The Barracuda's finish on 1,242/15 82.8 to the Blowflys @Mick 1,335/15 89.0 Semi Finals Well, what a week in football, Corn Boy Cripps get sent to the tribunal, gets 2 weeks, it gets appealed and he’s in. Thank God for that as Issac Smith makes himself unavailable! For the Blowflys Preuss injured and Kelly suspended so a small reshuffle is needed. Again the visitors get off to a great start, the midseason lucky find winner Seb Ross was on fire with 32 possessions and did most of the grunt work in the midfield as Jarrod flavoured Berry stuck to Steele, Daicos the Lucky preseason winner didn’t have it all his way this week with Zorko the Magnificent on him even with a hip knock in Q1. Boak roamed up forward while the Bont shined and Corn Boy Cripps repaid the faith with 26 disposals. The two giants of the game Stanley and Goldy did battle, the home side getting 13 hit-outs, unfortunately Stanley coming off second best with a knee injury at the start of Q3, while Goldy had 24 hit-outs however he too came away with an ankle injury. Lewis Young chipped in the ruck after starting in defense. For the home side AstroNaught kicked the first goal of the match but then went walk about, Tomahawk did lots of spade out for a return of 1 goal, young Errol pushed up to make something happen, while Cripps of the Jamie variety gave away 3 costly to frees to Howe as the opposition in Hind and Vlastuin who rebounded well and Daniel’s was on fire with 29 possessions. Off the bench rotations for the away team worked well with Menegola starting mid then pushing forward with pressure and Zac G had 18 touch with pinpoint accuracy. Some familiar names battling it out, gun Hall and Lloyd up against Dunkley and Franklin, the later just edging out the contest, with Buddy kicking 3. Young verse old in Nic Martin against Tuohy was an excellent contest that was very even. However, it was Watlers for the Blowflys that smashed away from young Weitering, you wouldn’t even have thought that he had someone running with him cause he was nowhere to been seen. The Blowflys come out on top after a chase down of points which in the end was easily done and done well from defense. That’s were it’s won ladies and gentlemen; a strong contested back-line allows a team to get the upper hand and usually it’s the Cuda’s, just not today. Congratulation to @Mick and his outfit in the win today and for getting into their maiden Grand Final which is hard to believe as they have been a strong competitor since the ORFFU began. BOG – S Ross (KB), L Young (GEB) & P Cripps (GEB)
Nuytsland 1327 def King Island 1279 @Tylo "The Graveyard" welcomed another potential grand finalist in Monarchs in what was a tight affair. They say the game is always won from the middle and looking at the stats this should have been the case for the Monarchs, Macrae racked up his usual disposals Green did the grunt work while Cotchins purple patch of form continued with 29 disposals. Twin towers of Hickey and Naitanui dominated combining with over 50 hitouts, Ginger Richards last month of football has brought the fire with some electric run and carry from defense while team mate Himmelberg marked every ball coming his way. With such domination how did the Monarchs lose ? Lipinski 32 failed to find ball and 6 other scores around 65 mark didnt help the team push for a finals berth. Vikings coach is still perplexed looking at the numbers this was a great escape, Cunningtons first game back was emotional so emotional that Stephenson pulled his back another blow to Vikings as he had found some form late into the season but it was consistency of effort for the rest of the team with scores between 85-95 getting us over the line. Nuytsland : Tom Mitchell (107): Playing in midfield, Mitchell contributed with 30 touches, 3 grabs and 5 tackles. Isaac Heeney (107): First goal… 2.3 from 17 possessions and 3 marks plus 6 tackles. Starting forward. Shannon Hurn (139) : 28 possessions, 25 by foot 6 marks and 4 tackles Monarchs: Harrision Himmelberg (100): In defense, 30 possessions and 10 marks Nic Naitanui (104): 24 Hitouts 3 marks and 4 tackles Tom Hickey (124) Hickey contributed with 19 possessions, 3 marks, 3 tackles, 28 taps and 3 free kicks given away. Trent Cotchin (106): Leading the inside midfield, Cotchin contributed with 29 disposals, 4 grabs, 3 tackles and booted 1.0. Ed Richards (106): Starting in defence, Richards contributed with 24 touches, 6 grabs and 2 tackles. Tom Green (124): Playing central midfield, Green contributed with 29 disposals, 3 grabs and 5 tackles. Jack Macrae (118): Playing midfield, Macrae contributed with 31 disposals, 5 grabs and 2 tackles. 3. Hurn 2. Green 1. Hickey Big Tap Hickey King Island should be happy with late season form as it will see them fighting for grand final spot next year. Nuytsland will have the repellent out hosting Blowflies @Mick in the granny
Yeah that one still hurts. One choice at the selection table - going with experience over youth cost me that one in the end. Cracking match though that 2018 GF! I remember my captain Sloane was a late out in that one and a young Gallucci came on as mid emg and played a blinder! Just looking back through the old thread now - same 3 opponents for me in the finals! What are the odds?... just glad I gave my old nemesis @insider a hiding in week 1 of the finals this time round From the 2018 finals thread - "In a high scoring affair the Barracudas scored 1,381/15 92.3 to the Blowflys 1,478/15 98.5" "Vikings 1120 def by Blowflies 1338" "Ararat have run out winners over Korumburra by 37 points with a final score 1320 to 1283."
