WTF, Howe snuck onto the field and knocked out a ton! @bryzza Barracudas get a lucky win, 1,255 to the Vikings 1,222 match report to come.
Oh no. The opposition have been playing funny buggers with the scoreboard. Smugglers hold on for the win!
I short-changed our captain, Hurn, by 9 points. I'm blaming sleep deprivation from dealing with 2 sick kidlets.
Quick strength of schedule analysis, based on current table position (Ararat = 18, Blanchetown = 1) and sorted by ease of remaining matches.
Round 11 Trivia The match between Eden and Blanchetown: Eden's winning score of 1,058 was there lowest winning score in their club history. Eden's win breaks their 10 game losing streak. The 10 losses in a row is their worst ever and the equal 8th longest in FU. Blanchetown's score of 850 was the 26th lowest in FU history. A total of 39 scores of under 900 have been recorded in FU. It was the 10th lowest scoring match seen in FU with a total of 1,908 points scored. Just 18 matches in FU have had a total score of under 2,000 points so far. The loss moves Blanchetown to outright 2nd longest losing streak with 15 losses. There are 6 matches left in this year's H&A season. If Blanchetown lose all 6 they'll equal Cow Bay's record for longest losing streak and will be the first FU team ever to have a winless season. Ararat have achieved a few records this weekend: They are the first club to have reached the 60 win mark in the H&A season. Their H&A record is now 60-19 for a 75.9% win rate. The first and only club to have recorded 11 wins in a row in FU history. Their score of 1,477 on the weekend was the 13th best in FU history. Banchang's loss put their 5 game winning streak to an end, the equal longest winning streak in their history. Pakenham's win ends their 7 game losing streak, the longest dry spell in their club history and the equal 12th longest losing streak in FU history. Southern Cross recorded their 9th win in a row, the best in their history and equal 4th longest in FU history. One more and they will have the equal 2nd longest winning streak achieved by Ararat twice before. Guess who they play after the byes to try and achieve the 10 game winning mark.....Ararat...and their H2H record is 0-4 in Ararat's favour. Next week Groote will be going for their 50th H&A win. They have the better of their next opponent King Island with a 3-2 H2H record. Ararat vs Southern X, 4-0 Cow Bay v Korumburra, 0-4
Full Time at the Eden Sporting Complex and the Whalers have finally got a win Just in time for the MSD and 2 sides in need of a rebuild showed good signs of play with the top players for each side scoring well. Each side had 4 85+ scores. On player average both teams had the same but without a good midfield line, Blanchetown just couldn't get the points. Both sides looking forward to the draft and getting some late-season wins. Eden Whalers 1058 Def: Crisp 115, Andrews 102, Tarrant 85, Joyce 48 Mid: Jones 70, Gibson 93, Atkins 54, Curnow 109 Ruck: Lester 37 (Hrovat) Fwd: Trengove 67, Lynch 35, Jenkins 70, Cunningham 64 () IC: Otten, Motlop 70 (O'Brien 39) Blanchetown Bunyips 850 DEF: Laird 111, Kelly 67, Saad 89, Houston 35 MID: Tyson, Polec 92, Langford RUC: Jacobs 94 FWD: Cameron 26, Atley 82, Lambert 46, Fogarty 62 INT: Stewart 44, Silvagni 102 (Sheridan) Votes: Crisp 3, Laird 2, Curnow 1 Giant Tap: Jacobs 94 def Lester 37
Match report from Round 11 in Coolgardie The Cow Bay Crocs @fresh came to town to take on the local Prospectors, who had one eye on the 'FU and one eye on the Champions League losers final (plus getting regular updates from the Champions League final, where local rivals Southern Cross were plying their trade). The distractions and inattention resulted in an over-all terrible performance by the locals, resulting in a pretty bad loss. Coolgardie 1041 / 69.4 Cow Bay 1110 / 74.0 The unusual tactics of the visitors also didn't help. They were seen before the game dressed in whites, and reading something by the name of a "pitch report". Local staff are not sure how they managed to get this, or who the commissioned to write the