyone to the ground to come and cheer on the Prospectors this week, where the scotch and coke is still flowing - win, lose, or otherwise!

 

After all that, I forgot to post the votes...

Round 11 saw the tie at the top, between JP Kennedy and Shane Mumford, each scoring 115 points. These boys will share the votes for now. Third place was new recruit Cameron Pederson, on 106 points.

Leaderboard: 11.5 - S. Mumford 10.5 - J. Kennedy 7 - B. Ebert 5 - J. O'Meara 4 - D. Cox 3 - C. Hooker 2 - O. Wines, R. Petterd, D. Jackson 1 - C. Pedersen

 

The Coolgardie Prospectors are filling out the virtual trophy cabinet, this time with the Nugget Cup, after a 284 point win over the Southern Cross Sandgropers. The team just gelled this week, scoring 1373 points, including some solid runs through the midfield and some forwards getting on top of their games.

The whole town is proud of the boys, and the trophy-winning performances they've put on. To make it even sweeter, the win sees the team leapfrog the Parasites to lead the ladder after 12 weeks, with an 8-1 record.

While we may not be the highest-scoring team in the ORFFU each week, we're the ones who do what needs to be done to get the wins. All you have to do is beat the opponent put infront of you each week, and the Prospectors have shown that they're good at doing this.

A big challenge however is coming up this week, with three of the star midfielders going head-to-head, there's concerns that there just might not be enough pie for Kennedy, Wines, and Ebert to all go large. To make matters worse, this is the week that the Prospectors finally face the high-scoring Pakenham Parasites in the top-of-the-table clash.

We're once again asking all the supporters to get our there in their blue and gold, and cheer on the mighty Prospectors to another win!

To close out this week, the B&F votes for round 12, and the leaderboard as it stands. 3 - J. Kennedy, 126 2 - O. Wines, 120 1 - B. Ebert, 119
Season Tally:

 

Wow, its been a while since I've been in here and posted an update! Mid 2014....

Well, to start 2015 we had a loss, which sucks. Travelling to Groote Eylandt just turned out to be too much for the boys, although 1241 was a respectable first up score, especially seeing as we've lost young gun Jaeger for the whole season, before even a ball was bounced in anger!

Just a brief update for now, with the top three scores being Brad Ebert on 142, Ollie Wines on 130, and Josh Kennedy on 127.

Congrats to three of our star midfielders, who lead the B&F for 2015.

 

Hey @JPK

Black Swamp is travelling out west to play Mt Thirsty Boozers in the ORFFF in Round 11. We have a match on Neptune Island (SA) this week and the club has decided to take an extended road trip rather than return home for one night.

We note your mob will be travelling back from Staghorn Flat after this weekend but we would be keen to arrange for a "low intensity" Thursday night practice match with the Prospectors if you are back in time - 6-7pm (Coolgardie time) on 2nd June would suit us if you are available.

This worked well for us when we stopped in at Gundagai (ORFFA) prior to our Round 5 ORFF match away to Jan Juc, with both teams gaining wins after the joint session. Let us know if you are interested - we can return the favour if you have any further QLD away trips (Cow Bay or Hughenden) this season or next.

Cheers TTH

 

I've been very active in here, haven't I? TTH, you must have sifted for pages and pages through the forum looking for this thread!

Yeah mate, we can accommodate the boys from Black Swamp, we'll be back in time, for sure, and look forward to a nice friendly hit-out to keep the boys in touch. If the luck rubs off, then we'll be more than happy to have both sides bring home a win!

I presume you'll want to stay the night? We can put you up in the Coolgardie Hotel (I presume there's a total of 29 of you travelling?) and make sure that we have the fridges fully stocked with drinks, snags, and the best oranges in the land!

Let me know if you need me to arrange anything for your boys' arrival - otherwise have a great trip, good luck against the boys from Neptune Island, and we look forward to seeing the 29ers at the start of June!

 

@JPK - we will be there with bells on, whatever that means !!

 

@TheTassieHawk will they be "jingly" bells?

 

Thanks @choppers I could really do with some Jaeger good news. I feel like I completely cursed him, and ruined it for everyone in footy last year when I offered him up for trade.... Won't be making that mistake again!

 

Hahahaha
You offer a good bloke up for trade, and he goes and ruins it by getting injured and spending the next 13+ months on the sidelines.
Its a shame, because footy is always better when the quality players are playing, and playing well.

 

Well, I finally made it to my cherished Coolgardie - first time I've ever been there.



I even managed to drag my adorable wife along. As you can see, she was thrilled!!!!



I thought about erecting a sign saying "Home of the Mighty Prospectors", but I didn't have any sign-writing equipment with me!!!
Got to see the home ground, and walk out on the hallowed turf (while others were using it for kite-flying), but those photos are on my wife's camera, and she's still not talking to me after I dragged her along! (just look at that face - it says it all really, doesn't it???)

The town itself is actually quite small, in all seriousness. Its worth passing through, but only to pass through. There's a couple of pubs, although we didn't enter either of them, and a small outdoor museum type thing, with old relics of the mining days (and afterwards), but the photos of these are also on my wife's camera... and she's still not talking to me! There's a few old buildings still standing, including the old gaol, which is now partly used as a museum. We did hear the Mr Whippy music, although never actually saw the van (which was a real letdown - the town is only a few square kilometers, it can't have been far away!!!).

 

My wife has started talking to me again, and even provided me access to her camera, so now I can share some more photos with you all:

The relic in the open-air museum type thingy


Our modern transportation options in Coolgardie

It is actually a genuine shame that these things have been allowed to fall into such a state of disrepair and decay... and this was one of the best examples of machinery in this museum.

Finally we have me standing on the hallowed turf - out in the middle where Big Mummy and Big Stefan feed the ball directly to JPK, Ollie, Jaeger (when he bothers turning up), and Ebert (Brad needs a cool nic-name!).
We also have me signaling a goal, as I hope the men in white (ok, not so much anymore) do a lot of, with the likes of Westhoff, Watts, Fantasia, Touk, and Petrie in the goal-square!

 

Anyone wanting to head out Coolgardie way, hit me up, and I can recommend some things to do, places to stay, pubs to visit, restaurants to try, and the like. Its definitely worth the trip to see the WA Goldfields - such a magnificent history.

 

To anyone who cares, I posted some photos and a little story of my recent trip to the WA Goldfields, where I actually visited my town of Coolgardie. Hopefully the link works.
http://tooserious.net/forum/threads/coolgardie-prospectors.71933/page-2#post-187607

 

That is seriously gold! Best thing I've read all week :"D

That look of "Oh god, what have I done" from the wife is well worth the price of admission

 

Thanks mate. Its Goldfields Gold - the best kind of Gold!!!
There's actually a photo of her afterwards with a huge smile on her face - but she won't admit to it.

 

Thanks mate.
Yeah, we both enjoyed our trip to the Goldfields. We're both fans of nature and historical sites, so it was great for us.

To prove that I didn't completely drag my wife along, here's a photo of her actually smiling in Coolgardie!


Definitely worth the visit.