Congrats @dmandrews !! Brutal final week for the Hoppers with three big outs just too much to overcome. Alas......the depth is there, it just ain’t any good hahahahaha
Review for the second week of the finals is up. http://tooserious.net/forum/threads/orffa-2021-semi-finals-review.90997/
4 changes for the Venus Bay Vultures prior to the 2021 ORFFA Grand Final IN: Howe, Greene, Franklin, O'Meara OUT: Fantasia (Hamstring), Higgins (Managed ), Hogan (Omitted), Brayshaw (Omitted) DEF: Crisp, Howe, Houston, Henderson (Stocker) MID: Gaff, Parker, Yeo, O'Meara (Brayshaw) RUCK: McInerney FWD: Franklin, Greene, Daniher, Dale (Taylor) INT: Fiorini, Pickett (Martin)
Even with injuries to key players during the home and away season and finals Gundagai were still able to lead the ORFFA for points scored during the 2021 h & a season and win a final. The degree of difficulty in winning multiple finals without Hoppers D1 Callum Mills, F1 Tom McDonald and a veteran mid Lachie Neale (finals week 1)/Patrick Cripps (finals week 2) was always going to be high. @snoz I disagree with your comment that the ‘Hoppers depth just ain’t any good’ as I don’t think it would have been possible for Gundagai to achieve the things they have in 2021 if that was the case. Well done on the Hoppers finishing top four for the fifth season in a row, leading the ORFFA for points scored during the h & a season and winning a final.
Cradle Mountain team for the 2021 ORFFA Grand Final Out: T Nankervis (finger) In: C Mayne Def: D Rich, J Lever, N Vlastuin, H Cunningham (M O’Connor) Mid: J Steele, J Hopper, J Redden, C Mayne(F Macrae) Ruc: T English Fwd: D Zorko, R Marshall, T Membrey, T Lynch (A Naughton) Int: Z Jones, D Heppell(T Duryea) Note: Players in bold play on Sunday. Only two of @Fitzy ‘s Vultures are playing on Sunday, Pies defenders J Crisp and J Howe, which will give the seven Devils in action on the last day of the round a great indication of the level of performance required to overrun Venus Bay and record a victory. Cradle Mountain have been forced to make one change for this weekend’s 2021 ORFFA Grand Final on the road against Venus Bay as ruckman Toby Nankervis has been ruled out with a finger injury he sustained in the semi final victory against the Gundagai Grasshoppers. It is difficult to see any player ruled out of a Grand Final with injury and this is certainly the case with Toby who has played an important role in the Devils rise to become a premiership contender, is the only Tasmanian player on the Devils list and understandably a fan favourite. CMD have three ruck eligible players in their best 15 and Nankervis has been providing tips to fellow rucks Tim English and Rowan Marshall on how to combat Vultures sole ruck, the Big O. The flipside of Toby’s injury is that it creates an opportunity for another player, midfielder Chris Mayne who earlier this season announced his retirement effective at the end of the season, and now in his final ever game will get to play on the biggest stage of all – an ORFFA Grand Final. Mayne was recruited by Cradle Mountain with pick 13 at this season’s mid-season draft and previously spent the second half of the 2019 season with the club. After this season’s mid-season break Mayne has played six of a possible eight games and has averaged 95 points per game during this time. When Dyson Heppell and Jacob Hopper returned from a thumb injury and concussion respectively for the semi final Mayne was very unlucky to be omitted. After Nankervis was ruled out of the Grand Final due to a finger injury it was a unanimous decision by the Devils match committee to bring Mayne into the side. Mayne “has completed a diploma in youth counselling, graduated from the Level 3 AFL coaching course and the AFL List management course.”1 Mayne has been appointed by Cradle Mountain in a wide-ranging role commencing September 2022 covering list management, player development and being the assistant coach responsible for the Devils development squad. Our arch-rivals Venus Bay Vultures are our Grand Final opponent and have been strengthened by the inclusion of four players returning from injury or suspension in defender Jeremy Howe, midfielder Jaeger O’Meara and forward duo Toby Greene and Buddy Franklin. Beating VBV on their home deck will be a difficult task, however we have done it before, infamously upsetting the Vultures by 215 points in the 2018 quarter final to inflict their only loss for the season and record Cradle Mountain’s first ever finals victory. This victory marked Cradle Mountain’s emergence as an ORFFA premiership contender. CMD have finished in the top four at the end of the past three seasons from 2019 to 2021, however one side – the Venus Bay Vultures have been a constant thorn in our side to be the only ORFFA club that the Devils haven’t defeated in this three-year period. In the three seasons from 2019 to 2021 the Devils have an overall record including finals of 42 wins and 13 losses but have lost all four games to the Vultures. Venus Bay thrashed Cradle Mountain in the 2019 semi final and have won the three home and away games by in chronological order, 80 points, three points and 70 points. In the most recent encounter Venus Bay at home defeated Cradle Mountain 1323-1253 in Round 10 this season. In all three home and away losses to the Vultures from 2019 to 2021 CMD scored between 1250 and 1300 points. After this loss CMD changed their game-plan to play a more attacking free-flowing style which has been very effective. In the Devils past nine games from Round 11 onwards they have scored 1415+ six times, averaged 1,425 points per game and won eight of their nine games. Cradle Mountain's improved game plan will now be put to the ultimate test against arch-rivals @Fitzy ’s Vultures in the 2021 ORFFA Grand Final. 1 https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/993538/mayne-calls-time
Awesome preview, interesting stats as always, you must have a great ORFFA archive. I’d be interested in getting peoples tips for the matchup. If you’d like, rate this comment a 1 if you think Cradle Mountain will come out of the weekend premiers and 2 if you think Venus Bay. Personally I think the teams are looking strong and it should be high scoring.