report, but rest assured we're looking into it. Either way, this "pitch report" must have contained some pretty interesting information, because the Crocs decided to keep most of their players in the rooms in the first half, giving the locals a strong lead and a false sense of security, before sending the rest of the players out in the second half to completely demolish the Prospectors. An interesting tactic to say the least, but a successful one. So much so that one of the Coolgardie assistants was seen reading up on the rules of cricket on Sunday night, while a fan suggested something called "a 2-3 zone defence" to the coach on the way home. Anyway, lets break it down. Defence: Coolgardie: The breakout superstar J Sicily put in the best performance in the game, with 109 points. He was very UN-ably supported by J Macmillan (71), D Astbury (66) and L Duggan (60). Cow Bay: The Crocs defenders appeared to be running around in pairs for the day, with A Witherden (78) and M Scharenberg (74) putting in solid but not spectacular performances, while C McKenna (49), and N Robertson (47) looked rather disinterested in the game, and were seen at one point booking holidays for the upcoming byes. Coolgardie won by 58 points, 306 to 248. Midfield: Coolgardie: T Miller (101) turned up to play, and was the only mid to appear to do so for either side. O Wines (66), J O'Meara (65), and B Ebert (46) were all seen leaving at half time, mumbling something under their breaths about the pitch. Even Z Bailey (73) in the magoos put in a better showing. Cow Bay: T Taranto (91) lead the crocs mids, but not overly impressively, as the coach was heard screaming at him something about reverse swing in the 3/4 time huddle. Z Jones (85) and J Hopper (81) were both serviceable, while C Blakely (62) was seen struggling with a magpie on the far wing for most of the game. Cow Bay won by 41 points, 278 to 319. Rucks: Cow Bay: Lining up at the opening bounce and realising there was no-one from the Prospectors in the other half of the circle was music to the ears of S Lycett, who promptly palmed the ball off with ease, on his way to 105 points. Coolgardie: After letting his opponent run around in the first half unopposed, S Martin was one of the few Prospectors to turn up after half time, and piled on 106 points to give the home fans a glimmer of hope. Coolgardie won by 1 point. On a side note, it was difficult for me watching the Eagles play on Saturday night, knowing that I couldn't cheer on Scotty too much, otherwise he might put up a score that would be insurmountable. Seeing 105 points after the game made me wonder if he'd done just a little bit too much, so aside from the upset feeling of the last quarter absence of the Eagles, I was also uneasy about Stefans upcoming game. Forwards: Coolgardie: Not a leading target in sight in the Coolgardie forward line, with O Fantasia leading the way on a paltry 70 points. B Parfitt (69), M Wright (47), and W Rioli (46) will be worked hard on the training track over the byes! Cow Bay: The visitors pulled another unusual tactic in the forward line, starting the game with just three named forwards, but then having D Tucker come in out of the stands to put 86 points on the board. He was great support for J Gunston (99), and showed J Patton (76) and J de Goey (63) a thing or two about kicking straight. Cow Bay won by 92 points 232 to 324. Interchange: Coolgardie: It was an average bench by the locals, with J Watts (68) and M Baguley (51) hardly putting up a yelp. Cow Bay: But then maybe there was a curse going around with bench players, as O McDonald (63) and T Boyd (51) were hardly present either. Coolgardie won by 5 points, 119 to 114. In the end it was a comfortable 69 point win to the visitors. They go into the bye on a high, while the Prospectors are expecting an angry coach on the training track for the next few weeks. Big Tap: S Martin (Coolgardie, 106 points) defeated S Lycett (Cow Bay, 105 points) by 1 point. The votes: 3 - J Sicily, Coolgardie, 109 points 2 - S Martin, Coolgardie, 106 points 1 - S Lycett, Cow Bay, 105 points.
