To Aboriginal people of the area, the Grampians National Park has always been known as Gariwerd. It is located in what is now known as western Victoria. The Jardwadjali people and the Djab Wurrung peoples are the Traditional Owners of this country, with some rock art sites showing that Aboriginal people have camped in rockshelters here for the last 22,000 years. Yes, 22 thousand. Gariwerd is a very spiritual place for Aboriginal people and is home to 90% of the rock art sites in Victoria, with more than 60 rock art sites identified in the National Park. The Gariwerd Cockatoos headquarters is in a purpose built arena near the Brambuk Cultural Centre (one of our major sponsors) in Halls Gap. Halls Gap is a small town, near Stawell, with a population of 300 people. The Brambuk Cultural Centre is a multi-faceted business, owned and operated by Aboriginal people. Some services provided by the organisation include Grampians National Park Information, a ‘six seasons’ outdoor interpretive display, cultural workshops, a Dreaming theatre, guided tours, education activities for school groups, a Bushfoods café, a gift shop, backpackers accommodation and function rooms for up to 150 people. Visiting teams will be able to stay at the Brambuk Backpackers: The Gariwerd Cockatoos will be playing their home games at this ground: And, we do not have seagull problems where we are, but seagulls arent so bad... . Now for some more history... <blockquote>Most modern historians generally recognise that football first became organised in Melbourne in 1858 with a series of experimental rules in a bid to keep cricketers fit during the winter months. It was not until 1859 that the first known laws of the game were published by the Melbourne Football Club. Thomas Wentworth Wills is acknowledged by many to be the game's inventor.</blockquote> <><><> <blockquote>"The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of possum skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. "The tallest men have the best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. "This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise." THIS is what Richard Thomas, Protector of Aborigines in Victoria (1841) wrote of a game he was eye-witness to. It is believed this game, Marngrook -- a traditional Aboriginal ball game played for millennia in what is now western Victoria -- provided the first lawmakers of football with some of the fundamentals of the game millions know and love as Australian rules football.</blockquote> Now, to expand on that last sentence - which is where these two quotes link... <blockquote>Barely 23 at the time of the Scotch-Melbourne Grammar games, Wills was a commanding character and Victoria's first true sporting icon. Born on August 19, 1835, he and his family had settled in Victoria's Western District in 1840, at a time when it was at the very frontier with Aboriginal tribal life. Wills spent the rest of his childhood in the Western District and became inured in tribal ways. Family letters reveal he learned the local Aboriginal language to a level of fluency that was applauded by local tribal people. His demonstration of Aboriginal songs and dances to family guests was so skilled that it was obvious he was closely familiar with tribal culture and practices.</blockquote> Whilst living in the Gariwerd region as a child, Wills learned to play Marn-Grook. It is obvious that this was a huge influence in the way that he designed the first written rules of the game we all know today. I am not going to go into it all here, but have a look and read the info in this link as its really interesting: [urlhttp://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-5545-0-0-0&sID=220493[/url Although not having lived there before, the coach of the Cockatoos is descendant of the Jardwadjali people, and he plans to honour his old people by having the team play a similar game style to that of Marn Grook. At this stage it is unknown how successful this will be under the current rules; however the Cockatoos have been training for some time and seem to have full belief in the game plan. The coach of the Cockatoos, anthak, said "A key part of this game plan is to kick the ball as high as we can at every opportunity."