Aaron Hall has responded to his coaches questioning with a standout performance that has got the Smugglers over the line by 7 points 1085 - 1092 Match report to come @DamoH
Final scores from the Dino Dome sees the Vikings run all over a lacklustre Hughenden outfit. Vikings 1283 defeat Hughenden 1021
The Bunyips continue to re-write the record books - for all the wrong reasons. The longest losing streak just continues to extend with no great hope in sight. Even after our coaching staff put a voodoo on ex Yips players Laird (89) and Lambert (34) to excellent effect, the rest of the visiting Grenades just decided to run riot. Lead by standout performances across all lines the Grenades came to play and take home the biccies. Gisborne 1334 def Bunyips 1037 BOG: Neale (140) Brayshaw (124) Gresham (121) Big Tap - Witts A great win by the Grenades as they look to make a run into the finals campaign, whilst the Bunyips are already planning the MSD. @Tomster
Final score at Eden and we did better than last week but not enough to beat Ararat who got to top place with this week. We had players return to form and players miss form, Pendlebury and Crisp played well and Phillips has become a mainstay in the ruck. As for Ararat, more stars at the time. As for next round, Eden have Staghorn Flat over which could be another tough game while the Armadillos host the P-Dogs. Eden Whalers: 1182 Def: Crisp 123, Andrews 88, Williams 95, Tarrant 64 (Trengove) Mid: Curnow 39, Pendles 133, Jones 67, Scully 48 (Atkins 96) Ruck: Phillips 79 Fwd: Jenkins 96, Motlop 102, Papley 63, Banfield 74 (McKernan) IC: Cunningham 81, Castagna 30 (Murdoch) Ararat Armadillos: 1352 Ryan 78 Stewart 120 Rich 127 Hardwick 77 (L McDonald) Treloar 135 Sheed 100 Brayshaw 62 Gibbs 93 (Bailey) Gawn 116 Edwards 81 T McDonald 51 Mathieson 71 Ziebell 84 (Blakey) Higgins 46 Bowes 111 (Perryman) BAFFU: Treloar: 3 Pendles: 2 Rich: 1 Giant Tap: Gawn 116 def Phillips 79
Football returned this week to Mill Park where the locals were buoyant following the Bulls first round effort pumping out 1400 for the first time in a long time. It was the Barcrawlers who made the long trek to North East Victoria hoping to break their Bulls hoodoo with the head to head sitting at 5-0 The match was evenly poised throughout in a free flowing affair. The Bulls were given first use of the pill as McEvoy comfortably took the points over Sinclair in the ruck however the midfield dominance didn't ensue. Coniglio was tagged out of the game by Lyons, whilst Zaharakis was beaten by Langdon. For the Bulls Rocky and McCluggage tonned up whilst LDU had a break out game with 118 points. The Bulls defense took the points over the Barcrawlers forwards 370 - 318 with Whitfield, Dahlhaus and Sexton leading the way for their clubs. The Barcrawlers defence made it equally difficult for the Bulls forwards taking that battle 339 to 282 with Barrass and Adel Lynch having an enthralling battle. Off the pine the Bulls got plenty of run from Brad Hill who brought his own footy for the afternoon and threatened to win the game off his own boot. However it was Barcrawlers recruit Ben Cunnington who dragged his team over the line in a BOG performance. Cunnington had 36 touches, 22 of which were contested and 10 clearances and was a class above on the day. Final Score 1319 - 1291 @choppers Credit to the Barcrawlers who look threatening this year. For the Bulls 1291 is hardly cause for concern and would have accounted for 11 other FU teams on the day. Big Tap - McEvoy d Sinclair Votes 3 - Cunnington 2 - B Hill 1 - Whitfield
Great report @tyze1 .....it's a happy Team Bus now on its way down the M31 for the 350klm trip to Pakenham to face the Parasites
Great stuff Marty, pity the ‘yips can’t get a full team on the park otherwise I’m sure that streak would be broken!