The cows, like probably all ORFFA teams at this time of year, cannot field a full strength side. I will not bore readers with the extent of the injuries. While we can field a full side for the petite final, suffice to say it's probably not a team to send fear into @Bandit 's mob. For the record: D - N Newman, B Williams, R Burton. H Morrison (N Cox) M - T Mitchell, B Crouch, S Menegola, B Parfitt (R Byrnes) R - T Fullarton F - J Dunkley. Z Bailey, S Simpson, T Papley (J Treacy) I/C - D Howe, B Close (K Coleman) Best of luck to all finalists; let's hope for no late outs and no major injuries.
Late change for Cradle Mountain’s Grand Final team, midfielder Jack Redden is out with illness and has been replaced in the team by defender/forward Taylor Duryea. Zak Jones has been moved from the interchange to replace Redden in the midfield and Duryea has replaced Jones on the interchange. Updated Devils team is below. Out: T Nankervis (finger), J Redden (illness) In: C Mayne, T Duryea Def: D Rich, J Lever, N Vlastuin, H Cunningham (M O’Connor) Mid: J Steele, J Hopper, Z Jones, C Mayne (B Cook) Ruc: T English Fwd: D Zorko, R Marshall, T Membrey, T Lynch (L Breust) Int: D Heppell, T Duryea (A Naughton) Note: Players in bold play on Sunday.
Half-way through the first quarter of the 2021 ORFFA Grand Final Venus Bay have gained the early ascendency to lead by 64 points with two players from each side having played. Venus Bay Vultures 182/2 - B Dale 101, D Houston 81 lead Cradle Mountain Devils 118/2 - T Duryea 69, T English 49 Vultures forward Bailey Dale backed up his best afield 152 point performance against Cradle Mountain in Round 10 this season with another century. Only one other player in the Round 10 game between the two clubs scored 120+, Dale's fellow Venus Bay forward Buddy Franklin who scored 130. Cradle Mountain's two highest scorers from this game were Lions duo Dayne Zorko (117) and Daniel Rich (113) who rank second and third at the Devils for points per game this season and will be pivotal in CMD's attempts to reduce the margin in the first half.
A late change to the Devils squad, forward emergency Luke Breust is out with a knee injury and has been replaced with Gary Rohan.
Saturday Night Scores Venus Bay DEF: Crisp, Howe, Houston 81, Henderson 84(Stocker) MID: Gaff 64, Parker 110, Yeo 97, O'Meara 120 (Brayshaw) RUCK: McInerney 96 FWD: Franklin 127, Greene 89, Daniher 88, Dale 101 (Taylor) INT: Fiorini 88, Pickett 94 (Martin) 1239 with 2 to come Cradle Mountain Def: D Rich 119, J Lever 126, N Vlastuin 77, H Cunningham 59 (M O’Connor) Mid: J Steele, J Hopper 110, Z Jones, C Mayne (B Cook) Ruc: T English 49 Fwd: D Zorko 109, R Marshall, T Membrey, T Lynch (L Breust) Int: D Heppell, T Duryea 69 (A Naughton) 718 with 7 to come Poised for a tight finish, Venus Bay with the runs on the board but Cradle Mountain have some big guns to come.