As is always the way when these two teams play - it’s a nail-bitter at Flying Fish Cove Park. The Bulls lead by 0.1 on averages 661/9 (73.4) versus 586/8 (73.3). Its been a scrappy, low quality affair so far, but both sides have their big guns still to come, so the home crowd is expecting a dramatic lift in quality shortly. @tyze1
Update from the Sandpit...with Tarrant also AWOL @HOLKY’s visiting Whalers (937/14/67) lead the hometown Sandgropers (592/8/74) by 345 points. With 7 players up against an OOP Castagna in the ruck it’s looking like Southern Cross will pick up their first win of the season. Go Gropers!
The first home game for the Crocs in 2018 isn't looking great for the home side who hold on to a 102 point lead but have had an extra 2 players take the field so far. Cow Bay: 864 points from 11 players for a 78.5 ave PDawgs: 762 points from 9 players for a 84.7 ave Jon Patton has done his best to make it a match, pulling out a 159 point effort, the only 3 figure score for the Crocs. Meanwhile the PDawgs have had some decent contributions from Ward (120), Mills (105) and Hoskin-Elliott (103). Still to come Crocs - McGrath, Lycett, Gunston, McKenna PDawgs - Yeo, Sheppard, Morrison, Breust, Shiels, Green
Score update from Pakenham The home team is away to a nice lead but with the flys still buzzing around with 6 to come it’s not over. Pakenham 949 with 4 to come Korumburra 623 with 6 to come An exciting finish is on the cards
After 6/9th in Coolgardie, and the visiting @bryzza Vikings are leading the way by 65 points Coolgardie: 773 / 9 / 85.9 Nuytsland: 838 / 10 / 83.8 Still to come Astbury, Duggan, O'Meara, Parfitt, Fantasia, and Redpath Williams, Mitchell, Shuey, McLean, and Venables
Still a slog, but it’s coming down to the wire with the Bulls leading 1067/14 (76.2) to the Smugglers 855/11 (77.7). In summary it’s Staghorn’s Zaharakis and 212 points versus Heppell, Dale, Hurn and Menzel.
It appears that the Bulls have held on to win by 9 points in a terribly low-quality game 1139-1130. Calculations to be checked for the full match report later in the week.
@Batfink Looks like a very close finish at Cow Bay with the visiting PDawgs hanging on to record a slender 15 point win 1159 to 1144. Yeo's 27 point stinker got the coach's heart thumping but Sheppard's 100 points dragged Hughenden over the line. Match report to come during the week once scores have been audited.
In your numbers we trust! What you see as a terrible low quality game we see a close tight hard fought affair. A big upset from the Bulls!
Southern Cross (1177/15/78) has come home with a damp sail to beat @HOLKY ’s Eden (986/15/66) by 191 points and record their first win of the season. Full match report to follow.
Some drama at Christmas Island where there is a question mark over Sam Mayes - did he play did he not... @JPK @choppers @DamoH Gents I named him in the team thread at 711 AEST, seems to have been an issue in the Team Entry section where Mayes wasn't named as a defender in fact there was no one named... hence Jetta's emergency score kicked in. Mayes's 81, 30 more that Jetta does alter the outcome of this match. Will leave with the board for a ruling however clearly the intent was for him to play.
It looks like you made the cut with posting your team, but somehow failed in TSL. I'd say Sam Mayes was at the ground, and did play, so his score should be counted over Neville Jetta's score. A note to everyone: can we all please take an extra 10 seconds each week to have a look at TSL, and make sure that our teams are entered as we want them. Its not that difficult to do, even on a phone.
Thanks mate Apologies - I'm a first time offender... I'm sure I saw Mayes in the team! I must say I normally double and triple check my team!