... "Shannon Hurn has already shown a great knack at this... lets just say, we hope that none of our away games this season are played under a roof, as those balls may not come back down." Also inspired from Marn Grook, a big focus will be to keep possession of the ball and attempt to keep it off the ground at all costs. To aid with this, and in keeping with the Marn Grook theme, anthak said "we have also been practising our pack marks, and in particularly speccies, at every training session" - so expect the likes of Colin Sylvia et al to be getting up there quite regularly this season. Here is the inaugural Gariwerd Cockatoos ORFFA squad: DEF: Brett Deledio, Ric, *D/M Shannon Hurn, WC Josh Gibson, Haw Shaun Burgoyne, Haw *D/M Ben Stratton, Haw James Sellar, Mel, *D/R Brodie Smith, Ade Jasper Pittard, PA MID: Matt Priddis, WC Chris Masten, WC James Magner, Mel Mitch Wallis, WB Jared Polec, Bri Matt De Boer, Fre Koby Stevens, WC Matt Thomas, PA Cale Morton, Mel RUCK: Zach Smith, GC FWD: Kurt Tippett, Ade Colin Sylvia, Mel, *F/M Robbie Gray, PA, *F/M Angus Monfries, Ess Mitch Clark, Mel Alwyn Davey, Ess Stephen Milne, StK Lachie Hansen, NMK, *F/D The inaugural and almighty Captain of the Gariwerd Cockatoos is Shaun Burgoyne, and his leadership and experience will be invaluable with such a young squad. His Vice Captain is Shannon Hurn, and they are joined in the leadership group by Matt Thomas, Alwyn Davey, Brett Deledio and Koby Stevens. Here is a pic of Shaun and his wife Amy at the recent gala night where the jumper presentations and captains announcement were made: Here is our fixture for the season: Round 1: @ Darraweit Guim Round 2: v Powlett Plains Round 3 Geek Pride Round: @ Foul Bay Round 4: v Gundagai Round 5: @ Charlies Opening Round 6: v Mount Beauty Round 7 Winter Solstice Round: v Nunnawading Round 8: @ Namatjira Round 9 NAIDOC Celebration: v Whitsundays Round 10: @ Far Kew Round 11: v Venus Bay Round 12: @ Cradle Mountain Round 13: v Mawson Base Round 14 Left Footers Round: v Iron Knob Round 15 Chelsea Roffey Appreciation Round: @ Waikickamoocow Round 16: v Marble Bar Round 17: @ Birdsville
I have just received a memo from my Publicity team, which has informed me they dont see this page being updated before Round 1; however they have assured me that it will be up and going prior to our first Home game.
Final scores will be in soon and it aint pretty for the Cockatoos, but here is our round 1 lineup that played the Guim: DEF: Deledio, Hurn (VC), Burgoyne (C), Stratton MID: Priddis, Masten, DeBoer, Magner RUCK: ZSmith FWD: Tippett, Monfries, Clark, Sylvia INT: Polec, Davey EM: Morton, BSmith, Milne
ROUND 1 SCORE: DEF: Deledio, 100 Hurn (VC), 83 Burgoyne (C), 97 Stratton, 74 MID: Priddis, 24 Masten, 54 DeBoer, 69 Magner, 84 RUCK: ZSmith, 80 FWD: Tippett, 119 Monfries, 59 Clark, 104 Sylvia, 26 INT: Polec, 50 Davey, 71 So my Round 1 total was 1094. Got thrashed - and am likely to end up on the botom of the ladder. Our Captain, Burgoyne, did well tagging Boomer Harvey, restricting him to just 65 while racking up 97 points himself. Our tall forwards in Tippett and Clark were a worry for the Guim defense both scoring hundreds; however our only other centurian was Deledio, who scored it square. Gun midfielder Priddis put in a shocker, really struggling before we subbed him out. (Ive gotta find out how our emergency system works as I have a feeling I could have included Cale Morton's 30 - not that it would have helped though) Gariwerd Best & Fairest votes for round 1 are: 3 - Shaun Burgoyne 2 - Mitch Clark 1 - Kurt Tippett In the reserves, we had a standout performance by Mitch Wallis, who scored 110 and is pressing for a round 2 callup. All in all it was a great trip over to the Guim, we really enjoyed our day there. Had a great swim in Deep Creek before the game and the hospitality provided by the home team was top notch - especially the BBQ at half time. Thank you to all involved. We are now looking forward to our first home game this weekend when we welcome the Packers to Gariwerd.
Thanks for the match and the good company of your team Ant - a cleansing ale was enjoyed by all after the game and much talk centred on changes for Round 2. Happy the rogue platypus population didn't attack your guys in Deep Creek as well.
nah, got to swim with the platapussies. was the highlight of the day. and judging by the scoreline, i think our day peaked too early.
