Coolgardie Prospectors

***Site Under Construction***

 

Welcome to Coolgardie, the home of the Mighty Prospectors in the Outer Regional Fantasy Football Union.
We may only be a small town of less than 1000 people, some even call us a ghost town, but we were once the third largest town in Western Australia. The wealth, power, and population stemmed from the …gold in them thar hills.” The legacy of which, after all the ring-ins went back to their cushy, air-conditioned offices in the big smoke, is that the men who represent The Prospectors are real battle-hardened men, who will fight tooth and nail (and pick-axe) for the town and their brothers in arms! Furthermore, we offer up to visiting teams and supporters, the gold class experience that stems from being a gold mining town.
Our friends at Wikipedia have a nice little bit of history about our town, for those that are interested, which can be found at the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolgard... …but all you really need to know is that we love our town, we love our footy, and we love our GOLD!
The town colours are a lovely blue, representing the lovely blue sky that's overhead every day in Coolgardie, and a bright shiny gold, representing the bright shiny stuff the town is so famous for. Our team, the Prospectors, wear our town colours with pride, and the whole town puts on a natural blue and gold display all year round to show our support for the boys who represent us.
In the clubs' short history, we've already established two big rivalries.
The first is against our geographical neighbours, the Southern Cross Sandgropers, who we will happily support on a normal weekend due to a strong sense of state pride in Coolgardie, but who we'll disown in the week leading up to the local derby (not darby” as our Victorian rivals call it). The Nugget Cup is the prize we both strive for, and its currently a tie (at nil-all) in overall wins between the local rivals. /Portals/0/User%20Images/gold-cup-2695827.jpg' style='width: 400px; height: 476px;
The second is thanks to the new local drink of choice in Coolgardie, a nice stiff Scotch, where we do battle against the Eden Whalers for the honour of holding the Scotch ‘n' Coke ‘n' Stein. This most sought-after of sporting cups is unique, in the fact that it is actually designed to be drunken from, and comes presented to the captain of the winning team filled to the brim with an icy cold scotch and coke! /Portals/0/User%20Images/ScotchenCokenStein.jpg
Our Inaugural team is lead by the man with the greatest initials in footy - JPK himself - Josh P. Kennedy. The rest of his team will be announced as the draft goes on, but in the meantime, we at Coolgardie look forward to meeting with our new friends and rivals in the ‘FU, and inviting them all to come and enjoy the blue skies and golden streets of Coolgardie.
Car'n the Mighty Prospectors.

 

<p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 13.5pt;]First 20 players drafted to the Coolgardie Prospectors: <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 13.5pt;] <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;]Def: Nick Vlastuin (19, 18), Dean Terlich (24, 20), Cale Hooker (25, 88), Sam Colquhoun (19, 10), Ricky Petterd (25, 66) <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;] <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;]Mid: Josh P. Kennedy (25, 111), Jaeger O'Meara (19, 22), Brad Ebert (23, 122), Oliver Wines (19, 24), Daniel Wells (29, 212), Daniel Jackson (27, 146), Jamie Macmillan (22, 58) <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;] <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;]Ruck: Shane Mumford (27, 100), Dean Cox (32, 273), Jonathon Griffin (28, 68) <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;] <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;]Fwd: Drew Petrie (31, 244), Tyrone Vickery (23, 75), Lachie Hunter (19, 9), Adam Tomlinson (20, 26), Tory Dickson (26, 30) <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;] <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;]Age: 24.1 average, 32 maximum, 19 minimum <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;]Games: 86.1 average, 273 maximum, 9 minimum <p style='margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;]

 

It seems at this early stage that Lachie Hunter is a popular boy, with a few rival coaches opening up their poaching cheque books. The cheques however haven't been worth the paper that they're written on, so we're proud to say that Lachie Hunter will remain a Prospector for a little while longer!

 

Well, it turns out that a publican in the land of the Prospectors has been a very naughty woman: http://www.news.com.au/national/manag...

 

The golden streets of Coolgardie are sparkling a little bit brighter this week after a round 1 win against the King Island Monarchs. Although our forward line failed to fire (as was predicted pre-season), and there were some 'interesting' selections made by the coaching staff, the Prospectors stole the Monarchs' crown, and made them reconsider their republican stance. This week we're off for our first road trip, approximately 3000km across the Nullarbor to Korumburra. We'll be well equipped with Burley footballs, gold, and flyswats! Come cheer on the Prospectors as we take on the Blowflys in round 2 of the 'FU.

 

It looks like the flyswats that the team took with them to Korumburra were large enough to hold off the blowflys by 158 points (although we're still awaiting official scores from the home team coach). There's going to be a huge welcome home for the team when the bus finally arrives in Coolgardie, as the Prospectors have a 2-0 start to the season. Our much maligned forward line is still misfiring, to the extent that we munched a donut in round 2, but the mids and backmen are doing everything in their power to hold the team together and pull us over the line. Everyone's reject ruckman, the old-timer in Shane Mumford, has started the season in red hot form, leading allcommers against the Blowflys, with a solid 158 points. Its a good thing too, as back-up ruck Dean Cox had a shocker, while our third tall, Jonathon Griffin, is still sitting at home with his feet up. This week we get the pleasure of welcoming the Cow Bay Crocs to the golden streets of Coolgardie, where we'll show them the welcome mat, and then pull it out from under them with a big smile on our faces!

