Bulls Prospectors Match Report With the winter break over the Bulls welcomed the Prospectors to a soggy Mill Park where 25 ml fell over Saturday afternoon making for some unattractive footy. The locals were concerned when injured top performers Whitfield, Rockliff, Lobb & Adel Lynch who were averaging a combined 394ppg all failed to pass fitness tests leaving the Bulls in somewhat of a vulnerable position as the back ups were drafted in for the game. Mid season acquisition Chris Mayne making his debut whilst Hayward was called up for his first game of the year and young Hately was playing his second game. On the flip side coach @JPK had the majority of his crew on hand (Macmillan) aside and would have been quietly confident in causing an upset. As the rain set in play got underway Martin (116) gave the visitors first use of the pill in the middle get the big tap points over the returning McEvoy (84), JOM (115 & 37 touches) was the main beneficiary having an outstanding game however he didn't receive much support from Wines, Dumont and Miller who all fail to top 70 points. For the Bulls McCluggage (115) was outstanding on a wing, whilst Coniglio (102) was a beast in the contest. Hill and Zaharakis provided ample outside run and carry. The Prospectors forwards toiled hard up forward but they failed to find goals. Brown (52) the best of a putrid lot. In contrast the Bulls defenders dominated the air and ground, Salem (133) was BOG with 32 touches whilst Hooker (93) pushed forward and chimed in with 2 goals. Astbury (96) provided some quality aerial support down back for the Prospectors whilst Sicily (83) had an enthralling contest with Rich Lynch (80) who slotted 3 goals. All in all it was a comfortable win for the Bulls running out 275 point victors. Next week sees the 4th placed Bulls take on ladder leaders Gisborne in what shapes as a classic encounter. The Bulls will be hoping that all of Whitfield, Rockliff, Lobb and Lynch will return to the fold. For the Prospectors they face a touch encounter at home against the 6th placed Pearcedale outfit who will be looking at returning to the winners circle after a disappointing loss to the Crocs. Bulls 1237 Prospectors 962 Big Tap Martin d McEvoy 3 Salem SFB 2 Martin CP 1 McCluggage / O'Meara
oh how the mighty beard hath fallen. With one "rolled" ankle (my armchair medical degree says it's worse than that) the People's Beard, the Spiritual Leader, the Vertically Blessed, the ruck Behemoth, Maximus Gawn sent shockwaves through the Armadillo camp. Players dropped their heads, the club president ceased kissing babies and the lads on the hill observed a 1 minute silence (excluding the sound of tinnies being skolled). Unfortunately the emotional damage was done, rendering the home team impotent and the visiting Blowflys victorious. Final Score: Ararat 1213 v Korumburra 1367 With more than half of his team's players eclipsing their season average, @Mick 's Fly's cruised through in second gear. Mid season recruit Keath would be sweating (any r&b fans?) as he could only manage a 67. Backline compatriot 2-E was only one better, however one of the more popular fanta pants' Nick Vlastuin dominated with 113. Ablett disappointed in the mids with 56 but was easily covered by the other three who each peeled off 120+. Goldstein can fuck right off to st kilda or wherever else will take him, as he took advantage of a lame Gawn and knocked up a 131. Dunkley continued his resurgence (111) to lead the forwards and 80 odd for Walters and Mundy is respectable but below their lofty standards. Balta didnt rock up so Bewley had a crack out of position and battled non-gender-specifically. Your Armadillos continued the topsy turvy season with their mediocrity not good enough to beat a genuine contender for 2019. So often the saviours this year, the backline was well under par with Rich inching close to Michael Slater territory with a 98. Treloar did as Treloar does and smacked a 136 and partnered with Ziebell who managed a 121. From there it became embarrassing with a few 50s, a trio of 60s and a courageous 46 from a champion. With rising star likely bronze medallist Nick Blakey scoring two 70s in a row and mid season old but new again recruit Gryan Miers hitting a pb of 110, there could be some changes ahead for Ararat.
Terrible outing by my mob. They're training in simulated sleet this week... Thanks heaps @tyze1 for the report and updates. wonderful work!