Despite 2 losses to kick off the season, spirits remained high in Serengeti. The premiership success of 2017 had bought the team leeway but 2018 results would need to be seen soon or those past memories would quickly fade away. Prospects did not look great before the match even started with the news that both Serengeti's ruckmen would be unavailable for the contest and Scott Selwood would be needed to take on that role but with Rhys Stanley also being a late out for the visitors the contest was reignited and Selwood (44) took out a giant tap win against the equally undersized Berry (25). What unfolded from there was a tight battle across the field that the Barracudas were able to be just that little bit better than ther Buffalo counterparts in pretty much every department. Ex Buffalo Jack Riewoldt (115) tortured his old team and was well supported by his key forward partner Tom Hawkins (105) who chipped in with a few valuable late goals despite an improved defensive performance by the Serengeti back 4. Marcus Bontempelli (116) went to head to head with Zac Merrett (53) and comprehensively got the better of the battle between two young stars with a performance that went a long way to deciding the end result. Consistent if not spectacular efforts from the rest of the team were enough to get the win for Groote Eylandt and send the Barracudas back to the mainland with another 4 points while the Buffaloes were left to ponder another inconsistent performance and where exactly the team was at after such an exciting 2017. Final scores Groote Eylandt 1261 def Serengeti 1161 BAFFU votes 3 Marcus Bontempelli 116 2 Jack Reiwoldt 115 1 Scott Pendlebury 113 Giant tap Scott Selwood def Jarrod Berry Next week round 4 action sees Serengeti travel to Staghorn Flat as they try and register their first win while @YAD69 will take the Barracudas back home to host the Parasites.
King Island Monarchs 1377 Def Blanchetown Bunyips 1081 The Monarchs continue their excellent form and beat the Bunyips in all areas of the ground. The Bunyips have just failed to start this year and are looking at some early draft picks this year. Rance, Vince and Gardiner all posted above average scores down back for the Monarchs whilst the Bunyips Defenders all failed to meet their average. It pretty much started when this years breakout contender, Caleb Marchbank, spent a considerable amount of time on the sideline. I had high hopes for him this year and he started so well! Macrae was outstanding for the visitors putting on a footy masterclass posting a impressive 131 which is exactly his current average. He just pipped out Murphy (127) and Cotchin (121) in a dominate midfield. Polec tried his hardest for the homeside with a handy 130 but was let down by pre-season hype Armitage's 47. In the only shining light for the homeside was the return of Kent (113) up forward and our first full squad of the year. Nic-Nat continues his early season form (110) dominating Jacobs (82) Next week the Monarchs stay on the road and are versus the top of the table Vikings. Both sides are going in 3-0 and next week should be a clash of the Titans. BOG - Macrae - 3 Polec - 2 Murphy - 1 Big Tap - Nic Naitanui
The Coolgardie Prospectors hosted the Nuytsland Vikings @bryzza in what promised to be a quality game, but ended up not delivering, with the home side running out of steam (we still use steam as our major source of power), and the visitors running over the top with a full head of steam. Defence: The Coolgardie defence contributed a miserly 261 points to the team total. An average approximately 70 points from each of Astbury, Macmilland, and Clarke was not what the coach was looking for, then when Duggan just decided not to turn up, it was left to Baguley to steup up, and step up he didn't, with a pitiful 47 points. The Nuytsland defence scored 335 points, to give the side a solid footing. Williams lead the way on 139 points, with Roberton and Rampe being serviceable, and Harbrow somewhat disappointing on 54 points. Nuytsland won by 74 points (or a whole extra player). Midfield: The Prospectors mids were pretty-well held by their counterparts, combining for only 374 points. Jaeger topped the ton, on 104, Ollie was just behind on 98 points, while Touk and Brad both scored in the 80's. Conversely, the worst Viking mid, Heeney, scored as well as the best Prospector mid, on 104 points. Ross was one better, while Shuey stuck the boot in, with 111, and Mitchell continued to bring his own ball to games, with 149 points. Nuytsland won by 95 points (or a whole extra player). Rucks: Lets start with the visitors, where undies man Brodie Grundy put on a first quarter show. He scored a massive 154 points before the home side had even realised that the match had started, but then amazingly decided to sit out the rest of the match, to discuss fashion with a celebrity seen in the outer, none other than former tennis star, and genuine nice guy, Pat Rafter (who just happend to mention his own really comfy undies). After realising that the game was underway, Stefan Martin got up off the bench and ran out, fortunately realising that the opposition had removed their ruckman from the field. With the "Anything you can do..." mindset, big Stefan was palming it off in all directions, and racking up possessions like they were going out of fashion. Unfortunately at half time he forgot about the "...I can do better" bit of the mindset, and