 

The votes for the yet to be named prize for the Coolgardie Prospectors player of the year currently stand at: Round 1 3 - S Mumford (132) 2 - J O'Meara (117) 1 - D Cox (115) Round 2 3 - S Mumford (158) 2 - B Ebert (121) 1 - C Hooker (111) Leaderboard 6 - S Mumford 2 - J O'Meara, B Ebert 1 - D Cox, C Hooker

 

Even with Droopies donuts leading the forward line for another week, the streets of Coolgardie are rocking to the tune of the Prospectors' third straight win to open the 2014 ORFFU season! This week we welcomed the Cow Bay Crocs to town, and with some players named in some funny places, and others on the bench twiddling their thumbs after tonning up, the Prospectors still came out victorious by 169.5 points. This leaves the team third on the ladder, and one of only three undefeated teams in the league. Once again the side was lead by superstar ruckman Shane Mumford, who beat all-comers with 164 points. Next up was his rucking partner, Dean Cox, showing that although the Prospectors didn't target rucks from the outset as other teams did, we clearly got two of the best big men in the league! The big disappointment was Mark Baguley, who would have made the top 3 vote-getters had it not been for some dodgy selection work by the coach, leaving him on the bench. Coolgardie Prospectors Round 3 B&F votes: 3 - S. Mumford (164) 2 - D. Cox (122) 1 - J. Kennedy (110) Season Tally: 9 - S Mumford 3 - D Cox 2 - J O'Meara, B Ebert 1 - C Hooker, J Kennedy Big Mummy has taken a big lead in the votes, with 3 BOG performances to open the season (now, why didn't I have him in my SC team???) Next up for the Prospectors is a journey by air, land, and sea, to visit the Banchang Barcrawlers - where we're hoping for a well planned pub crawl for the weary travelers joining the team on this epic voyage.

 

1 Tequila 2 Tequila 3 Tequila Floor... I like it mate. That should be a great welcoming party for the thirsty and travel weary Coolgardie folk.

 

The locals in Coolgardie have asked me to keep a running history of our games, our opponents, and our win-loss record, so here it is: <p style='text-align: justify;] <p style='text-align: left;]2014 ORFFU Season <p style='margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;] <p style='margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;] <p style='margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;] <p style='text-align: justify;]We want to see all of Coolgardie getting behind the Prospectors and cheering us on to more wins this season!

 

Those outside the club are calling it 'soreness', but internally we all know the reason that league-leading Shane Mumford has had to pull out of the match against Banchang is because of the dodgy Thai beer served up to us upon arrival by Barcrawlers coach, Choppers. We will unfortunately be playing a man down this weekend, because although we have a second high quality ruckman in Dean Cox, he's already playing for us, and we don't have any cover left. Lets hope the boys can rally together and get the win for Big Mummy. (Now, if I was dodgy, I'd be changing my team around to cover this loss, but I'm not and I won't).

 

The streets of Coolgardie are alight with joy (and a golden sparkle) after the Prospectors away win against the Barcrawlers in Thailand in round four of the ORFFU. We went into the game expecting big things from the boys, but with big Mummy a big late withdrawl, and the lack of cover for the big man, we were looking at big trouble. Luckily the rest of the boys held together, with some big scores down back from Hooker and Baguley, and a midfield that continued in their solidarity and vigor. The biggest news is that Big Mummy might have had a really big swig of the really bad beer up at Banchang, as he's likely to be out for a couple of big games. The win propels us into second place on the ladder in terms of wins, but a lowly ninth in terms of total points scored, putting more pressure on the coach to actually select the best players each week, and not leave 100+ points on the bench! For the game, the top three scorers, and vote-getters in the Prospector of the year award, go to: 3 - B Ebert (129) 2 - O Wines (126) 1 - J Kennedy (120) The over-all leaderboard is: 9 - S Mumford 5 - B Ebert 3 - D Cox 2 - J O'Meara, J Kennedy, O Wines 1 - C Hooker With Big Coxy now holding down the ruck for the Prospectors, we'll be shuffling around our interchange players, and giving some new boys an opportunity to shine for the team. Next up we're back home against Blanchetown Bunyips, who at 3-1 have scored about 40 more points than us this season. It should be a really tight one!