Southern Cross Sandgropers 1174 defeated @martyg ’s Blanchetown Bunyips 1004 It was a match Southern Cross had to win to stay in touch with the top 8; Blanchetown were hoping for a change in fortunes after a mini mid-season rebuild, one team was bound to leave the Sandpit disappointed. The Sandgropers handed debuts to four players with the returning Drew along with Fogarty, Rowbottom and ex-rival Ebert all pulling on the jumper for the first time; although, after his poor first up performance, there was a rumour that Ebert still had his Prospectors jumper on underneath. Neither team was at full strength with the home side needing Kennedy to deputise in defence and Rowbottom to similarly play out of position up forward. The Bunyips travelled one short with Lienert deciding he’d prefer to stay home rather than cross the Murray River. With things evenly poised the locals settled in for what turned out to be a very lacklustre affair. It was a match of highs and lows, Fyfe 147, Darling 123 & Selwood 105 lead the way for Southern Cross with new boys Ebert 26, Fogarty 52 & Drew 51 underwhelming, however Rowbottom 70/2 showed some promising signs. For Blanchetown, ruck revelation O’Brien 120 was the only player to salute although prized mid-season recruit McPherson 97 came very close. Next round sees Southern Cross host a second consecutive home match, welcoming @choppers ’ Barcrawlers to the goldfields, whilst the Bunyips continue their stay in the west when they visit Nuytsland to take on the Vikings. BAFFU 3 votes - N.Fyfe 147 (SCS) 2 votes - J.Darling 123 (SCS) 1 vote - R.O’Brien 120 (BBU) Giant Tap R.O’Brien 120 (BBU) defeated S.Mumford 99 (SCS)
In the Goldfields the locals have come out firing, while the visitors have.... not turned up yet. @TigersTooTough where is your team, mate??? 1/9th in and we have a 315 point lead for the locals Coolgardie 315 / 3 / 105 Pearcedale 0 / 0 / 0 J Sicily put in a huge performance, to score 141 points for the home side. While B Reid was named to play for the visitors, he decided to stay at home instead, leading to a very lop-sided first ninth of the match. Can this be sustained? Only time will tell.
Down in Gisborne, the Bulls have jumped out the blocks to 645/8/80.6, flying ahead of the Grenades 273/3/91. Will the strike rate be enough for Staghorn Flat to hold this lead? @tyze1
After breaking out of the blocks, the home side have been reeled back in by the visiting Panthers @TigersTooTough who have finally decided to turn up, in a rather big way. Coolgardie 733 / 9 / 81.4 Pearcedale 731 / 8 / 91.3 There's only 2 points in it with 3/9th to go. Still to come we have: Coolgardie - J Macmillan, T Dumont, S Martin, N Larkey (E), N Hind, H Clarke, and the 2 points Pearcedale - H Shaw, S Savage, A Tomlinson, D Simpson, 1/2 P Davis, J Simpkin, A Neal-Bullen Its going to be a tight one!
In what would have to be one of the worst matches this season, Southern Cross 1068/14/76 lead @choppers Banchang 837/12/70 by 231 points. With only an OOP Kennedy left to battle it out against Lyons, Robinson and ex-Sandgroper Cunnington, this match could go either way. Go Sandgropers!
At 6/9th's time, the Blowflys hold a solid lead at the Terrordome over the visiting Whalers. @HOLKY KB 1133 / 13 / 87 EW 589 / 8 / 74 The boys from Eden will be kicking with a strong wind at their back in the last 3/9th's while the Korumburra faithful are already up and about with the home side applying plenty of scoreboard pressure. Rumours abound that Eden are considering a late ruck switch, bringing in young Soldo in an attempt to surprise Goldstein. The Blowflys might even counter this and pull a ruck swifty themselves. The forgotten behemoth Braydon Preuss was apparently recently seen bare knuckle boxing frozen beef carcasses in an undisclosed meat locker on the outskirts of town. He's ready to go if he gets the call up!
At the Dino Dome the home side is in front but with plenty of players yet to play, Hughenden's choke status will be put to the test:- HPD 981/12 GEB 921/10
In a largely forgettable match in Gisborne, its the Grenades 1134/14 leading the Bulls 994/13. Progress scores from the Lions giants game have the Bulls behind by about 30 with not long left @tyze1
It looks like the visiting Pearcedale Panthers @TigersTooTough have run out winners in the Goldfields Coolgardie 1179 / 78.6 Pearcedale 1286 / 85.7 With a 107 point margin.