decided to head to the bar and talk comfy undies with Reg and Pat, stagnating him on the exact same score as his counterpart. It was a draw... two huge scores for only half a choccie each. Forwards: What a disaster for the local fans, with the forwards putting on no show what-so-ever. A combined 231 points, and not a single above-average score among them. Parfitt, Wright, Watts, and Fantasia will all need to have a good hard look at themselves over the coming week, otherwise they just might find themselves outside the starting lineup. It was a tale to two for the visitors, on their way to 301 points. McLean (115) and Petracca (106) put on the show that everyone came to see (aside from doing so in the wrong colours), but Bruce (57) and Venables (23, who was highly sought after by the coach, whose judgement is only not coming into question because of the team success), might have to join their Coolgardie opponents in the house of mirrors. Nuytsland won by 70 points. Interchange: Aish stepped up off the home bench, as he saw voids all over the ground, and raced his way to 93 points, which was exactly what the coaches wanted from the kid when they brought him in last year. Redpath on the other hand, still didn't know if he was allowed to play yet, and fumbled his way to 39 points in his attempt at a worst-on-ground performance. The visiting Howe was jumping everywhere, but unfortunately he wasn't the correct "how", so only managed a respectable 77 points. Teammate Young did enough to maintain some faith in his ability, and hopefully not get dropped for next week, on his way to a below average 52 points. Coolgardie finally won a line, by 3 points. With the visiting Nutsy's clearly winning three lines, this was never really a competition. It was much more of a pressured training drill for the vikings, as they ran out 236 point victors, 1388 to 1152. The Votes: 3 - Brodie Grundy, Nuytsland, 154 (by virtue of being on the winning team) 2 - Stefan Martin, Coolgardie, 154 1 - Tom Mitchell, Nuytsland, 149. *If we give away half-points for a tie, then its 2.5, 2.5, 1 and not 3, 2, 1 from this game. The Big Tap: Two massive scores, and both of them exactly the same, sees a tie and half points for Stefan Martin and Brodie Grundy. Next week: Round four sees the Prospectors back on the road to south coastal NSW, take on the Whalers in Eden. We're kind-of hoping for the paradisaical, but we're not holding our breath on the quality of the hotel gardens. Meanwhile the Vikings are back home on the south coast of WA, when they welcome the islander's from the Apple Isle to the mainland, as the King Island Monarchs come to town. Good luck to all four teams.
Cow Bay Crocs 1,144 def by Hughenden Prairie Dawgs 1,159 A large and excited home crowd gathered at Cow Bay HQ to witness the first FU match in Far North Queensland in 2018. After their round 1 win and managing to knock off the PDawgs last year, expectations were high. Local vendors and food vans did a roaring trade. The local Cow Bay Fried Croc outlet sold out of Croc burgers before the start of the match. Other local food vendors Crocporto, Crocdonald's, Hungry Snaps and Snapway also recorded record takings for the day. The match didn't disappoint. The visitors had control of the middle with Ward (120) and Hoskin-Elliott (103) the only midfielders in the match to hit 3 digits. Oliver (75) was well held and Shiel (54) disappointed. Sandilands (93) was dominant at ruck contests. Acres (97) continued his fine 2018 form, Blakely (83) hasn't hit last year's levels and youngsters Hopper (76) and Dow (49) struggled along. After trading out young gun Jeremy Cameron, the home side's forward line has improved even further this year. While Taranto (49) had a down game, Martin (99) has improved and started to deliver on his talent and big man Jon Patton (159) turned the tide after half time. Their efforts offset the disappointing form of the defence with Witherden (91) proving to be an astute trade being the only man in the defensive arc putting in an above average effort. Off the bench, McKenna (74) continues to show good signs but Robertson's (56) effort frustrated the Crocs' coach. Hughenden's forward line didn't have a focal point with even contributions from Garlett (81), Breust (76), Jack (68) and Rayner (63). Shiels (57) seemed to struggle getting into the match but Green (83) provided a nice return for the day. On the other hand, Mills (105) held the defensive unit together. In the last few minutes of the match Lycett (68) single-handedly tried to get the home side over the line. Yeo's (27) fumbling almost gave the visiting coaching team a heart attack but it was the effort of young Sheppard (100) in the dying minutes that stopped another Cow Bay advance towards goal. The 15 point margin was defended with the 4 points travelling to Hughenden. The win moved Hughenden to 13th on the ladder with Cow Bay dropping to 14th. Big Tap Sandi (93) def Lycett (68) BAFFU 3 Jon Patton, Cow Bay, 159 2 Callan Ward, Hughenden, 120 1 Callum Mills, Hughenden, 105 Next week Hughenden heads back home to prepare a welcome parade for the visiting 9th placed Banchang team. Cow Bay will learn from the close loss and prepare for another even match up against the15th place Gisborne. Just 4 points separate the points for scored between these two teams. The loser will sit at 1-3 for the season whereas the winner will hold a more respectable 2-2 record.