ORFFA review for Round 13 of the 2023 season

Below is a Part1 of a belated Round 13 review.

Part 1 - ORFFA review for Round 13 of the 2023 season

Iron Knob Codpieces 995 lost to Charlies Opening Spelunkers 1,413

Three of @churchboy’s Iron Knob Codpieces players registered tons comprised of one on each of the three four-player lines – forward/midfielder Nic Martin (a team-high 127) playing in the F1 position, midfielder Jordan de Goey (113) and late inclusion in defense Isaac Quaynor (108). Each member of this trio was supported by a teammate on their line scoring 80+ in defender/midfielder Jack Sinclair (96) in the D1 position, forward/midfielder Jackson Macrae (81) in the M1 position and forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (87).

Three players named in Iron Knob’s 15 player team failed to take the field and the Codpieces had varying degrees of success from their emergencies, offsetting Quaynor’s ton was a 55 from Campbell Chesser as a midfield emergency and a donut on the interchange with both Int 2 Mabior Chol and Aaron Cadman going AWOL. After impressive performances from Iron Knob’s top half-dozen players it was a sizable drop off to the supporting cast and five sub 50 scores including one donut resulted in Iron Knob fall just short of quadruple figures and score 995 points.

On the road @Bandit’s Charlies Opening Spelunkers registered the third highest score of the round with 1,431 and the Spelunkers are also third on the ladder with a record of 10 wins and three losses. Astute trading and drafting is well and truly paying dividends for Charlies Opening with 2023 PSD number 1 pick midfielder Will Ashcroft (148) and 2022 number 2 PSD pick defender/midfielder Nick Daicos (139) both scoring 135+. In his second year in the ORFFA Daicos is second in the Les W medal with 32 votes, five votes behind Devils ruck Tim English. A total of five Spelunkers scored 120+, with other players in this category being usual suspects ruck Sean Darcy (145) along with midfielders Marcus Bontempelli (123) and Zach Merrett (136). All four midfielders scored tons with Andrew Brayshaw contributing 107 to the midfield’s tally of 514. The Spelunkers also had three scores in the 90’s in their dominant performance including Gryan Miers (92) who was the only COS forward to score 65+.

The Spelunkers finished in the top eight in the ORFFA’s first three seasons from 2012 to 2014 but have missed out on the top eight in the past eight seasons from 2015 to 2022. Charlies Opening look almost certain to finish in the top three at the end of the ORFFA home and away season and if they can achieve that they will have the club’s highest ever finish, surpassing their fourth placed in 2013. Charlies Opening need three more victories to beat their club record of 12 wins in a season in 2013.

Larrikin Lagoon Lefties 1,107 lost to Gundagai Grasshoppers 1,431

After only fielding a team of 12 players in their victory against the Cockatoos last round @That KI Guy’s Larrikin Lagoon Lefties were able to field a full 15 player in position team for their Round 13 home game, however unfortunately for Larrikin Lagoon they were hosting the all-mighty ladder leading Hoppers. Lefties M1 Noah Anderson continued his impressive season to score a team-high 131 points and was joined in triple figures by D1 Blake Hardwick (105) and ruck Tristan Xerri (102). There were good signs for the Lefties with 10 players scoring 70+ including three defenders and three midfielders.

Larrikin’s top three defenders, Hardwick, Darcy Wilmot (89) and Jack Bowes (95) combined well to score 289 points between them and each member of this trio exceeded their season to date average by at least 20 points. Each of the four player lines had one player register a sub 50 score with a 5 in defense, 24 in the midfield and 48 in the forward line. The Lefties score of 1,107 was well above their season average of 978 points per game.

@Snoz’s Gundagai Grasshoppers continued their dominant form to score 1,431 and defeated the Lefties by 334 points. The Hoppers had seven tons and another two score’s in the 90’s. Gundagai’s midfield led the way with 487 points and fell one solitary point of recording a clean sweep of triple figure scores. All four starting midfielders – Lachie Neal (142), Patrick Cripps (118), Hugh McCluggage (128) and Callum Mills (99) exceeded their season to date averaged by more than 10 points. The midfield has long been a significant strength of Gundagai’s and this was certainly on full display in Round 13 with eight of the nine Hoppers with midfield eligibility scoring at least 95. Joining the starting midfielders in this category were defender/midfielder Jordan Dawson (127) at D1, midfielder/ruck Mark Blicavs (104) in the ruck and Jai Newcombe (115) from the Int 1 position. The four Hoppers defenders all average over 75 however Dawson was the only Hoppers defender to score 75 against the Lefties. Only one Grasshopper recorded a sub 60 score.