<blockquote>Quote from TerryinBangkok on May 17, 2012, 13:52 DINSDALE!!!! . </blockquote> Jesus! Bad waves of paranoia, madness, fear and loathing, intolerable vibrations in this place. Get out! ...
Well, as expected the coach of the cockies has swung the axe at the selection table with De Boer, Polec, Stratton and Davey all dropped to the magoos, with Sylvia and Magner also moved to bench positions after their less than impressive performances last week. Josh Gibson returns from injury and has been brought straight in to shore up a defense that leaked the most points last round in the ORFFA. The engine room has been strengthened by the inclusions of Mitch Wallis and Matt Thomas - the former was BOG last week in the reserves and the latter will be really handy in a tagging role after noone was able to do the job on the likes of Nathan Foley who ran rampant last week. The other inclusion this week is Stevie Milne who has been slotted straight into the forward line at the feet of the twin towers Tippett and Clark, who did well last week with not much support. Here is the final team for our first home game this weekend: DEF: Deledio Hurn (VC) Gibson Burgoyne (C) MID: Priddis Wallis Masten Thomas RUCK: Smith FWD: Tippett Clark Monfries Milne INT: Sylvia Magner Em: Stratton (Def) DeBoer (Mid) Davey (Fwd) We are expecting a tough match against Powlett Plains this week. We are thankful to have Josh Gibson in this week as he is the only player in the league that can consistently do a good job on Buddy Franklin and Buddy is playing his 150th this week. The backline is not expecting an easy time of it though, as they also have to find a way to stop the Packers captain Nick Roo. That job is expected to go to our captain Shaun Burgoyne who played a wonderful shut down role last week on Boomer Harvey, although Reiwoldt is almost twice his size - literally. Despite the lack of size down back, we are confident of being able to exploit their small backline with our twin towers Tippett and Clark - both were in fantastic form to start the season last week and we dont see why it wont continue at home this weekend. With both teams likely to be trying to get the ball into their tall forwards quickly, this game could easily be won and lost in the midfield. It will be agreat battle in the ruck, with the experienced Jolly being a real handful for our youngster Zach Smith. The inclusion of Mitch Wallis will certainly help; however having Matt Thomas (who is in our leadership group) in the guts will be a crucial element for this team to improve on last week. Thomas is expected to do a tagging job on Alan Didak. Priddis has recovered from his concussion last week and we expect one of Cornes or Armitage to go to him, leaving Masten or Wallis to go head to head against Corey - we will be looking to leave Corey free as we dont rate his DE and Masten or Wallis will be able to exploit it going the other way. In the end, we expect that our marn-grook gameplan of long and high kicks will hold us in good stead against this opposition, and we should be able to do enough for a win in front of our home fans. GO COCKATOOS!
<blockquote>Quote from Philosoraptor on May 21, 2012, 08:23 HORRID week by the Packers, with basically every player except Riewoldt and Scully playing below average. Hopefully this is the low point of the season, and the only way is up. </blockquote> I hope everyone is listening to this. This is what visiting teams should expect when they come to play at Gariwerd. You'll hopefully have a great time off the field... But on it, expect to be dominated!
Here's my score breakdown for round 2: DEF: Deledio 157 Hurn (VC) 108 Gibson 87 Burgoyne (C) 56 MID: Priddis - late omission (replaced by DeBoer) Wallis 104 Masten 81 Thomas 77 RUCK: Smith 86 FWD: Tippett 107 Clark 91 Monfries 89 Milne 54 INT: Sylvia 51 Magner 58 Playing Em: DeBoer (Mid) 68 TOTAL: 1274 All in all, a pretty good performance. Full match report to follow later.
<blockquote>Quote from anthak on May 17, 2012, 16:13 <blockquote>Quote from TerryinBangkok on May 17, 2012, 13:52 DINSDALE!!!! . </blockquote> Jesus! Bad waves of paranoia, madness, fear and loathing, intolerable vibrations in this place. Get out! ...</blockquote> If interested, there is a lengthy explanation of the hedgehog over in the TiB/Hornsy thread. Nice score BTW.