Hoping to go one better this year obviously! Grateful to have another crack! Sweating on "official" team announcements - at this stage there's a fair possibility I won't have a playing ruckmen! The mighty warrior Goldstein is nursing a nasty ankle injury - praying the unbelievable streak continues for the champion who hasn't missed a game since 2017!!! Most ruckmen can't make it through 1 season without missing games - let alone 4-5 seasons back to back! This season was over for his natural replacement Xerri a while ago but there is the slim possibility that the giant beast that is the Preuss gets taped back together and puts his 1 working hand up for a spot in the GF team... PS. You were very stiff that 2018 season @YAD69
@Mick while on the flight over the Blowflies warming their lungs ready to sing the team song. With all the blood split this season worshiping the gods Valhalla we come into a Grand Final with what probably feels like the longest injury list: Missing Greene, Duncan, Crouch, Powell, Newman and Stephenson from the starting line up.
Depth is what it's all about at this time of year! I've been hit myself as we all inevitably get hit. You do have the unfortunate early MIA lead 6-4. I'm missing Sloane, Witherden, Preuss and Xerri + I won't count Clark because he only really had 1 Barlow like awesome debut game and hasn't exactly held his head up high again since! *That dirty controversial albeit super talented ex-Blowfly Tobias Greene was never gonna suit up against his original side when it counted! I'm quietly relieved that your other ex-Blowfly player, Wil Powell won't be lacing up the boots this weekend - one of many short sighted delistings by the KB list management team (*cough Ridley, *cough Tuohy). Meanwhile after a very brief (1 game?) stint, Sam Menegola gets to take on the original club that drafted him on the biggest stage!
Cheers Bryzza. Even with the lead at 3/4 time I knew it was gonna be tough looking at the averages of the players to come. When Lipinski failed, it was a huge ask for Redman to be the hero again. But as you say, the late season form is encouraging and given we were a little lucky to make finals, happy to give it a real shake against some of the big boys of the comp. Hopefully good experience for the players. Good luck this week.
ORFFU Grand Final 2022 / R23 - Korumburra Blowflys (4th) v Nuytsland Vikings (1st) @bryzza One solitary change for the Blowflys heading into the 2022 Grand Final, with the very unlucky Zach Guthrie making way for the automatic inclusion of the classy midfielder Tim Kelly - returning after an unfortunate technical suspension. Guthrie could be considered the "Derek Kickett" of this year's Blowflys team, in very solid recent form including scores of 96, 103 and 97 over the last 3 weeks! The KB talent scouts are patting each other on the back (and scratching their heads right now) as this kid is already living up to his potential after recently being re-drafted in the MSD. There's usually at least one hard luck story leading up to a Grand Final and it seems the cross is Zach's to bear this year. Hopefully he has a long successful career ahead of him and gets another chance at an ORFFU premiership medal with Korumburra in future seasons... Game on!! Let's go Blowflys!! In - T. Kelly Out - Z. Guthrie (stiff!) D - N. Vlastuin, C. Daniel, N. Hind, J. Howe (EMG M. D'Ambrosio) M - J. Steele, T Boak, S. Ross, T. Kelly R - T. Goldstein (EMG *Z. Guthrie) F - J. Dunkley, N. Martin, L. Franklin, M. Walters (EMG L. McDonald) I/C - N. Daicos, S. Menegola (EMG M. Frederick)
Grand Final Team vs Flies @Mick Debut : Cottrell Hurn Young Taylor Scott emg. Williams Petracca Warner Shuey Liberatore English Heeney Shultz McKay Cottrell Mitchell Cunnington
Goldstein the warrior is playing! I read earlier that Comben was held out of the VFL today to cover a big late out - didn't look promising for Goldy who's been nursing an ankle injury all week - but the late out ended up being CCJ instead! The suspense... the drama! You gotta love it! @bryzza