Barring scoreboard error, the Grenades appear to have won by around 30 points. Not one to write home about unfortunately
Seems to be the round for sh1t shows with Southern Cross 1103/15/73 hanging on to defeat @choppers Banchang 1046/15/70 by 57 points. Match report to follow.
Looks like the Parasites have squeaked home by 6 points 1092-1086 at Flying Fish Cove Park. Questions being asked by the locals as to why Heppell and JJK were given rec leave during the warm-up. Full match report to come. @ddsaints
The Whalers came home with a wet sail to notch up the 7th best ORFFU score of the round but it wasn’t enough to overcome the mighty Blowflys at the Terrordome KB 1351 defeated EW 1236 Full match report to come @HOLKY
Pakenham 1092 defeated Christmas Island 1086 Firstly, apologies to all for the limited FU time/postings over the last couple of months, RL has been unexpectedly hectic. Special shout out to @bryzza and @Batfink for missed match reports - sorry gents. This week should be the last of it, but it’s still a touch busy, so rather than publish a traditional match-report for the Smugglers/Parasites game I’ve just provided the transcript for the coach’s post-match interview below: Christmas Island Daily Bugle: “Thoughts about the loss today Coach?” DamoH: “Very proud of the team today. We headed into the mid-season break with 8 losses, a club record, under the belt, but really thought we could improve on that in the second half of the year.” CIDB: “Right…why proud?” DamoH: “Earlier in the year we were simply losing games through injury depletion, or not being very good when we had fifteen on the field. During our camp over the byes I challenged the team to start losing in more unconventional ways and I think we really stepped up today.” CIDB: “You mean the double pull-out?” [Editor’s note – if you think that sounds dirty then that’s on you] DamoH: “Yeah, to have both Heppell and JJK disappear during the warm-up was a touch of genius. Either of those guys play and we win the game, so it was inspiring to see them lose us the game in such a clever fashion. It’s a reason why they’re both leaders of this great footy club.” CIDB: “You wouldn’t be as happy with the performance of some of your other veterans though surely? Westhoff’s 125 for example?” DamoH: “Look, Justin’s just come back into the team, and needs time to adjust to the way we’re playing footy. 125SC, with a goal and 16 marks really isn’t good enough and he knows that better than anyone, but I’m confident that with a couple more games under his belt he’ll be back to his regular low 40s scores like earlier in the season.” CIDB: “And Matty Kreuzer’s big tap winning and highest scoring 142?” DamoH: “Again, I’m not too concerned, conditions didn’t really suit Matty today, being a dry, windless day he was able to clunk plenty of marks and win clearances, but we know that won’t happen every week.” CIDB: “Who impressed you today?” DamoH: “Super thrilled with the young forwards – Laverde and Daniels. If either of those guys gets within 15 of their season average we win the game, so for both of them to fall so far short just shows great game awareness. Especially Jayden, who managed to post his lowest score of the season when we needed it most. They really stepped down when we needed them to.” CIDB: “And you have to be thrilled with the consistency of Marley Williams?” DamoH: “Definitely. A lot of people would be questioning the wisdom of regularly playing a defender in the interchange position, especially one who averages 57. But injuries to the squad have given him the chance and he’s grabbed it with both hands. A season high of 73, with half his scores being 57 or lower - as a coach I can’t ask for more than that”. CIDB: “You’ve got a challenge this week though?” DamoH: “100%, we’ve got the Bunyips, who we’ve never lost to in 6 games, so we’re up against history if we want to keep this losing season going.” CIDB: “And after that, what’s left for the season?” DamoH: “I think every game from here is definitely lose-able. The final three weeks are against top 8 opposition, so we back ourselves to lose out from there.” CIDB: “And finally, any comments for those critics who are questioning the wisdom of a losing season, after trading out your first two round PSD draft picks prior to the season starting?” [Editor’s note – at this stage the tape picks up sounds of a scuffle (vehemently denied by CIFC management) and cuts out abruptly].