Division 1
Mac Uni Warriors 9.11.65 beat East Coast Eagles 6.7.43
The Warriors Round 2 game was against the strong East Coast Eagles who played in the Div 1 Grand Final last year and have had amazing success over a number of years at this level.
After our Round 1 loss to Wests it was a make or break game with North Shore and Pennant Hills coming up on the horizon.
The training week was tailored to the style of play we wished to apply against the Eagles and whilst we were big underdogs the side was extremely focussed on winning at home in front of a healthy crowd.
Our first quarter set the tone for the rest of the game with Dean Connors leading by example gaining plenty of possessions around the ground and supported well by Patrick Sobb in the ruck.
The Warriors grabbed a 2 goal lead by quarter time and with forwards Brett Harland and James Brackin playing their best games of the year the signs were good. Both were proving a handful for the opponents with a combination of speed, size and marking ability.
On advice from our senior players our backline had some changes from Round 1 and they immediately showed the benefits of having a back 6 that are familiar with each others strengths and weaknesses and as a result were able to read the play ensuring we restricted the Eagles to 3 goals at half time.
Dylan Brogan who missed Round 1 was extremely good on a dangerous opponent and provided some strong attacking plays on turnover whilst Carter Mullins continues to put his body on the line time and time again.
At half time we held a 9 point lead and we knew the next quarter would decide the winner with Eagles always going to throw everything at us in the 3rd quarter.
Both sides had 4 scoring shots for the quarter and if it was not for Donnie Ollington and Tim Scoular down back the 3rd quarter margin would have most certainly been in the Eagles favour.
The last quarter break really showed the players were determined to finish the game off and take a big scalp in the process in the Div 1 competition. With Paul Jackson finding some touch and having an excellent 2nd half defensively the Warriors kicked 3 goals to nil and finished up 22 point winners.
Some other game highlights were Kev Jones providing a big target up forward, Leighton Corr playing his first game for the club showing his talents on the wing and Andrew Polkinghorne finding a heap of the footy playing against his old Club.
The Warriors now take on another strong Premier Division Club in North Shore at Gore Hill in Round 3.
It was great to see the 4 Senior Teams for the Warriors all win on Saturday at home with Lukey Gemmill's Kookas, Matt Scoular’s 3's and Busta Hyndman’s 2's all recording wins with the 3's and 2's currently undefeated.
Best on Ground: Dean Connors, Brett Harland, Kev Jones, Dyl Brogan, James Brackin, Leighton Corr, Andrew Polkinghorne & Patrick Sobb
Division 3
Mac Uni Warriors 13.11.89 beat Sydney Uni 4.3.27
First home game of the season saw the second grade Warriors take on Sydney Uni who were promoted from 4th Division. The team had 10 changes from the winning side of last week with a number of first grade players coming into the side.
The first quarter was a tight tussle with no team gaining any real ascendancy. The scoreboard at quarter time reflected the closeness of the game with only a two point lead.
The second quarter was again a tight tussle but the players were starting to understand how each other played and this was shown with the play being down in the forward half for the majority of the quarter. Inaccurate kicking kept Sydney Uni in the game with the addition of 1 goal 5 behinds for the quarter.
Third quarter saw the midfield start to get the ball out of the middle and give the forwards plenty of opportunity and start to put some scoreboard pressure on with four goals to nil quarter.
The final quarter was another good quarter with the team rewarding themselves on the scoreboard with a 5 goal to one quarter. A solid performance across the park by the team again and a special mention to the backline for limiting the opposition to another low score.
Best on Ground: J. Noney, B. Chapman, D. Avery, S. Potter, J. Seabrook, P. Hyndman
Division 4 - Warriors
Mac Uni Warriors 16.25.121 beat UNSW/ES Bulldogs 3.3.21
Round 2 saw the Warriors at home for the first time this season on a freshly laid Roger Sheeran Oval. Our opponents, the UNSW Bulldogs were grand finalists last season and after losing twice to them last season we were desperate for revenge.
The first quarter started with a switched on Warriors side applying a mountain of pressure to their unsuspecting opponents and no Bulldogs player had any time to think before they were tackled. This, combined with some dashing run through the middle and pinpoint delivery up forward, allowed Butch to make early inroads where he finished the quarter with 3 goals to give us a 5 goal buffer at quarter time.
