Sorry for the lack of updates in recent times, home games fall on my weekend to work and my son has been sick this past week.
big thanks to @YAD69 who was not only kind enough to understand i was on holidays and couldnt complete a match report, but took it upon himself to write one as well as several progress updates. very much appreciated and should be applauded. here is an australian flag as a prize
Early in the match and it’s @TigersTooTough ’s visiting Panthers (224/3/75) leading the Sandgropers (128/1/128) by 96 points. Two seasons on the line in this one. Go Sandgropers!
In a dour match at the Sandpit @TigersTooTough ’s Panthers 700/10/70 hold a 124 point lead over the Sandgropers 576/9/64. This one isn’t quite over yet. Go Sandgropers!
@tyze1 Staghorn is giving the Crocs a decent lesson, currently leading by 87 points. Cow Bay 866 / 10 / 86.6 Staghorn Flat 953 / 10 / 95.3 Still to come: Cow Bay - Jones, Blakely, Libba, McGrath, O'Riordan Staghorn - Weller, Hooker, Zaharakis, Hill, Lobb
In an interstate rivalry clash with huge finals implications across the league, Gisborne are 971/11/88.3 trailing Ararat 1059/12/88.3. It's really tight heading into the final straight - an Ararat win likely holds them in third with the Grenades staying in second, whilst a Gisborne win could put Gisborne on top and have the Dillos slide to 5th. @insider
A surprisingly high-quality game at Flying Fish Cove Park sees the Smugglers lead the Blowflies 1102/12 (91.8) to 507/5(101.4). However, with a likely donut in the Smugglers’ mids and some heavy-hitting Flies still to come, the visitors remain the bookies favourites to bring this one home. @Mick will be giving the boys a serve at the long-break as a loss here opens up the door for either the @eagle_eyed Gropers or Cudas @YAD69 to sneak into the 8 next week.
The Barracudas are struggling on 789/10 78.9 to the digging deep Prospectors @JPK on 1,031/13 79.3 The home side have Lloyd, Cuthrie, Naughton, the Bont & Hawkins to come while the visitor's have Aliir & Miller.
Florent’s late out means it’s 14 on 14 on Xmas Island. Still to come: KB: JPK, GAJ, Redman, Miles CIS: Ratugolea, Laverde & 216 points
@tyze1 Coming into the last 1/9th and it looks like the Bulls will run over the top of the Crocs. Cow Bay 1176 / 14 / 84.0 Staghorn 1082 / 12 / 90.2 It's essentially (Cow Bay) 94 points and McGrath, up against (Staghorn) Zaharakis, Hooker, Weller
Word has filtered through that an undermanned Southern Cross 1190/15/79 has stormed home to beat @TigersTooTough ’s Pearcedale 1152/15/77 by 38 points. The win keeps the Sandgropers’ season alive with finals still a mathematical possibility. Go ‘Gropers!
Looks like the Bulls have taken out the Crocs at their home ground winning by 51 points, 1307 to 1256*. Bloody Witherden and his injury affected 4 points. Oh what could have been. *subject to scaling
Gisborne Grenades 1330 defeated Ararat Armadillos 1237 @insider A Gisborne local was quoted many moons ago as saying "an Ararat loss really warms the cockles of my heart". This fine Monday morning the Macedon Ranges have seen those very words uttered with incredible vigour and repetition following the hometown team beating the 2-hours-down-the-highway Victorian rivals over the weekend. It's not really well understood where this dislike of Ararat has come from within the townspeople - perhaps a maiden finals series, coupled with a guaranteed top 3 finish, has led to a sense of arrogance for the locals. During the week, the Grenades coach called for an improvement in the overall form of the players. 2 sub-1250 scores in a row, unheard of for the past 16 weeks for Gisborne, had everyone worried. However, on the back mostly of Jarrod Witts 148 and Lachie Neale 120, they came out and made a statement. Harmes was influential in the midfield with 107, whilst the forwardline dominated - Kelly 108, Gresham 105 and Lambert 103 were all standout performers. Mid-season recruit Dale Thomas has returned the faith with a vital 100 off the bench, and management are incredibly lucky with his recruiting given Marty Hore's serious injury a few weeks ago. The defense still poses problems with Laird still refusing to find his top form and Wilson becoming a spud. The Armadillos are a dangerous team, but had too many passengers this weekend to overcome a vastly improved Grenades team. 6 players went under 60, compared to only 2 for Gisborne, and it was these lost points from these underperforming players that really cost the Armadillos. It was another strong clearance showing with Gawn 133 and Treloar 123 combining incredibly well for the umpteenth time this year. The Big Tap matchup was a sight to behold, with both Witts and Gawn appearing to dominate simultaneously! Sheed 122 and Polec 117 were also useful through the guts, and while Rich 111 was able to ton up in defense no-one else was really helpful to the Armadillos cause. 