Round 10 saw Ararat and King Island do battle. The final result was AA 1299 defeating KIM 1131 The match was a little too close for comfort for the home side considering some of the players the Monarchs were forced to field. The likes of Gardiner(73), McIntosh (79) and Himmelberg (59) all rose to the challenge and exceeded their season average’s. Lipinski (41) and Cuningham (25) didn’t shine quite as bright however. Usual suspects of Naitanui (107), Goddard (102), Macrae (102) and Cotchin (125) did their bit, but the star of the show was a 102 from first year backline emergency Ed Richards. Ararat had the same story as last week, albeit with different heroes, but the same villains. Luke McDonald (35), Ah Chee (43) and Ziebell (40) disappointed greatly. So much so that match committee has already decided Ah Chee’s fate and he will be playing reserves this week. Last week’s poor performance was atoned for by Daniel Rich as he chipped in with a handy 85 which seemed a par score for the round. Cutler, Gibbs, Tom McDonald, Dahlhaus, Edwards and Sheed all joined Rich in the 80’s (anyone else picture sweat bands, big hair and spandex?), but the 130 club brought the win home: Ryan (136), Stewart (135) and Treloar (133) refused to give in and brought the Armadillos to 10-0 for the season.
my bad @tyze1 post amended. luckily for me the mighty armadillos play footy better than I remember stuff
Match report from Pakenham Pakenham 1227 defeted by Pearcdale 1371 In a high scoring bushmans cup. The 2 local teams went hard at it from the start. Pakenham had some great scores from Simpson 140 Gaff 123 and Hogan 123 but couldn’t quite match the might of the visiting Dales outfit Heath Shaw 149 and Caddy 146 dominated and with another 4 ton scorers it was a quality performance from all. Bellchambers 105 edged out Nankervis 103 for the honours in the big tap which was a heck of a duel the fans loved watching. Pakenham continue to post losses and can’t work out when a win may come. After such a promising start to the year the Parasites are hurting bad and are looking forward to rejigging the squad at the mid year break. BOG 3: Heater 2: Caddy 1: Simpson
Nuytsland 1205 vs Staghorn Flat 1149 @tyze1 Vikings hosted the raging Bulls @ Odins Graveyard, the curse of the Gods set upon the visitors as they pulled up short with only 13 players turning up but it wasn't easy for the home team as one of their own decided early he was not needed. Feeling sorry for Bulls a concussed cousins was a late out and therefore 13 v 13 squared it up. Both defences were under the pump with only 3 players at either end of the ground against 4 forwards, but the Bulls were strong winning by 35 points. With an extra player running through the middle Bulls took the chocolates by 106 points. Up forward it was all even so with Bulls one short on the pine the Vikings came back but it was our ruckman who doubled the oppositions score that was the difference. Nuytsland tons: Tom Mitchell (116): Tagged… 28 disposals and 7 marks with 10 tackles. Playing inside midfield. Isaac Heeney (129): Coming off a HFF, Heeney contributed with 20 touches, 6 marks, 5 tackles and booted 2.0. Brodie Grundy (152): First ruck Grundy contributed with 26 disposals, 7 marks, 2 tackles and 38 ruck taps. Toby McLean (122): Playing inside midfield, McLean contributed with 33 disposals, 9 grabs and 10 tackles. Jack Viney (106): In the midfield, Viney contributed with 35 disposals, 3 grabs, 3 tackles, booted 0.1 and 3 frees against. Matt Crouch (100): In the midfield, Crouch contributed with 35 touches, 5 grabs and 3 tackles. Staghorn Flat tons: Stephen Coniglio (138): Playing midfield, Coniglio contributed with 32 disposals, 3 grabs, 7 tackles and 1.0. Rory Lobb (119): First ruck, Lobb contributed with 10 possessions, 3 marks, 5 tackles and 38 ruck taps. David Zaharakis (125): Playing midfield, Zaharakis contributed with 33 touches, 7 marks, 5 tackles and kicked 1.2. 3. Grundy ( Big Tap ) 2. Coniglio 1. Heeney
The home crowd had mixed emotions as the Buffaloes ran out to take on @JPK and his Prospectors. Some promising recent results were showing signs of a pulse in the flag defence but there were concerns with the management of the team when only 13 players were able to take the field. Included in the 13 though was Josh Kelly back for his first game after 6 weeks on the sidelines re-uniting the midfield quartet of Kelly, Dangerfield, Merret, & Pendlebury that had created such high hopes in the pre-season. @JPK had his own concerns as the Prospectors were only able to send out 14 players including a lot of development players that the coach would have preferred to leave back on the mainland to continue learning their craft before being thrown into the ORFFU cauldron. Two players who didn't mind the extra space created by reduced numbers were the ruckmen on either side. Tom Hickey (109) continued his consistent performances that have seen him keep Billy Longer out of the team but even that was not enough to get on top of BOG Stef Martin (134) who galloped around the open spaces of The Crater and took full advantage of the lack of pressure that came with reduced numbers. Unfortunately for the Prospectors the performance that the