This weekend being round 9 sees us at the hump of the 2009 Maroochy RSL Club AFL Sunshine Coast Juniors season, and from here it’s skating downhill to the climax of another season.
The AFL have titled this weekend “Womens Round” with the League paying tribute to the women involved in all levels of football across Australia. Certainly at the AFL Sunshine Coast Juniors level we see many women involved from Team Management, Footyweb Coordinator, Registrar, Committee person, Canteen, Fundraising and occasionally some on field stuff of running boundaries to waving flags and sometimes being the team runner. To all these great women, yes most are mums, thanks for rolling up your sleeves and helping our kids get a game of footy. So boys and you dads give them a big smile this weekend and thank them for their hard working input, and more often than not keeping us blokes on track.
From all reports LMP footy is going well, the once controversial “Hold and Release” tackle is better understood at the 10’s level and if played in the spirit of the game we have a great development level of footy for these kids. All in all the kids are loving the opportunity to have a run around with their mates get a kick and a catch and just be involved with a big smile.
This round we see LMP Friday night action at Noosa’s Weyba Road and Maroochydore’s Fishermans Road venues for the north and central clubs. The 16 teams based in the south LMP zone will all take to the fields at Kawana Waters State College in a big morning of action from 9am to 12 noon.
With a long weekend in front of us (happy birthday Lizzie), this rounds action starts for the lucky ones on Friday night and as mentioned above many LMPers get to finish their school week with the best subject – AFL match play – yeah! But youth wise we have five matches played at 3 venues, Noosa and Fishermans Rd post LMP stuff and two Kawana Park “home games” at the “Woods” of Nambour & Hinterland.
In the division 3 12’s, Friday night will see Noosa Gold host near neighbor Coolum Beach in what will be a tough tussle – those Breakers girls are going great guns and no doubt will be out to do their bit to highlight women in footy in such an aptly named round. Also played on Friday night will be Maroochydore Gold v Nambour & Hinterland game, whilst the remaining game at this development level will be Glasshouse Hinterland v Gympie Gold diggers with a 9am start down at the jungle on Sunday.
The under 12’s division 2 competition is starting to settle down after three rounds, Coolum Beach and Maroochydore White still sit pretty but challenge is coming from the Lions and Cats, whilst the Red Tiger is now also starting to purr. Some big games will be played at this level this round as teams vie to stay in touch with finals action or look to a high poll finish.
A game of big interest is the match at the Jungle of Glasshouse Hinterland Lions v Gympie Cats, last time they met back in round one at the cattery, we had the home team get the points by the narrowest of margins and no doubt with the importance of this game we will see a battle royal.
Certainly the other three matches, in Noosa Red v Maroochydore White, Coolum Beach v Pomona and Kawana Park Blue v Caloundra all have huge bearing on how this ladder will shape – good luck to all teams.
In recent weeks the Nambour & Hinterland under 12’s div 1 team have been hot and cold and after a solid start to season 09 need to get their match play happening from the first bounce. This week they travel over to Kawana Waters State College for a 1.15pm gig, and what an important game this is for the Blues and their opponent Kawana Park Gold who are sitting in second spot, a game and good percentage clear. It’s fair to say that this game with a win to the Eagles may lock away the much sought after top two finishing spots.
Although fourth placed Noosa Blue may have another say in that thought as they chase their sixth win of the season against the Green Roo, the Green Roo was most gallant last week up against their fancied club mates team of Roos and if they bring that match day intensity for the remainder of season 09 they will be most competitive.
Top team Maroochydore Roos travel to Caloundra for a 10am start, and the way those Panthers of Caloundra went about the collection of the footy and forward thrusts last start they will be in with a sniff against the undefeated Roos.
In the under 14’s we see the division 2 competition of the Maroochy RSL Club AFL Sunshine Coast Juniors shaping up as a real ding dong battle. Glasshouse Hinterland are chasing hard from a distant position and have secured two wins upon return to division 2, but last weeks big loss to the fourth placed Demons of Pomona has checked their self belief. This week they host the Gympie Cats in what on paper poses as a big challenge but with White, Clouston and Rodgers missing for the Cats, the Lions may again taste success. These three young men are on an AFL Sunshine Coast Juniors rep trip to Bundaberg, as 23 boys travel north on Friday returning after three games against South Queensland regional teams of Darling Downs, Capricornia and Wide Bay – good luck to all.
Top team Noosa Red and third placed Maroochydore White play a vital game at Weyba Road 11.30am Sunday, the White Roo will be skipping for the points and no doubt will give their all for coach Moody.
The young Coolum Beach team hosts a team of Demons at 10.15am who are on the way up, but for the Breakers they also get some “rep team honours” respite this weekend with players of Mahony (the Billy variety), Daddow, Forbes, Loveridge and Boulton also in Bundy displaying their wares. Some big outs and all of a sudden this is very much game on for those shoreline Breakers of Coolum.
Some thirteen other under 14 players will also be missing from div 1 teams this weekend as they head to cane country - amazing what goodness comes from that cane! A couple of other boys in that Rep team who aren’t playing club footy at this point get opportunity to play some serious AFL, whilst a third boy Taylor Burns actually saddled up for the green Roo last start in his first game in the great Australian game – he loved it!
So playing as the visiting team Nambour & Hinterland are at home this Friday night hosted by the Eagles, the Eagles in need of getting back amongst the runs after a few tough weeks against Caloundra and Noosa Blue. Meanwhile the Blues of Nambour & Hinterland remain competitive but getting the points seems just that long arm reach away – a good challenge each week which will be great for their long term footy.
Noosa Blue host Maroochydore Green at Weyba Rd early Sunday arvo in a game that is sure to intrigue. Missing from the Weyba Rd trenches will be Rutherford, Rusan and Strong for the local Tiger whilst Kennedy, Baker and Burns are sure to make for a more difficult matching up task for coach Scott of the Roos.
Whilst Caloundra Panthers host the Maroochydore Golden Roo this is sure to be a game that the Panther is working hard toward, a win their way will see the gap between 2 and 3 narrow to a more achievable point of correcting over the final 8 rounds of season 09. The Golden Roo will have a few boys hopping in the Bundy direction, Wills and Seamer doing such whilst injuries have chewed into Bone and Chapman
In the deep end of Pool A 16’s we see Caloundra and Maroochydore treading water at this point, the Maroochydore Roos seem to be taking in some water at this point whilst the Panthers are there abouts. For the Panthers last start they came up against the might of top team Noosa Blue, 21 points negative their final gap, whilst the week earlier in very boggy conditions they controlled the match v Kawana Park Eagles. This is a big game, for Caloundra to possibly draw level with the second placed Eagles if they were to slip against the Blue Tiger, but for Maroochydore it’s a must to get back on that winning way, getting a positive buzz going again.
Caloundra host Maroochydore at 12.35pm whilst Noosa Blue play on the Friday night against Kawana Park Eagles at the “woods”.
In the Pool B 16’s competition we see Nambour & Hinterland travel to Noosa to play the Red Tiger, whilst the combo’s of Lions and Demons (what a mix – wouldn’t want to come across one of those on a dark night!) play at the great southern jungle against the Gympie Cats.
Noosa Red have shown over the first three rounds of these 16’s pool competitions, that in Pool B they are the team to snooker if one of the other teams wishes to take the prize of playing 16’s finals footy in the set down elimination final (4 v 5) game.
Again we look to the weekend and with some solid rains experienced again this week we will take to another week of club footy with very sodden grounds under foot. Rain, hail or shine the footies on – continue to enjoy these wonderful youthful development years.
Last Modified on 15/06/2009 14:34