Seniors
Mt
Gravatt 15.20-110 def. Broadbeach
10.4-64
Goal
Kickers: M. Cooke 3, D. Zorko 2, N. Quick 2, K.
Fulton , A. Rolfe , J. Searl (we disagree with this QAFL website list and suggest
that Ablett, replace Quick as the third goalkicker)
Best Players: N. Quick, N. Ablett,
R. Dienjes, A. Rolfe, J. Rolfe, P. Squire
Big day out at Klumpp Road. Classic winter
day with a Jim Laker temperature range of 10/23 on a very dry and somewhat
stony deck. We needed the win to keep in the race for a finals berth, and it
started well enough.
While Tom Tarrant tested Cookie’s ribs with
his elbow point and his ears with mouth sounds, and Flan wondered why he was
looking after Whitey, Macca steamed out of the centre dust bowl and delivered
beautifully to Tinka, who was freed just inside the 50, and dutifully put 6
points on the board within 30 sec of the opening siren. The body language was good. Fifey, R-Pants, Searly and Rusty played
keepings off, Rhino took a strong mark deep in defence, and Azz and Lukey
combined to mount an attack that unfortunately went OB. Squire Pat took a possession at centre
half back, found Ablett who had just run through the interchange gate, who
passed truly to Rusty, a handball to Azza, again footless to Mossy, over to
Fults and the loose ball was picked up by Tinka who calmly slotted his second. Ten
minutes in and it was 12 plays 2. JD was accumulating stats including a
wonderfully timed handball from Tinka who sold the candy, Fults missed across
the face of goal, Nathan Ablett was up and about, (his attack on the ball was
tantamount to having an extra midfielder), Rhino looked in for a good day and R-Pants pulled off a JD like
smother. A tackle by Ablett forced
a loose ball, which was gathered by Azza who gave Mossy an opportunity but we
settled for an OB. Ablett went to full forward followed by Tarrant, Ollie to
the ruck and immediately Nathan marked a kick-in and goaled. JD, Hales and
Lukey combined for a point and Quickie took a big one on the line, and as a pattern for the day passed off to Rhino who sent the ball forward. There were
some scrum type instances in our back half and courage was in evidence on both
sides.
It became apparent that the Vultures had
brought a different game plan to that they tried at Merrimac. No more chipping
the nut around and telegraphing ball movement, and slowly at that, but a
flooding and fast press, moving the ball wide through tall midfielders/onballers,
(particulary Page) and then quickly into the corridor. They began to get the upper hand in
general play and but for accuracy, would have applied more scoreboard pressure.
Our final fling for the stanza involved Nate Lyons, Ollie, Flan (twice in a 1-2
with Fifey) to Fults, and Mossy for a poster. We were in front by a nose at the
quarter’s end 3 1 to 2 5.
As the Vultures’ coach, David Lake,
commented and complimented on the QAFL site: “We find them a most
difficult team to play. They’re quick, they run and tackle hard and play with
more urgency than anyone. At no
stage did we really feel in control, it was more like we accumulated our
advantage.” Thus went the
game. Although in truth, had the home side steered the air conveyance as well
as GA does his vehicle home each night, they would have had 13 or so majors on
the board by the long break and it was all over red rover. As it was, we were
still in it at the last change despite a goalless second term. Cleanliness is
next to Godliness and so are last quarter comebacks as we had shown last week.
Our
blokes do not chuck it in, but persevere, persevere and go again. And they do
it in double quick time rotations, much like an ice hockey team, resulting(?)
in some pandemonium or premature interchanges - are there pills for that - for
players in fine fettle. Whatever, it is certainly a ploy used at the highest
levels for tactical purposes and strategically appropriate periods, (refer to
Game Day discussion between Luke Hodge and Nick Maxwell), and it may have
contributed to Lake’s impression of the game.
As
mentioned above, we failed to bother the scoreboard goal column in the second
term while the Vultures put on five. Mossy was at centre half forward, Ablett
was in the ruck and the animal enclosure behind us was in full brainless voice.
JD upped his possessions but turnovers outnumbered receives. There were a
number of loose balls with our blokes finding it difficult to anticipate the
higher bounce on such a hard deck. Quickie made a switch from which White
scored a lucky goal. Jacko back to Rhino won the centre clearance but set them
for another goal. The Vultures were in full flight and very vocal. Ablett was
winning the ruck contests and assisting the midfielders in retaining possession
but it appeared that we were laboring the play and for our 4 – 5 possessions
forward they had it back to their forward half with a couple of kicks and at
one stage Tinka was run down by an aging White. When we able to get it forward
Fults was double teamed and they were able to run the ball out with ease – our
defensive forward work was not what it should be. In between Vulture goals we
had some good passages of play, one in particular that transferred the nut from
the back end via Squire Pat through Quickie, Flan, Quickie again, Ablett and
Cookie but unfortunately it was touched through. Mossy had a big run, Searly
was on the ball, Fifey laid tackle after tackle and Quickie worked hard. We
looked down the barrel and back to the animal enclosure as the siren went with
the Gravatts 8 10 to our 3 3.
