The U14 Darling Downs AFL squad have returned from their recent South Division Carnival as champions for the first time in the regions history. The carnival was played in Bundaberg from June 6-7 where the Darling Downs Demons won all 3 of their games against Bundaberg / Wide Bay, the Sunshine Coast and Capricornia. The Downs coaching staff knew they had a great group of players in their mix but no-one predicted the undefeated result which started with a sterling performance against the host team Bundaberg / Wide Bay on Saturday morning.
“Our guys jumped straight out of the box in their first game and showed that they were certainly ready to play from the opening bounce of the championships” stated co coach Jeff Neumann.
The Downs comprehensively accounted for the host team 9.9.63 to 0.0.0 in the opening game. The second game was a much tougher challenge against a quality opponent in the Sunshine Coast who had a mix of young and upcoming players and tall key targets in their playing group. The coasters started the game much better than the Downs and jumped out to a 2 goal lead after the first quarter. But to the Downs credit they regrouped and answered back in the second term to square things up at the half time break. The second half of the game was largely dominated possession wise by the Downs but it wasn’t until the last quarter where they were able to convert their dominance into scoring opportunities. The final score saw the Downs victorious 6.6.42 to 4.3.27
The final game for the Demons was played on Sunday morning against the Capricornia Cyclones who pushed the Sunshine Coast all the way in their clash the previous day. The players knew if they were able to get over the line against the Cyclones they would become the first ever playing group from the Darling Downs to win a country carnival at any age level. But it was Capricornia who stated the game with more intensity and with the Demons failing to convert their scoring opportunities only 2 points separated the teams at quarter time.
The Demons started the second term with much more composure and began to use the ball forward more effectively but it wasn’t until the 3rd quarter where they blew the game open in the best quarter of football for the carnival and arguably the best quarter of football played by any Darling Downs team at any championships. The players worked hard for each other and ran the ball in waves of numbers with some brilliant passages of linking football that was a pleasure to watch. By the final term the Demons had wrapped up the championship clean sweep with a 44 point defeat of the Cyclones.
Development Manager Keith Webb stated that “The most pleasing aspect of the carnival was the fact that there were no passengers in the 23 man playing group. All players put their hand up over the course of the carnival and there attitude on and off the field was first class and a credit to the group as footballers and as young men”.
Josh Stahlhut, Tye Hughes and Matthew Joseph were rewarded for their outstanding carnivals with selection in the U14 Country Kookaburra’s squad who will contest the U14 State Championships in 2 weeks time while Marc Anderson was selected in the Brisbane Colts team who will also play in the State Championships.
Congratulations to all players on their fantastic achievement and a very big thank you to the coaching staff in Jeff Neumann and Shaun Reardon and manager Robin Rissman who did a terrific job with the group.
Last Modified on 10/03/2010 14:57