With the win Gundagai improved their record to 12 wins and one loss to remain on top of the ladder. The Hoopers are almost certain to finish in the top 2 and will finish in the top four for the seventh consecutive season.

Lovely Banks Lilacs 1,522 defeated Gariwerd Cockatoos 880

@Jen’s Lovely Banks Lilacs scored a round high 1,522 points and thrashed reigning premiers Gariwerd Cockatoos by 642 points. In an exceptional team performance seven Lilacs scored tons and a trio of players fell just short of triple figures, scoring 96, 97 and 98. The four Lilacs defenders combined for a massive tally of 472 points with tons to Mitch Duncan (144), Tom Stewart (124) and Darcy Moore (107) whilst Callum Wilkie (97) fell just short. In addition to their superb attacking exploits the Lovely Banks shut down the Gariwerd forwards, restricting to them to 156 points to win the line battle by 316 points.

The output from the Lilacs interchange players and ruck was considerably lower than the four player lines with this trio combing for a tally of 170 points at an average of 56.7 points per player. Other Lilacs to register tons were midfielders Shai Bolton with a best afield 158 and Darcy Parish (126) along with forwards Peter Wright (128) and Tyson Stengle (120). In a clinical performance each of the Lilacs four player lines scored 400+ with the previously mentioned defence leading the away ahead of the midfield (463) and forwards (417). The 12 players on the Lilacs four player lines combined for 1,352 points at an average of 112.7 points per player. To highlight just how impressive this feat is only three ORFFA teams scored at least 1,352 with their entire 15 player team in Round 13 with the Lilacs being joined in this category by the Spelunkers and Hoppers.

After Round 6 the Lilacs were languishing in 16th place on the ORFFA ladder with one win and five losses, three games and points for outside the top eight. At that stage Lovely Banks looked little chance to make the ORFFA finals for a third consecutive season. The Lilacs have turned things around in dramatic fashion to win five of their last six games to have a record of six wins and seven losses and remain in finals contention in 12th place, one game and points for outside the top eight.

Midfielder Rory Laird (117) was the sole Cockatoos player to reach triple figures but received support from Took Miller (92) off the bench and defender/midfielder Angus Brayshaw (91) in defense. Seven of @Anthak’s Gariwerd players with midfield eligibility scored at least 75 comprised of three starting midfielders, both interchange players and two defender/midfielders with Brayshaw joined by Chayce Jones (79) in this category. The midfield was Gariwerd’s best performing line with a tally of 334 points with Max Holmes (83) and Willem Drew (76) joining Laird in scoring 75+.

Only one Gariwerd played without midfield eligibility scored more than 50 – Indigenous forward Chad Wingard (73) in NAIDOC week. The other three forwards only combined for 83, ruck Andrew Phillips scored 50 and there were two donuts in defense which resulted in the Cockatoos scoring 880 points.

After a long climb Gariwerd broke through to win their first ORFFA premiership in 2022. Opposition sides frequently lift when playing the reigning premiers and it has been no different in 2023 with the Cockatoos conceding the second most points in the ORFFA. After Round 7 Gariwerd were in the middle of the pack in ninth position with four wins and three losses. The wheels have fallen off since then with the Cockatoos losing five straight games to fall to 14th position bringing an end to three consecutive seasons in the finals. From 2016 to 2022 Gariwerd made the finals six times in seven seasons, with the only exception being a 12th placed finish in 2019.