Round 2: Cow Bay 1,352 def Pakenham 1,192 The Parasites from Pakenham way made the trip north to the Croc infested waters of Cow Bay and were faced with a noisy and supportive home crowd at The Swamp. Perhaps it was the home crowds' chants and boos that unsettled the visitors or it was just the dominance of Lycett. Whatever it was, Cow Bay recorded a 140 point victory and made the excited crowd even more enthusiastic about the season ahead. Coach Fresh was quick to calm expectations pointing out that 15 more games will need to be played and that the young team have never been able to sustain their winning efforts past a 2 game winning streak before. While some more wins are expected, there will be a fair share of losses still to come this year. Lycett (167) and Bellchambers (118) had a decent tussle in the middle with both trying to asset their dominance all day. However, it was the man who moved house over the preseason that fared best this round to record a win in the Big Tap. The home side saw much quieter games from Taranto (78) ad Hopper (84) this week but the continued improvement in Worpel (92) and the fact that young Libba (128) is finally back ensured some men were able to withstand what was thrown at them. Down back there were a few average efforts but Zak Jones (92) marshalled the defensive 4 to stop some avenues to goal and provide drive forward. In familiar scenes Gunston (110) was amongst the better performed on the day but was upstaged slightly by Jack Martin (118) who seems to be finally delivering on his promising talents. While Cam McCarthy (49) had a much quieter day, Clark (66) continues to show the selection committee that he was a decent selection at pick 15. The visiting mids were led by Sinclair (118) and Newnes (83) but didn't receive much support other than young Butters (88) who came off the bench. Moore (93) continues to display very much improved form this year and was the best down back for the Parasites while other youngsters Francis (77) and Allen (70) passed with a push. Although Franklin (77) has seen a bit of a decline in his scoring this year, Marshall (114) and Hogan (96) stepped up and were the focal points and scored goals when needed to keep the visitors in the contest. The win sees the Crocs move into 2nd place on the ladder with a 2-0 record. The coach will be eyeing off a 3 game winning streak, a first for the team, but knows that next week's match against King Island will be a tough one. Pakenham slips to 15th spot with a 0-2 record but will host Banchang down in Pakenham. Big Tap Lycett (167) def Bellchambers 118 BAFFU 3 Lycett, COW, 167 2 Liberatore, COW, 128 1 A 3 way tie between Martin (COW), Sinclair (PAK) and Bellchambers (PAK), 118 @ddsaints
Groote Eylandt Barracudas 1,190 defeated by Southern Cross Sandgropers 1,417 After a great win on the road last week to start the season confidence was riding high for the Cuda’s while the Gropers loss a close one against the Blowflys which was hard to swallow. 2019 will be the year of the defensive attacking player and unfortunately for the home side Lewis and Houli are out with soft tissue injuries. The home team’s confidence took a dent with Riewoldt suffering a serious wrist injury after coming out of a longer than normal stay in the loo. Mihocek stepped up and Hawkins combined well for the Cuda’s while the young Groper Stephenson showed us what he could do alongside Wallis, with ex-Cuda Darling bagging 4 goals as he muscled his oppositions out of each and every contest. The big tappers Stanley and Ryder basically nullified each other as they tried to ignite their respective engine rooms. Fyfe, Duncan, Selwood & Crouch (B2) v’s the Bont, Corn boy Cripps, Zorko the Magnificent & Phillips what a tussle, it was white hot in there, who was going to crack first? Wasn’t much in it, Selwood’s 2 goals was most probably the difference the two teams. The rotations off the bench for both sides worked well with the home sides Berry on fire and collecting a string of frees in an effort to spark his team into action. Late in the last quarter Burgoyne did a hammy and was left to ice up on the sidelines while watching the dismantling of the Cuda’s defence. A strong defence that can attack the ball with run and carry will win on the day and that’s exactly what the Groper did from the first bounce. McGovern the machine was a star, having 11 strong mark and 15 kicks says it all, young Milera with 22 disposals and lightning fast, Hurley tough to each and every contest and even old man McVeigh got into the action. For the home side Lloyd played a lone hand/s as he racked up the disposal count, Weitering was solid, while Farwley and Naughton were shut out of the game. With the top score of the week, the Sangropers @eagle_eyed were unstoppable and when on fire will be very hard team to beat this year. For the Cuda’s their depth is being challenged already and it’s only the second round. Both teams will be looking in the mirror, one saying “Snap out of it” and the other “Heeeeyyyy”.
@DamoH After a disappointing first up showing, the home crowd were hopeful that their Buffaloes would take advantage of back to back home games to start the season. Standing in their way was a determined Smuggler outfit who were also wanting to make up for a nail biting round 1 loss. Unfortunately for both sets of fans this contest never reached great heights and it quickly became apparent that this would be a match of attrition and endurance rather than skill and talent. Sam Jacobs (48) was poor but the poor list management of the Buffaloes rucks again came back to bite them with Ben Brown (36) filling in on one leg and an arm stuck by his side all day and unable to even match Jacobs' effort. From there you might expect someone, anyone, to try and take the game on but outside of Dangerfield (154) it seemed like both teams were more keen on planning their weekend trip to Zanzibar than putting in any sort of effort to win this match. For large parts of this contest it looked like Dangerfield's efforts would be enough to get the Buffaloes the W but a late show by Aaron Hall (111) and the Buffaloes bottom end playing just like that (total of 126 from the worst 4 players...) the Smugglers proved the less bad team on the day and took out the match 1098 - 1085. With Josh Kelly to return next week there may be light at the end of the tunnel for the Buff but it is currently extremely faint and unless Billy Longer decides to show up it's hard to see this season turning into anything significant. For the Smugglers they will happily take the 4 points back to Christmas Island and look to launch into the rest of the season. BAFFU 3 Dangerfield (154) 2 Hall (111) 1 Powell-Pepper (109, tied with Z Merrett but given the vote to SPP for a better performance against average?) Big Tap Jacobs 48 defeated Brown 36 (lowest ever big tap win??)