8 players scored below their average, and a hamstring injury to Luke Ryan is especially worrying heading into the important end of the season. Looking ahead to Round 20, the final round on the ORFFU home and away calendar, a win is vital for Ararat. They take on the 6th placed Banchang. A win locks in 4th position but also potentially gives them 3rd and a chance to pick their opponent if the Bulls lose to the Smugglers (unlikely). A loss is not too much of a big deal, as it means that the Armadillos likely finish between 5th and 8th. Given the structure of the ORFFU finals series, they probably play the fourth placed team no matter where they finish, as I'm sure no top 3 team is choosing to play an ever-dangerous Armadillos team in the first week of finals. Much simpler for the Grenades - a second place finish is all but locked in win or lose. They can't finish 3rd unless the Bulls score 1200 more points than Gisborne, and can't finish first unless Nutsy lose to Coolgardie. BAFFU 3. Witts, GG, 148 2. Gawn, AA, 133 1. Treloar, AA, 123 Big Tap Witts 148 defeated Gawn 133
Groote Eylandt Barracudas 1,292 defeat Coolgardie Prospectors 1,238 Having dried out from last week’s drubbing on and off the field by the Ararat boys and knowing that the Cuda’s were relying on other teams to fail to get into the 8 Groote needed to put the home ground advantage to good use this week as coach @JPK noted last year when an aerial photograph of the field leaked out on the inter webs for all to see. Interestingly Weitering was actually dropped for this match however stole Naughton’s jumper and snuck onto the ground with relative ease were he had a solid game as did Guthrie who also spent time up forward. Houli and Lloyd tagged teamed with 31 and 25 disposals each against the visitors Larkey and Brown. Rioli was the X factor up front for the Prospectors kicking 2 goals while McInerney pinched hit in the big tap helping Martin smash make shift ruck Frawley for the home side. Off the bench saw Burgoyne and Phillips rotating through the middle swapping from inside to outside midfielders. The gold diggers Hind swung from forward to mid as often as he could, Astbury played on Mihocek when on the ground. Both teams had their midfielder working overtime today, it was a who’s who of strength, poise and speed. For the pan handlers Gibbon’s cherry picked racking up 22 disposals, Dumont was on fire, O’meara had 26 possessions and 10 tackles while zombie king Miller tried with all his might to get his team over the line for a win. Familiar faces of the Cuda’s centre beast Berry struggled a little as he was still recovering from the beer clash the week before, 2 goals and 6 tackles for Zorko the Magnificent, are own cherry picker the Bont racked up 28 disposals and kicked 2 and no one could stop Corn Boy Cripps amassing 39 possessions. Sicily was great for the visitors having 20 possessions and 4 frees, Clark played the run and carry this week and Aliir and Macmillian both had some good touches for the day. The forward line in Reiwoldt. Zurhaar and Mihocek for the Cudas was really there to support one guy and one guy only milestone man Tomahawk as he piled on 5 big goals to help seal the win for Groote Eylandt. It was a good solid win for the Eylandt’ers even knowing that they will not be contending the final series this year.
Match report out of Pakenham A dour affair between 2 cellar dwellers didn’t provide much excitement for the fans. The home team had been playing ok football the last few weeks and had some confidence coming up against an injury plagued Buffalos lineup. The scores reflected so. Pakenham 1140 defeat Serengeti 979 Some good scores from a few Parasites, big Row 125, Gaff 124, Blicavs 104 and JJ 103 and others contributing enough to produce a reasonable score. The poor old Buff couldn’t manage a single score over 100, most of the squad is thinking about offseason we think. In the end a comfortable win. The season can’t finish quick for both teams im guessing BOG 3. Big Row 2. Gaff 1. Blicavs Giant tap. Ahern 46 defeats Newnes 25
Full Time at Eden Sporting Complex and Nuytsland won 1268 to 997. A standard late-season first vs last event, the Whalers getting late season lag while the Vikings had a warm-up for August. On the bright side, at least we have ruckmen finally with Phillips top-scoring for Eden and getting 1 vote. Meanwhile Seb Ross was the only other clear standout with both sides just seeming to be going through the motions. BAFFU: Ross 3, Grundy 2, Phillips 1 Giant Tap: Grundy 117 def Soldo 51
There's a new poll in the field (accompanied by some JPK silliness). I encourage all coaches to vote. http://tooserious.net/forum/threads...-list-changes-rule.90507/#WxEvtLQQoIIZHW7R.97