Marble Bar Misfits 1,017 lost to Foul Bay Chickens 1,168

In the sixth placed Marble Bar Misfits home game the performance from six big guns that are averaging 95+ was going to be critical to their chances of defeating the second placed Foul Bay Chickens. Unfortunately for @Len two of these big guns misfired in dramatic fashion whilst another in defender Jake Lloyd made a blistering start only to then suffer concussion after being collected high by a Chickens opponent. Lloyd scored 31 from 24% game-time. The Misfits midfield was obliterated by the Chickens, being outscored 185 to 349. Marble Bar’s M2 and M3 were completely nullified with M2 Josh Kelly restricted to just 23 points, equating to 20.2% of his season to date average of 114 and M3 Adam Treloar scored less than half of his season to date average of 111 with 52. Misfits M1 Tim Taranto’s 84 accounted for just over half of the MBM midfield score.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Marble Bar with two of their aforementioned 95+ big guns reaching triple figures. Misfits ruck Kieren Briggs scored a ton in his Round 10 season debut and has been one of the revelations of the ORFFA season. Against the Chickens Briggs scored a team-high 107 and won his position battle against Chickens ruck Mason Cox by 77 points. D1 Caleb Daniel scored 103 and was well supported by D4 Charlie Ballard (97). Seven Misfits scored 80+ with defender/forward Harry Himmelberg (90) playing as a forward being the fourth Misfit to score at least 90. After the Misfits top seven scorers it fell away dramatically with the other scores being two 70’s and six sub 55 scores in the Misfits total of 1,017.

Whilst three of the Foul Bay Chickens starting midfielders scored less than their season average this doesn’t provide a true indication of their performance as they played suffocating defense to win the line battle by 264 points. M2 Tim Kelly was best afield with 110 and was joined in triple figures by defender Adam Saad (100). The only other Foul Bay players to score 85+ were defender Liam Duggan (95) and forward Jamie Elliot (87).

@ChiefRussell’s Chickens delivered a consistent team performance with all the players that were named in the 15 and took to the field scoring at least 65 points including 10 players in the 65-85 range. The only Chicken to score less than 65 was forward/ruck Mason Cox (30) was a late inclusion in the ruck to replace Todd Goldstein. Foul Bay scored 1,168 to defeat Marble Bar by 151 points to improve their record to 12 wins and one loss to be in second place, points for behind the Grasshoppers. In the points for standings a 1,400+ from Charlies Opening Spelunkers resulted in them moving up to second on the points for tally 15 points ahead of the Chickens. The Spelunkers are two wins behind Foul Bay and have an easier run home than the Chickens so there is still a slim chance of the Chickens dropping to third on the ladder.

Mount Beauty Uglies 1,315 defeated Dunsborough Dung Beetles 1,156

@Bama’s Mount Beauty Uglies at home defeated the Dung Beetles by 159 points, 1,315 to 1,156. Five Mount Beauty players scored tons including at least one player from each line with multiple players. Forward/midfielder Dustin Martin (131) led the way starting in the forward line and was joined in triple figures by midfielders Christian Petracca (120) and Sam Walsh (119), defender/midfielder Will Day (107) starting as Int 1 and defender Hayden Young (103). The Mount Beauty midfield quartet amassed 406 points.

The Uglies five centurions were well supported with seven of their teammates scoring 70+ including defender/forward Noah Balta (73) who was a late inclusion in defence to replace Brayden Maynard. The only three Mount Beauty players to fall below 70 all scored in the 50’s. After Round 5 Mount Beauty were 14th on the ladder with a solitary win and four losses. It has been a massive transformation since then with Mount Beauty winning eight consecutive games much to the satisfaction of Uglies pleased number 1 ticket holder @HeavyMen.In eight weeksMount Beauty have risen 10 spots up the ladder to be fourth and are now one of the teams in contention to reach the summit and become 2023 ORFFA premiers.

Defense was the standout line for @CursinFijian’s Dunsborough Dung Beetles with three scores above 90 and a line total of 417 points. D1 Steven May (147) took intercept marks at will including a high flying spectacular one handed mark in a best afield performance. Defender/midfielder Tom Atkins scored 120 as the D2 and D3 Aliir Aliir registered 93. Ruckman Ned Reeves scored 107 and in addition to the three Beetles in triple figures there were three 90’s with the other two players in this category being forward Archie Perkins (97) from the Int 1 position and forward Cody Weightman (96).

The pivotal line battle was the midfield with the Beetles being outscored by 144 points, 262 to the Uglies 406 in the 159 point loss. No Dunsborough midfielder scored more than 80 which is always going to make it difficult to win a game of ORFFA football. Making the task even more difficult was a hand injury to Will Hoskin-Elliot (18) which forced him out of the game in the second quarter. The Beetles had six sub 60 scores including three of the starting forwards.