Was definitely a bit more of a slog to get that one out! Hopefully a low point for both our teams that we bounce back from
Round 2 - Korumburra Blowflys 1059 lost to Coolgardie Prospectors 1158 Some serious questions will be asked this week as the 6th lowest score in the league this round was good enough to easily account for the Blowflys on their home ground. Not unlike their big brother team, the much hyped yet extremely disappointing Essendon Bombers, the Flys showed an overwhelming lack of effort, pride and heart as they went about losing by just under 100 pts to a Prospectors side that just wanted the win more at the end of the day. From the first bounce, former BAFFU winner Todd "I've appeared on the Wiggles!" Goldstein put in a dismal (66) effort by his lofty standards, barely outpointing his young apprentice Sean Darcy (54) - It might be time for Korumburra to reconsider playing 2 rucks in tandem. For the Prospectors, Big Stef Martin (108) controlled the hit outs and won plenty of the ball around the ground while being chopped out up forward by the young giant Oscar McInerney (87) and in the back half by James "Sizzle Chest" Sicily (81) and Aliir x2 (101). There were only 2 standout performers for the Blowflys, Captain Rory Sloane (105) and new recruit JPK (136) who both relished the tough, wet, greasy conditions. Consistent weight of numbers through the midfield won out for Coolgardie as JOM (104), Ebert (106) and Touk "Tuk Tuk" Miller (90) appeared to be everywhere and easily covered the late out of Dumont. On the injury front, Jack "It's not what it looks like!" Watts (72) was a solid contributor swinging between the forward line and helping out down back before injury struck. Fantasia should slot straight into his spot next week. Meanwhile the loss of young Jack Henry (26) down back early to a hamstring, left the KB defense under the pump for most of the game. The Flys will need one of their new defensive recruits Dougal Howard or Mason Redman to get up for next week or will be forced to get creative down back. This win on the road for Coolgardie sees them move to 2-0 and 5th position on the ORFFU ladder ahead of travelling to Southern Cross to face the 7th placed Sandgropers, the highest scoring side in round 2. Meanwhile Korumburra slip to 1-1 and 13th place ahead of travelling to Gisborne to face the 8th placed Grenades, a team that posted the 4th highest score in round 2. Both of these sides will need to seriously lift their games to have a chance at victory in round 3... BAFFU 3 - Josh P Kennedy 136 KB 2 - Stefan Martin 108 CP 1 - Brad Ebert 106 CP @JPK
Nuytsland Vikings 1,283 def Hughenden Prairie Dogs 1,021 Hughenden were never really in the game and the Vikings slayed their way to an easy victory in the end. The Vikings had leaders winners on every line with Harbrow(115), Viney (109), Grundy (137) and McLean (92) controlling their zones with plenty of support around them. With no ruck, Greenwood (43) did his best to provide a contest for Grundy with Hughenden midfielders doing their best to get the ball from the Brody tap. The only Hughenden players to pose any resistance being Shiel (116) and Oliver (141). The woes of Hughenden were summed up when Langford decided he had had enough and just ran off the ground when the ball was in his area. A frustrating day for Hughenden fans and they will want to see a better performance next week, although injuries are starting to limit player choices. The Vikings are set for another year of looking at finals footy with a stable team and consistency being the key to success. Hughenden is now bottom of the table and a long season ahead. The Vikings are back to Odin’s Graveyard this week to take on the Panthers and Hughenden are on the road to face Armadillos. BAFFU Awards 3 Oliver, Hughenden (141) 2 Grundy, Nuytsland (137) 1 Shiel, Hughenden (116) BigTap – Grundy (137) over Greenwood (43) Sorry for the late report @bryzza
A strong early showing from the Sandgropers has them leading @JPK ’s Prospectors by 324 points; 387/4/97 to 63/1/63. Go ‘Gropers!