Round 10 saw the defending premiers Serengeti taking on the undefeated Ararat in a match worthy of it's Friday Night blockbuster billing. The Buffaloes had been underwhelming to say the least in their premiership defense so far but had been starting to show some better form in recent weeks while the Armadillos were absolutely flying having won all 10 of their opening round matches. Much was expected of the Serengeti midfield in season 2018 but we had not yet seen all their stars fire on the same day this season. With Max Gawn (139) continuing to dominate the ruck duel against an intimidated beardless Tom Hickey (84) that trend for the Buffalo midfield continued with the Armadillos showing more class through the centre led by Ziebell (118) & Gibbs (116). From there it was dominance all over the park for Ararat with McDonald T (164) grebbing everything in the forward line and McDonald L (132) mopping up everything in defence. The total domination of McDonald x2 saw the strange occurrence of Allen Christensen being so confused at one point calling for a head count, convinced something untoward was going on. When it was pointed out to the home town team they may just be clutching at the final straws of glory as they slipped further away not a word more was said by the player. However a fan was so angry at the teams latest attempt at an excuse he rushed passed the fluro jacketed security team and king hit Christensen sending him out for the rest of the game. Local authorities have been quoted as saying no charges will be laid giventhe team deserves everything coming to it for their efforts this season. So brought to an end another loss for Serengeti in season 2018 with the team still trying to work out exactly where it has all gone wrong after such a successful 2017. While Ararat continue on their merry way with another win and breaking the all time ORFFU win streak as the moved to 11-0. Scarily for the rest of the competition they were able to post a score of 1475 with 4 players scoring under 70. Final scores Serengeti 1174 def by Ararat 1475 BAFFU votes 3 McDonald T 164 (AA) 2 Edwards 140 (AA) 1 Gawn 139 (AA) Big Tap Hickey 84 def by Gawn 139
Groote Eylandt Barracudas 1,255 defeated Nuytsland Vikings 1,222 Both teams are looking for better performances from last round. The Barracudas got Blowflied and the Vikings just took care of the Bulls. For the home-side Jarrod please Waite for me was a no show and so young Hannan got to slip on the cleats up forward. Riewoldt was a surprise inclusion after the coat hanger he received last week and you could tell, he was still suffering the effects of it. Cripps of the Jamie variety stepped up and Hawkins pushed and shoved his way through the game taking care of each defender that was put on him today. Heeney and Petracca lead the way for the visitors up front with McLean in a support role this week. Out of the middle the visitors were quite sneaky having left Shuey on the bus with the Hammy virus and slotting in Howe at the moon who was damaging throughout the match. The Bont and Phillips moved into overdrive with touch after touch and the magnificent Zorko covered the other bases because Corn Boy Cripps was locked down by the Vikings Seb Ross. Slap on boot Mitchell was he usual fantastic self. There wasn’t much difference in engine rooms by both clubs. Jake Lloyd for the Cudas was very solid off the half back supported beautifully by Frawley and Jalke Kolo. Young Aiden Corr cracked under the pressure of filling Houli’s spot. The Vikings defenders all were solid for day especially their smother and run strategy The Cudas got the best use of their interchange with some vintage footy from Lewis and Burgoyne, the dynamic duo strong arming their opponents Viney and Griffen and showing them up with their run. The Vikings big man in Grundy had it all over Stanley, he was far too superior all day. In a close slog of a match the home-side managed to hold on to take the 4 points. The club will be hoping the they can re-vitalise themselves during the mid-year break to come home strong. BOG Tom Mitchell (135) NV Brodie Grundy (134) NV Tom Phillips (131) GEB Big Tap Brodie Grundy (134) NV
Amazing what exam/assignment procrastination can bring out. Non-procrastination moments the reason behind the later post. Getting harder and harder to take a lighter side approach of looking at these match reports with my current results though!
Gisborne Grenades 1158 defeated by Pakenham Parasites 1249 Apologies for the late and slightly truncated report @ddsaints been a hectic week so far. It was a very strange game down in Gisborne for the round before the mid-season break. Gisborne appeared to be the more consistent team across the board, with 12 players scoring 72 or higher, compared to Pakenham's 9 players. Pakenham had 3 sub-50 scores, while Gisborne only had 1 and that was due to an OOP Daniel Talia. The telling factor was perhaps the tons scored, with 5 Paky players raising the bat and kissing the helmet compared to just Kelly and Neale for the home side. For the visitors, Newnes, Hogan and Sinclair all impressed with scores far above their current season averages. Somehow Bellchambers scored 154 as well - I don't really know how he is averaging 88 for the year! For the Grenades, Kelly returned to form in a big way with 130, and noone else really outperformed their season averages. Angus Brayshaw is in a rare vein of form, but his 39 touches only amounted to 89 points. He's still hot property on the trade markets, but I'll warn potential buyers now, he's probably more expensive than a Darling Point house! Congratulations to the Parasites on the win - they move to 3 wins from 11 but remain at 16th on the ladder
Gisborne have jumped out of the blocks against the Vikings, taking the early advantage 194/2/97 to 173/3/57.7 @bryzza
The Prospectors have the early lead at Flying Fish Cove Park, 185/2(92.5) to 163/2(81.5) A mis-firing Dusty, and only 13.5 Smugglers suiting up, means this one is close to over already. @JPK