 

Part 2 - ORFFA review for Round 13 of the 2023 season

Nareewillock Nuffers 1,156 lost to Cradle Mountain Devils 1,345

Ten players scored 80+ in the Nareewillock Nuffers 1,156 -1,345 loss at home to the Cradle Mountain Devils with the Nuffers players in this category being all four defenders, both players on the interchange, M1 to M3 and F2. Nareewillock forward/midfielder Errol Gulden scored a team-high 143 points to poll four Les W Medal votes and was one of two Nuffers centurions along with midfielder Matt Rowell (101). The respective four player lines of each team were very evenly matched with the Nuffers being edged out on each line by between 5 and 20 points to have a total deficit of 39 points comprised of 14 points in defense, 8 points in the midfield and 17 points in the forward line. F2 Todd Marshall was the Nuffers standout forward with 94 points but received very little support, with his three fellow forwards recording sub 55 scores. The Nuffers defense were incredibly consistent to have a range of only five points on this four player line with Ed Richards and Connor Idun both scoring 85 closely followed by Jordan Clark (82) and Mason Redman (80).

Nareewillock’s Round 13 loss to Cradle Mountain ended a Nuffers five game winning streak. The Nuffers have nine wins and four losses to be fifth on the ladder, two wins and points for ahead of Wagga Wagga in ninth place. With four rounds remaining in the 2023 ORFFA season @chris88‘s Nuffers have already set a new club records for most premiership points in a season. The Nuffers 36 premiership points in 2023 surpasses their previous best of 30 in 2015. The Nuffers are averaging 1,220.9 points per game in 2023 and will set a new high for points in a season, only needing to average 1,060 points per game in the last four rounds of the season to surpass their tally of 20,109 points in 2014. Most importantly the Nuffers are poised to make the finals for the first time in the club’s history with their best finish to date being 11th in 2014.

There was considerable improvement in the performance of the Cradle Mountain Devils with their coach @dmandrews writing the Round 13 review. The Devils ended a three game losing streak and their tally of 1,345 was their equal second highest score of the season, tied with Round 6 and only surpassed by their Round 2 score of 1,564. Cradle Mountain clearly enjoy playing the second game after a break, having an average score of 1,454.50 from their Round 2 game and their second game after the MSD break in Round 13 game. CMD’s scoring for the rest of the season has been well below this lofty standard with their 1,345 in Round 6 being their only other score above 1,250.

Like the Nuffers the Devils had 10 players score 80+ and the position breakdown of the players in this category was almost identical. With the D1 to D3, M1 to M3, both interchange players and the F2 from the Devils and Nuffers being in this category. The 10th player to register an 80+ score was the only difference between the two teams with it being the Nuffers D4 and the Devils ruck. The Devils ruck trio of starting ruck Tim English (130) along with interchange duo Rowan Marshall (149) and Toby Nankervis (108) had a massive influence on the game, amassing 387 points between them. Across the ruck and interchange positions the Devils outscored the Nuffers by 150 points. All members of the Devils ruck trio featured in the votes with Marshall polling five votes, Nankervis one vote and English two votes to increase his Les W Medal tally to 37 votes. Two Devils rucks feature on the Les W Medal leaderboard with English leading and Marshall in equal sixth place on 25 votes which highlights the strength of the CMD ruck division. Overall it is currently a Tassie 1-2 with Charlies Opening defender/midfielder Nick Daicos five votes behind English on 32. Five Devils reached triple figures against the Nuffers with the three rucks joined by CMD captain Jack Steele (140) in the midfield and the Devils Round 3 selection from the inaugural draft back in 2012 defender /midfielder Dyson Heppell (100). An area of concern for the Devils all season has been the forward line and this continued to be the case in Round 13 with the CMD forward quartet scoring 244 points between them with Aaron Naughton (94) being the only forward to score 65+.


Venus Bay Vultures 1,140 lost to Birdsville Battlers 1,332

Venus Bay Vultures entered Round 13 seventh on the ladder were looking to consolidate their place in the top eight when they hosted the 11th placed Birdsville Battlers. The task became more difficult for the Vultures when Luke Shuey failed to take his place on the interchange and the club didn’t have an emergency for the interchange to take his place. Being down a rotation the Vultures were unable to match it with the Battlers and were defeated by 192 points, 1,140 to 1,332.