 

Round 5 unfortunately sees the boys suffer their first loss for the season, to the hands of the Blanchetown Bunyips. What made the 1183 to 1187 (four measly points) loss worse is that the coach made some poor team selection calls, which resulted in a donut in the forward line. There were some pretty terrible scores by some of the boys who we expected to stand up for the game, but by the same token, there were some outstanding efforts by some boys out there for the Prospectors. We were however beaten by a team who were clearly better than us on the day, so congrats to the Bunyips. Round 5 B&F count: 3 - Josh Kennedy, 144 2 - Ricky Petterd, 134 1 - Cale Hooker, 114 Season tally: 9 - Mumford 5 - Ebert, Kennedy 3 - Cox 2 - O'Meara, Wines, Hooker, Petterd Next week we're back on the road for the big match-up against the luckless Gisborne Grenades.

 

The team spirit and Euphoria is back for the Coolgardie Prospectors, as we're back in the winners circle, and now sitting second on the ORFFU ladder! The trip to Victoria to take on the Gisborne Grenades was a successful one, with the Prospectors coming home with a 1315 to 1203 win. Team selection looks a little bit back on track (helped by the fact that there weren't too many players to actually chose from this week), and a well-rounded effort saw the boys share the spoils. The usual suspects were looking very in-form, while a big shout-out must go to Adam Tomlinson, who finally got his act together to show some respectability for the much-vaunted Prospectors forward line, with a solid 101 points (making up for Lachie Hunter's disastrous 13 points!). Round 6 vote-getters: 3 - Jaeger O'Meara, 129 2 - Brad Ebert, 117 1 - Dean Cox, 114 The season tally for the Prospectors B&F sees Mummy's big first-three games maintain him the lead, with Ebert slowly closing in. 9 - S. Mumford 7 - B. Ebert 5 - J. Kennedy, J. O'Meara 4 - D. Cox 2 - O. Wines, C. Hooker, R. Petterd Next week sees the Prospectors back at home against the Eden Whalers. Its really important for everyone to get out there and support the boys, as we welcome our Scotch 'n Coke 'n Stein rivals to town, and hope for a solid win. Eden have been maintaining a steady season to date, alternating wins and losses, and back in the winners circle last week to bring them to 3-3 for the season. Lets hope we can share some Scotch and Coke with them, from our new Stein! Car'n The Prospectors!

 

After the big win in round 7, 1163 to 1033 against the Eden Whalers, the boys have been on a huge bender, making use of our new trophy, the Scotch 'n' Coke 'n' Stein. So much so that its taken this long to recover and be able to get things back up to date! The win kept the Prospectors at second on the ladder, just behind the Parasites, which meant pick 17 in the MSD. But back to the game, and the scotch and cokes the boys have been enjoying ever since. The team was lead by the captain with the greatest initials in the league, JPK, on 130 points, followed by part-time star Daniel Jackson on 110 points, and super-consistent defender Cale Hooker on 102 points. These were the only three Prospectors to break the century mark, but luckily the performances by the rest of the team were solid enough to see us over the line. The B&F leaderboard is getting tight, with a BOG to JPK propelling him to second on the ladder. 9 - S. Mumford 8 - J. Kennedy 7 - B. Ebert 5 - J. O'Meara 4 - D. Cox 3 - C. Hooker 2 - O. Wines, R. Petterd, D. Jackson The three weeks off has been a blast, with the MSD and some team changes, and welcoming back the Big Mummy for the R11 clash against the Manangatang Orangutans.

 

The mid season trade period saw Coolgardie still out partying after winning the Scotch 'n' Coke 'n' Stein, and being in no fit state to actually participate. When the boys did come back to reality, two expected stars were shown the door. Josh Hill was given every opportunity as a small forward to light up and win the game off his own boot. Instead he preferred the party lifestyle in Coolgardie and didn't make his way onto the park very often, and when he did his showings were quite dismal. Scoring a total of 102 points in two games was never going to help keep Hill's position in the side. We noticed during the byes, after we let him go, Hill was involved in a practice match, and could still only manage 53 points. The other delistment was Sam Colquhoun. He was expected to be a solid backman, playing a rebound role week-in week-out, and keeping the opposition forwards in check. Unfortunately a season-ending knee injury incurred before even a ball was bounced in anger, left Sam's spot on the list on shaky ground. There's only so-many project players and injuries the team could carry, and so the hard decision was made to let him go. On the plus side, the draft saw two highly rated players find their way to Coolgardie. In round one the Prospectors took big defender Cameron Pedersen. He's been steadily improving under the tutelage of Paul Roos, averaging more than 80ppg and playing every game so far this season. This strong performance, and expected sustained improvement over the coming years saw him highly rated by the Prospectors selectors, and we were please when he was still available at pick 17. The other new face at Coolgardie is forward Sam Frost, filling the vacancy left by Hill. While only a youngster, in an underperforming side, the promise is there, with 8 games so far this year, and 51ppg to show for it. As the GWS side flourishes in the next few years (ok, maybe longer - they're no Gold Coast!), the Prospectors are expecting to see Frost become an integral part of this, and boost his output while also keeping fit and healthy on the park. We're pleased with our two new faces at Coolgardie, and look forward to them helping the side to greater success for the rest of the season, and well into the future!