Serengeti midfeld group had only promised up until this point of the season was finally delivered led by captain Dangerfield (133) who is working into some ominous form. Young gun Jaeger O'Meara (108) did his best to keep the visitors in the contest and his efforts inspired MacMillan (108) in defence but in the end there was too much to contend with when Steven (112) Kelly (99) & Pendlebury (98) kept pumping the ball in and Allan Chrkstensen (100) did enough in the forward line to take advantage even if the performance of his other forward line partners left a little to be desired. Problems still remain in the Serengeti backline and one suspects that the mid season break may need to be utilised to address areas of concern if the Buffaloes are to be any chance of gong back to back. Next rounds contest against @insider and the undefeated Armadillos will come too soon for that help but the home town team are quietly confident they can improve on their current 4-6 record and cause a boilover in the Friday Night blockbuster to go into the break in good form. Though the Prospectors drop to 5-5 they will welcome back plenty of first team stars for round 11 and look to get back on the winners list as they host the Crocs from Cow Bay. Final Scores Serengeti 1115 def Coolgardie 1051 Big Tap Martin 134 def Hickey 109 BAFFU 3 Martin 134 (CP) 2 Dangerfield 133 (SB) 1 Steven 112 (SB)
Great report @wrightbrendan Its a shame the byes still compromise this competition. Maybe if I had a first choice midfield, they could have taken the challenge up to your first choice midfield, but alas, it was not to be.
If the Bunyips have not broken enough records this year, I think I may have just smashed another!! Stats guru's what is the lowest score ever in the FU? Has anybody ever fielded zero Mids? I am smashing records for all the wrong reasons. Not much to say in the wrap up of the week... Hughenden were way too strong for the Buyips - 1148 - 578. Big Tap points go to Sandiland BOG - Ward - 3 points Hoskin-Elliot - 2 points Sheppard - 1 point If I had some decent players available, I would be accused of tanking!
Christmas Island 1214 (13.5 players, average 89.9) defeated Gisborne 1073 (13 players, average 82.5) After a couple of weeks on the road for a couple of losses, the Smugglers were glad to be back at Flying Fish Cove Park, hosting the Grenades/Liam Jones’. Both sides were desperate for the win, with Christmas Island wanting to maintain their top 4 position, while the Grenades were looking to keep touch with the top 8. With a 3-1 all-time record and having taken out last year’s corresponding fixture by over 100 points, the home crowd was quietly confident that the losing streak would be broken. However, there was shock half-an-hour before the bounce, as the team sheets showed five first choice Smugglers omitted*. The mathematically inclined and gambling dependent quickly did the sums, based on the teams selected Gisborne were 2.5 points per player better than their opposition. The resulting betting plunge saw the Grenades come in from $3 to $1.45 favourites, with rumours that the Smugglers coach had been seen accessing the kids’ uni fund to get in on the action. The game started brightly for Gisborne, with Gresham’s six goals (121SC) setting up a substantial lead at quarter time. With only 2.5 forwards the Smugglers couldn’t get any possession forward of centre, as the Grenades’ Brayshaw (37 disposals and 130SC) and Plowman (122SC) easily defused any attacks. The Smugglers’ midfield, getting sick of delivering the ball to a vacant forward line, started to take responsibility for scoring, with Dusty (2) and Beams and Smith (1 each), clawing the home side back into the game at 3 quarter time. They were being served the ball on a platter as the Kreuz missile (39 hitouts, 139SC) took full advantage over the part-time ruck, Hamling. It was evenly poised as the teams ran out from the final break, but a quick headcount for the visitors revealed that Seedsman had failed to take the field**. His absence proved decisive as the fatigue from covering the Smugglers’ 0.5 person advantage set in and the home team skipped away late to register their seventh win of the season. The win sees the Smugglers maintain fourth place, albeit with a tricky road trip to King Island before the mid-season break. Gisborne are 13th and will look to enter the bye period on a high when they host Pakenham. BAFFU 3 – Beams (140), CIS 2 – Kreuzer (139), CIS and big tap over OOP Hamling (31) 1 – Brayshaw (130), GG *After several days’ investigating, Christmas Island’s integrity unit (Dave from the front bar, who’s twice been convicted of Centrelink fraud) managed to piece together the story. It turns out that @Tomster in a genius attempt to swing the game in his favour, sent ex-Smuggler Jarrod Witts to Christmas Island a few days early. Wittsy organized some catch-up drinks on the Thursday night at local haunt, The Golden Bosun (https://www.facebook.com/pulau.cx/), and managed to convince the 5 Smugglers to skip the game. Although missing out on a first-choice ruck for the game, the plan very nearly worked for Gisborne… **Later found at The Golden Bosun after hearing some of the boys chat about it at 3QT.
