Courtesy of that man @Bandit

It’s a massive three weeks in the ORFFA. Not only do all the coaches get the chance to touch up their team lists with the mid season draft, but the ORFFA coaches also get stuck into each other with a state of origin series.

Given the teams are spread far and wide, from Iron Knob to the land of the Long White Cloud… choosing exactly what constituted a players ‘State of Origin’ and what the make up of the teams was going to be was not straight forward. After some debate (well let’s be honest, I just decided it), The ORFFA teams split up into the teams from Vic/Tas, and the Rest!

The Vic/Tas teams consisted of players from the following sides:

Charlie's Opening Spelunkers
Cradle Mountain Devils
Darraweit Guim Dirigibles
Gariwerd Cockatoos
Lovely Banks Lilacs
Mount Beauty Uglies
Nunawading Nuffers
Venus Bay Vultures
Wineglass Bay Packers

The Rest (to be referred to periodically in the rest of this post as ‘The Stench’) were comprised of:

Birdsville Battlers
Foul Bay Cheaters Chickens
Gundagai Grasshoppers
Iron Knob Codpieces
Larrikin Lagoon Lefties
Marble Bar Misfits
Wagga Wagga Wombats
Waikikamoocow Incorrigibles
Whitsunday Warriors

The Stench coaches have been talking up their hopes during the week, and when you look at their lineup it is bloody impressive, however the Big VT is quietly confident that they can knock off the Rest if they perform to their best.

There are some tantalising matchups in the squads, so let’s have a look at the teams line by line :


Vic Tas Backs:
Sam Docherty (Venus Bay), Kade Simpson (Nunawading), Matthew Boyd (Mt Beauty), Alex Rance (Darraweit Guim), Emergency : Jasper PITTARD (Venus Bay)

The Stench Forwards:
Josh J. Kennedy (Whitsunday), Daniel Wells (Birdsville), Leigh Montagna (Larrikin Lagoon), Lance Franklin (Wagga Wagga), Emergency : Josh Jenkins (Wagga Wagga)

Vic/Tas go for speed versus size, with Rance the only big guy to be lining up against JJK and Buddy. Docherty, Simpson and Boyd will provide plenty of run out of the back line, but I tell you what, if the Rest get some open ball, it will be hard to stop the marking power of that forward line.


Midifields:
Vic/Tas:
Scott Pendlebury (Cradle Mountain), Trent Cotchin (Mt Beauty), Jack Steven (Gariwerd), Stephen Coniglio (Darraweit Guim), Emergency: Josh P. Kennedy (Nunawading)

The Stench:
Patrick Dangerfield (Foul Bay), Daniel Hannebery (Waikikamoocow), Lachie Neale (Gundagai), Gary Ablett (Iron Knob), Emergency Joel Selwood (Foul Bay)


Wow… just bloody wow. When JPK and Selwood can’t even make it into the midfield you know there is some quality there. Out and out class one both lines and it will be great to watch these two great lines go at it like one armed bricklayers.


Ruck:
Vic/Tas : Max GAWN (Mt Beauty)
The Stench : Todd Goldstein (Larrikin Lagoon)

The beard versus the best ruckman in the league. The Rest have the edge on this line, and if Goldy shoves it down the throat of Danger, Ablett etc, the the Vic Tas guys might get a bit nervous. Gawn if he goes big will go REAL big… could be the game winner


Vic/Tas Forwards:
Zac Merrett (Charlie's Opening), Dustin MARTIN (Mt Beauty), Brett Deledio (Venus Bay), Dayne Zorko (Cradle Mountain), Emergency Jack GUNSTON (Charlie's Opening)

The Stench Backs:
Heath Shaw (Foul Bay), Josh Gibson (Larrikin Lagoon), Jimmy Bartel (Foul Bay), Rory Laird (Marble Bar) Emergency Corey Enright (Birdsville)

Quality ball skills and just outright speed with the Vic/tas lineup. Dusty will be bringing the chopsticks. Similar to Vic/tas, the Rest have gone for one big guy in Gibson, relying on the run and carry of Heater, Jimmy Bartel and Laird to stretch the legs of the Vic/Tas forwards


Vic/ Tas Bench:
Steele Sidebottom (Mt Beauty), Rory Sloane (Wineglass Bay), Emergency: Luke PARKER (Venus Bay)

The Stench Bench (lol)
Tom Mitchell (Waikikamoocow), Callan Ward (Marble Bar), Adam Treloar (Birdsville)

Rumour has it Daylight was a chance at getting a call up for the Rest, but Coach Len wouldn’t release him to play as he has been his standout performer this year. Loads of quality coming off the pine for both sides, with Sloane getting the nod over a slightly out of form Parker for the Vic/Tas guys.


It’s going to be a cracking three weeks… with some great banter and hopefully some record ORFFA scores.

Have at it ladies and gentlemen.... GO THE BIG VT!!