<blockquote>Quote from TerryinBangkok on May 21, 2012, 16:57 <blockquote>Quote from anthak on May 17, 2012, 16:13 <blockquote>Quote from TerryinBangkok on May 17, 2012, 13:52 DINSDALE!!!! . </blockquote> Jesus! Bad waves of paranoia, madness, fear and loathing, intolerable vibrations in this place. Get out! ...</blockquote> If interested, there is a lengthy explanation of the hedgehog over in the TiB/Hornsy thread. Nice score BTW.</blockquote> Thanks. Better score than last week. Happy to have improved. That explanation tells me nothing more than I already knew unfortunately. Hence my observation of paranoia etc
Round 2 match report We were a happy bunch of Cockies back at home in Gariwerd this week. The build up to our first ORFFA game at Darraweit Guim last week was huge and nothing like any of the Cockatoos had experienced before. We were all really nervous and it showed, getting spanked by almost 500 points - but we were better for the run. It was a great experience for the team and we were able to come back home to Gariwerd and have some idea of what to expect. We hosted the Powlett Plains Packers, and our home fans were super excited about the match. We managed to sell out all available tickets with a total of 491 people cramming into the ground. A bunch of late comers, who couldn't get in, climbed nearby trees to get a view of the oval, so there were well over 500 people in attendance - which is just massive. Right from the first bounce, you could tell the Cockies were set for a big game. There was a certain resolve that was non existent the week before. Unfortunately Priddis had to withdraw from the starting side as he hadn't recovered from being subbed the week before. Apparently, the smell of linament in the rooms before the game was bringing on flashbacks of the subbing the week before and he couldn't handle it, so Matt DeBoer took his place in the side and started in the guts at that first bounce along side Wallis, Masten, Thomas and young Zach Smith in the ruck. Gee, what a start to the match. Smith lost the hitout against Jolly, but Thomas took out Cornes and Masten swooped on the ball for the first clearance. In true Marngrook style, we took the ball all the way down to the fwd line without losing possession, and it finished up in Tiprat Tippetts hands who kicked the first of his three goals. The crowd was going wild and the boys were having a great time - that first play really set the tone. Our two big forwards had great games for the 2nd week in a row, combining for 198 points between them, but it was our improved midfield and our solid defense that won the game for us. Mitch Wallis carried on from his BOG in the 2s last week with a century on debut in ORFFA Cocky colors, and Matt Thomas did a fantastic job tagging the dangerous Alan Didak, holding him to just 38 points, while picking up 77 of his own. Down back Gibson did a great job on Buddy as he always has, restricting him to just 1 goal; however our captain Shaun Burgoyne was up against it, with his opponent - Nick Reiwoldt - running rampant, scoring 123 points. Burgoyne was still the best matchup as we were loathe to mess with any others as our other two backmen - Deledio and Hurn - put on a clinic, combining for almost 270 points and many attacking moves. We ended up winning this week, 1274 to 1015 in convincing style. The visiting team were great guests in Gariwerd. Apart from a bit of trouble in Halls Gap (footage above) there were no issues. Players of both teams were able to get together after the game for a few brews and it seemed a great time was had by all. Gariwerd Best and Fairest votes for round 2 were: 3 - Brett Deledio 2 - Shannon Hurn 1 - Matt Thomas And The Leaderboard to date: 3 - Shaun Burgoyne, Brett Deledio 2 - Shannon Hurn, Mitch Clark 1 - Kurt Tippett, Matt Thomas We're back on the road again in round 3, heading over to the Foul Bay to play the Chicks, and a game of footy too. This is Geek Pride round, and for the match, we will be wearing these commemorative jerseys: We are expecting a hard match against flag favorite Foul Bay, but we're definitely looking forward to the trip - our first interstate adventure of the season. We don't really care if we win this match as long as we have fun. What happens on the interstate trip, stays on the interstate trip - although there will hopefully be some pictures taken that we can share
We have arrived in the Foul bay now, so to stop all the rumours going around about who made it on the journey over and who didnt, Ill announce the team now. We have brought a travelling party of 18 players over - as follows: DEF Deledio Hurn (VC) Gibson Burgoyne (C) MID Masten Priddis Wallis Thomas RUCK Smith FWD Tippett Clark Monfries Davey INT De Boer Magner EM Stratton (def) Sellar (mid) Milne (fwd) So Priddis comes back in after being a late out last week, and we have dropped Milne and Sylvia to bring him in as well as Davey.