For the most part it was an even performance from @Fitzy’s Vultures with 11 players scoring 75+ including three tons to defender/midfielders Sam Docherty (112), and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (110) from the only Int position along with forward Jesse Hogan (100). Venus Bay’s best line was defense with 351 points. Along with the donut on the bench two Vultures that took the field had sub 50 scores resulting in a total of just 81 points from their lowest three scores. This was a major factor in the Vultures only being able to reach 1,140. Venus Bay are eighth on the ladder with seven wins and six losses. The Vultures are attempting to extend their finals streak to nine seasons, having commenced this streak in 2015.

The Birdsville Battlers put on a masterclass in defense with all four defenders scoring 90+ and combining for a tally of 476 points at an average of 119 points per player. D1 Luke Ryan led the way with 168 in a best afield performance and was joined in triple figures by Jayden Hunt (116) and Luke McDonald (100). For the second time this season Ryan registered the highest individual score in ORFFA for the round, having also achieved this feat when he scored 171 points in Round 1.

Forward Harry McKay (118) and midfielder Adam Cerra (111) increased the tons tally for the Battlers to five. In addition to this five Birdsville players had scores in the 90’s and in an impressive team performance the Battlers belied their name to have nine players score at least 90 in the teams tally of 1,332 to record an upset road victory over the Vultures by 192 points. With the win Birdsville retained 11th position on the ladder with a record of six wins and seven losses and remain in finals contention one win outside the eight.

Wagga Wagga Wombats 1,074 defeated Wineglass Bay Packers 1,014

In the closest match of the round @Lenny120’s Wagga Wagga Wombats at home recorded a victory by 60 points, 1,074 to 1,014 against the Wineglass BayPackers. Two Wombats nidfielders scored tons – Luke Davies-Uniacke with a best afield (134) and Tanner Bruhn (100) which contributed to the Wagga Wagga midfield outscoring their Wineglass Bay Packers counterparts by 93 points 373-280.

The Wombats had two sub 35 scores including a donut in the ruck. Four Wombats scored between 80 and 99 including forward/midfielder Connor Rozee (95) after starting at F1and a pair of 86’s at either end of the ground to defender Joshua Worrell and forward/midfielder Ben Hobbs after starting at F3.

@Tracey’s Wineglass Bay Packers matched the Wombats two tons with midfielder Josh Daicos scoring 111 and defender Sam Taylor scoring 117 after starting on the bench. Two Packers fell just short of triple figures – defender/midfielder Andrew McGrath (98) starting at D1 and Finn Callaghan (95) starting at M3 and another two Wineglass Bay packers scored at least 80.

The Packers mid-tier players fell just short of their Wombats counterparts and having seven scores of 60 or less to the Wombats four proved critical in the 60 point loss. The Packers highest scoring line was the midfield with a total of 280 including two scores of at least 95.


Waikikamoocow Incorrigibles 1,326 defeated Whitsunday Warriors 1,166

@Graeme’s Waikikamoocow Incorrigibles had a 160 point victory 1,326 -1,166 against the Whitsunday Warriors to remain within striking distance of the top eight. The Cows registered an impressive six tons comprised of two defenders – Jeremy McGovern (116), and Nicholas Newman (114), two midfielders – Tom Mitchhell (109) and Dion Prestia (110) along with ruck Reilly O’Brien (107) and forward/ruck Jeremy Finlayson (119) starting at F1.

The Cows only had two scores below 60, one in the forward line and one in the midfield. Waikikamoocow’s best performing multiple player line was the defense with a total of 384 points including three scores of 85+.

Whitsunday Warriorsruck Jarrod Witts scored 121 in a best afield performance and was joined in triple figures by defender Harris Andrews (117) and midfielder Ollie Wines (110) whilst D3 Josh Noble (99) missed out on three figures by a single point and defender/midfielder Mitchell Hinge (98) fell two points short from the D4 position.

Forward/midfielder Isaac Smith was a late withdrawal from the M4 position. Seb Ross (7) was brought in as a late inclusion but his time on the field was short-lived, suffering a hamstring injury in the first quarter which ruled him out of the rest of the game. The Warriors needed more from their mid-tier players to challenge the Cows as six players scored less than 65. The best performing line for the late Terry’s Warriors was the defense with 375 points including three 95+ scores.

 

Just wow !! The wordsmith that is Dean. Amazing write up my friend. ORRFA is blessed to have you!

 

Not only do I love the write up Dean, I also love the scores
But truly your effort has been enormous & great reading (over 2 coffees).
Rock on Bama

 

Thanks for the positive feedback on the Round 13 review fellow ORFFA coaches and @HeavyMen.