Over 40s by Mini
It always seems to take forever for the carnival to roll around and it all happens so quickly when you are there! Was the same again this year with the 40s team where we had a fantastic bunch of blokes from far and wide pulling on the QLD jumper - so it really was a great representation of how Masters AFL is spreading madly across QLD!
many of us had never met, so we arranges a short training session on the Saturday morning (AFL GF Day) so that the lads could get to know each othera bit and dust off the cobwebs wit ha light kick to kick - unfortunately Adelaide did its best wind tunnel impersonation and made it pretty tough for the guys to hit targets or get much out of it other than learning some names and having a laugh and arranging where we'd wathc the AFL GF and have a few beers later that day - mission accomplished! The session also unfortunately saw our first casualty with Johny Pain tripping over an imaginery rabbit hole and shoulder charging the ground in disgust, probably takes the prize for the shortest carnival as a player, but to his massive credit (once he got out of hospital) was there every day helping out and cheering on the boys, and I did notice his drinking arm was ok!
We fronted up the next day for our first game against Vic Country on the beautifully manicured but slightly smaller than usual field 3. The boys were keen and all had a red hot crack, however the Vic boys probably coped with using the wind and maintained possession a bit better than we did, and as a result they were able to get a break on us and win by a couple of goals. It was a great effort first up though, and the players really started to gel in the final quarter, playing a fast hands, running style of play that was a great sign of things to come.
Post game the celebrations (that we are in Adelaide and not at work) went very well (as per usual), and the spent a lot of time bonding and having a good time over the next couple of rest days.
Wednesday and we came up against SA, who were always going to be tough to beat on their home turf. As a coach there is nothing better than when the team follows the game plan and success follows - and this is what happened that day. Instead of bombing the ball into the hands of the opposition, we started to run and carry and share the ball by hand, which put the SA boys in the uncomfortable situation of having to chase! They didn't do that well and we were able to score quickly on the counter-attack and put a good score on the board. All of this was built on a foundation of some great tackling and pressure of our own - a great performance to win by 4 or so goals - well done to all.
Again the boys took the opportunity to bond and refresh and we certainly had a great time over the next night and day as we enjoyed all the best that Adelaide had to offer (wineries, casino, beach, pubs etc.)
Last game was against Vic Metro who were the top team in the prelim games, so it would be a tough ask to beat them, but we really had a dip and played some magnificent football that really was of a cery hig hstandar and in great spirit - the Vic Metro team had bolstered their side with a few ring-ins, but we certainly held our own and although we went down by a couple of goals, I thought it was our best performance of the carnival, and I thonk the team would agree that if we played with that game style and intensity and had more games to gel, we would be a very good side.
So in the end while we didn't win the Div2 Crown, we had a great time, made some new great mates and reunited with some old ones and a ripping time was had by all. It would be great if each player could go back to their club and try to bring at least 1 new player to next years carnival - the more we get the better the experience for all and the more success we will have across all divisions.
Many thanks to Apps for his efforts to get the team organised, as well as Harmsy, Torso and others who helped with the coaching while I was playing, look forward to a great time in Tassie next year - surely a great challenge to beat them in their home state!
Last Modified on 22/10/2014 12:46