First
blood to them in the third term. Tinka had a good run bouncing on 4 occasions
and handballing to Fults who missed the erections. Rusty, Nate Lyons, Hales
again with deft hands, R-Pants and Squiz were all active and Azza and Macca
came into their own as the Vultures played wide. Flan in front of Whitey’s
inspector Gadget arms, took the big leap and Azza was awarded a free as he
swooped on the owner of the spilt ball. A fifty metre penalty put him within
distance and he made no mistake. A great play ensued that originated again from
Azza, over to Hales whose handball found the hard working Quickie pushing up on
the wing, and his disposal reminiscent of a Skilton stab pass, hit Fults smack
on. Goal. The blokes had a liking
for scoring and from the subsequent centre bounce, Tinka combined with Lyons,
Hales, and R-Pants for Cookie to goal for our third. At this point, El
Presidente Rolfe realized he was cashed up with the bus money and Treasurer
Howard’s wallet, and disappeared to the TAB while Macca laid a smother and
Rusty did a fetlock to finish off the quarter. We actually won the quarter by a
point but as in the first term they hit the scoreboard far more often than us:
Vultures 10 16 led the Cats 6 4
Could
we repeat last week’s win? At the break Smithy asked for run and spread with
kamikaze attacks on the ball. (According to Guru Bob it was a Japanese
commander who said before the attack on Pearl Harbour ‘I want you to go out
there this quarter with a real do or die attitude’.) And we gave it a crack.
Five four to our four straight was the wash up. Searly’s determination rewarded
him with a sausage roll, unfortunately answered by them almost immediately. But
our resolve was evident with a spot on handball by Squiz to Fults, whose
handball found R-Pants and he steadied to foot pass the nut to Squiz. His set
shot fell just short and Cookie allowed himself to soccer a six pointer. No
shame in this case. This was followed by a promising move between Rhino, Flan, Lukey
and Squiz again, to no avail, and another commencing with Macca and involving
the skills of Fifey, Mossy, Azza, Hales and JD, again no result. Frustrating
stuff. It’s amazing what self belief is conjured up through the prior week’s
efforts, and we still hoped beyond hope that we might pull it off. It would
have been a travesty if we had, but….
Ablett took another mark in his best
display for Broadbeach 2009-10 and goaled. We needed 5 goals. Ollie won the
centre bounce and Lukey cleverly took the ball from the hands of the Mt Gravatt
recipient. The build up stopped there and they rebounded for a point. The kick
in saw Squire Pat take out Ben Jones with a bump that nearly extruded the
poorly Jones through the fencing. ‘Twas at least evidence that we were not
laying down on the job. But we down on the scoreboard, and to be fair, beaten
to the contest on many occasions. It was left to Quickie who again displayed an
amazing work rate to take the nut in the midfield and assist Cookie to another
goal. Twice in the game, our full back assisted our full forward to goals,
unusual to say the least. And possibly the reason for the incorrect goal
listing!
Magoos
Mt Gravatt 23.10-148 def
Broadbeach 8.8-56
Goal
Kickers: D. Skrinnis 2, A. Palmer 2, D. Glossop ,
S. Roberston , B. Walters , N. O''Hare
Best Players: G. Ryan, L. Frawley,
M. Kavic, W. Fenner, A. Palmer, J. Fitzgerald
The
twos battled manfully and coach Chants was pretty happy with the effort,
particularly the third quarter and in view of our depleted ranks. The Vultures
last stanza was an outstanding bit of reserves football. It is not an easy gig in football,
some would say the most difficult, to coach a magoos side,
especially in a prevailing beach side culture.
Finally
we should make mention of GA. A Queenslander by birth and aussie rules player
by choice, (his face appears in the first ever Broadie magoos team photo), GA, on
his birthday weekend, managed both the seniors and magoos in the absence of
seniors manager Tiny who was the difference between the GCFC and Bendigo in
Cairns. But GA had a big day. His son Trent played in the ressies, one of his
wild TAB picks got up at a ridiculous price (and for a change, instead of
buying every stranger a drink, hid it from himself), and he enjoyed the
hospitality of El Presedente Rolfey and coach Mathew Knights…sorry, Neil
Boston, at Jupiters until 3am. When he came to claim his car on Sunday, he
ended up manning the BBQ for the Old Boys. GA, you are a legend of the type
that every footy club needs. It’s a pity that in one of your early psychotic
episodes, you chose to barrack for Carlton. Why?
Last Modified on 19/07/2010 16:16