ROUND 3 MATCH REPORT What a great trip over to the Foul Bay. Apart from a pretty rough nights sleep the first night, we had an excellent time, and the Foul Bay coach, team and residents must be congratulated for being terrific hosts. We arrived Friday night and as we hadnt organised accomodation, we were stuck with this place, which was all we could find at short notice: But then, the next morning we were saved by this show of good will from the Foul Bay coach: <blockquote>Quote from ChiefRussell on May 26, 2012, 11:00 Sorry Anth. Been snowed under with reports but spoken to the local madam and she is happy to have your team stay at "The Hen House". Can't post pictures, as it is a bit of an underworld scene (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) but rest assured you will be well looked after at the conclusion of the game.</blockquote> Turns out the ORFFA Commission were already well aware of the premises and were able to help us out with the location: . Anyway, we had a game to play before we made it there and it was a night game which worked well with our Geek Pride round commemorative kits: The game was played at a frenetic pace. Our game plan was the usual marngrook style of keepings off and keeping the ball off the ground, and the Chickens matched that with their "manic style of football akin to "running around like chickens with their heads cut off."" ... What an amazing spectacle that was provided as a result! Our backline and midfield performed well, with 4 of the 8 players scoring 100s and another 2 in the 90s, however we continually broke down when we moved forward, partly through innacurate kicking with Tippett and Clark kicking 5 goals 8 behinds between them, although admittedly Monfries and Davey kicked 5 goals 2 behinds between them, so it did even up - but Tippett was the only fwd to ton up, continuing his good early season form. We had two players who played games worth mentioning in the magoos, with Straton continuing to press hard for selection in the senior team with a solid score of 85; while Stevie Milne scored an 88 which is starting to show a trend that he is just not up to the standard of senior ORFFA, after averaging 93 in his two reserves games and just 54 in his game in the bigtime. Even James Sellar is putting a little pressure on young Zach Smith in the ruck, scoring just 15 points less then him. Heres my players scores: DEF Deledio 117 Hurn (VC) 108 Gibson 83 Burgoyne (C) 90 MID Masten 91 Priddis 119 Wallis 108 Thomas 54 RUCK Smith 45 FWD Tippett 104 Clark 76 Monfries 76 Davey 77 INT De Boer 77 Magner 54 Total: 1279 We have no idea whether we won or not as our attention drifted towards the end of the game to what awaited us later that night, and as soon as the final siren sounded we were off. We did originally have plans to have a few drinks with the Foul Bay boys, but we ajourned that to the following night in a big party at the Hen House. We would love to share photos of our time there, but cannot give too much away. Here is one photo taken at the party we had of the boys showing their apreciation towards the Foul Bay coach who had just made a speach, thanking us for coming to play. As I said over in the Foul Bay thread, I'm not sure why Chris Masten is wearing a suit, and please dont ask about the puppet... Now for the Best & Fairest results for Round 3: 3 - Matt Priddis 2 - Brett Deledio 1 - Kurt Tippett And The Leaderboard to date: 5 - Brett Deledio 3 - Shaun Burgoyne, Matt Priddis 2 - Shannon Hurn, Mitch Clark, Kurt Tippett 1 - Matt Thomas After a massive weekend interstate, we are now happy to be heading back home again where we will welcome the Gundagai mob down to Gariwerd for round 4 of the ORFFA.
Despite our continued public support of the much maligned James Sellar, we are planning to drop our number 1 ruckmen - Zachary Smith - this week to find some form in the twos; but we will not be bringing Sellar in to fill the void, but instead we will be using an OOP player to do the ruck work this week against the grasshoppers. This is in keeping with the long line of AFL precedents set of a coaches public support amounting to nothing at the selection table.