Decided I'd just leave this alone till end of season but then it will be on! I'm sure the ORFFU can come up with a better solution than the AFL
Thank you for the write up, it is frustrating when injuries and players are not available, the season seems to take for ever to be over. The bright side is there is always 2019!
Cow Bay 1,065 def by Southern Cross 1,323 It looks like the Crocs are starting to tire. A few hard fought contests at home, demoralising close losses and the young age of the team are all combining to sap the energy from the usual snappy Crocs. Southern Cross on the other hand is on fire despite having Ryder, Hurley, Wallis, Rioli and Crouch all unavailable for selection. Whatever is in the water out in the west it helped the visitors to a 258 point win. Although Roughead (71) lowered his colours to the home side's ruckman Lycett (86), in familiar scenes, the visiting mids had a lovely day out in the middle of the paddock, prancing about with ball in hand. Fyfe (163) and Duncan (123) were on fire, which meant Selwood (82) and Cunnington (67) could spend a bit more time on the bench playing Clash of Clans and Minecraft. While they were having a break, the defensive 4 of McVeigh (106), Hibberd (95), Hardwick (92) and McGovern (83) ran up to the other end of the ground to help out their under siege forwards who were struggling with the amount of delivery they were getting inside 50. Smith (120), Stringer (84) and Darling (81) were all trying to out do each other on the scoreboard while Harmes (57) whipped out his phone and joined in the clan wars. Taylor was so immersed in his game that he didn't leave his hotel room leaving the likes of Crozier (41) to fill his place. The home side had few contributors on the day. Hopper (112) continued to step up and score well at the coalface as did Jones (97). Scharenberg (104) read the flight of the ball well but had little support from McKenna (76), Robertson (62) and Witherden (42). Meanwhile the ever reliable forward line gave up after quarter time with Patton (90) being the only noteworthy contributor while the usually reliable Gunston (47), Taranto (53) and DeGoey (65) just couldn't find the motivation to try as hard on the field as they do in the online world. BAFFU 3 Fyfe, Southern X, 163 2 Duncan, Southern X, 123 1 Smith, Southern X, 120 The win keeps the Sandgropers in 2nd spot with an 8-2 record whereas the Crocs slip to 15th with a 3-7 record. Next week Southern Cross head back home to their sand dunes to host Staghorn Flat while Cow Bay will also be heading west but will be taking on Coolgardie.
Round 10 Trivia A few records coming out of the Hughenden v Blanchetown clash: A total of 1,721 points were scored (578 Blanchetown and 1,143 Hughenden). It was the 3rd lowest scoring FU match ever. The lowest two scoring matches saw 1,453 and 1,512 points scored. It was the lowest scoring match that both teams have been involved in. Hughenden's score of 1,143 was the lowest winning score they ever recorded. Blanchetown's score of 578 was their lowest score in club history. It was also the lowest score in FU history and first score under 600 ever. It beat the previous lowest score of 626 points recorded by the defunct Manangatang franchise. The margin of 565 points was the 6th largest ever seen in FU and 13th margin of 500 points or more. The biggest margin ever seen was 674 points in the first ever round of FU (2014 Round 1). Ararat now has 10 wins in a row and hold the record for the equal longest streak….for the third time. If they defeat last year's FU premiership team then they'll record 11 wins in a row, a feat never achieved before in the FU. Southern Cross are now on a 8 game winning streak and should now be eyeing off the record for most wins in a row. Banchang got their 5th win in a row, the equal best in their history. Last time they achieved this feat was from AFL Round 19 in 2015 to AFL Round 3 in 2016. Blanchetown have recorded 14 losses in a row, equal 2nd longest with Hughenden. One more and they'll hold the outright 2nd longest losing streak. Eden now have 10 losses in a row, the equal 5th longest in FU history. Pakenham have 7 losses in a row and continue their longest losing streak. Next week Ararat is going for their 60th H&A season win and will be the first club to achieve the mark if they do so. Banchang vs Korumburra, H2H record 4-0