The second quarter started in much the same way as the first as the boys came out firing to put through an early goal and extend the margin. However, a lift from our opponents made scoring hard to come by and when we did push forward inaccurate kicking did not help the cause. We still had control of the centre of the ground though and any time the ball did approach our goals, Storky and Goo both repelled brilliantly and kept our opponents from making any impact up forward. At half time we were looking stable with a 7 goal lead.
The third quarter saw the floodgates open, as the Warriors returned to the style of play that has served them so well this season. Guns continued to control the centre and Kinky, Jockey and Marshy were all providing great drive from the middle. A more open forward line allowed Rooster to drift down and kick a couple of goals and Dunc also made an impact, marking strongly across forward. Once again our backline was impenetrable, keeping our opponents scoreless for the quarter, and by three quarter time the margin had blown out to 80 points.
The last quarter was our chance to really hammer home our advantage and get some reward for effort after what had been an excellent performance. Sneak continued to rack up possessions and took plenty of marks around the ground in a best on ground performance, and Shippy was on the bottom of every pack feeding the ball out to our running players. All of this culminated in another solid quarter where we stretched our lead to an even 100 points by full time.
Another dominant performance from a team that is growing in stature every week, great work boys!
Best on Ground: Peter Leaney, Gavin Nixon, Simon Lobascher, Scott Uglow, Ben Heard, Matt Tharme
Division 4 - Kookas
Mac Uni Kookas 10.10.70 beat Sydney Uni 8.5.53
It was an early start on Saturday for the Division Four Kookas with game kickoff against Sydney University planned for 8:30am. Weather conditions were almost perfect for football with the sun shining and a slight cool breeze rolling off the marshy swamps to the south end of the ground. A light cover of dew was also visible on the large Macquarie University deck which was looking in great condition after a two week closer for turf maintenance.
A few late changes to the side were announced as penalties were imposed, due to several players failing to meet the 7:30am arrival time. Adam Morris who was originally listed as an emergency entered the side after he arrived on time to simply support the Kookas. Despite the side changes, moral was strong in the sheds and it was evident that some players where out to prove a point to team selectors, as competition to be announced in sides and higher grades heats up.
During a quick handball drill close to game time a switched on Kookas side drowned out the Sydney Uni boys who looked as flat as they sounded. If the Kookas weren’t already psyched enough they were sent to their field positions with one clear reminder that they are ‘in the Kookas jersey’ which is ‘Macquarie University heritage’, so do it proud and ‘don’t lose on your home ground’.
In the first, the Kookas got off to a great start with last weeks best on ground Eamon Byrne continuing his impressive form by converting from 40 metres out in the first five minutes of play.
As the quarter wore on the lack of game time for some of the first time players started to show though with many players following the ball like flies to the proverbial. At one point nearly all players were standing across centre field leaving both our defensive and attacking fifty wide open. Eddo (the runner) was kept busy relaying messages to each end of the ground ‘to have somebody stay deep in the box and work the goal square’.
Standouts for the quarter including Party who was taking strong over head marks and Jordy who came off the bench 15 minutes into play and with fresh legs, chased the ball hard and impressed with second and third attempts. At quarter time the score was the Kookas 2–3–15 to 1–1–7.
In the second, Hobby was given a rest from the ruck and was pushed down to full forward. From there he presented well but failed to find the goals that had him named best on ground for the Warriors a week earlier. Aaron Harch a first time ruckman who was back from a finger injury, was looking after the taps and did well by getting up high and winning the ball 70 percent of the time.
As Sydney Uni started to find some momentum, Coshy, who copped a lecture at quarter time, found his game head and impressed in the second by doing as asked, by covering the goals and defended hard at fullback. On the HBF Woodsy was also defending well and fighting hard.
Playing on the wing Gareth Smith was having a cracker, running the ball on turnovers with unmatched speed which assisted in another three goals being added to the scoreboard for the quarter. At half time, Kookas up 5–7–37 to 4–2–26.
During the halftime break it was clear that the increasing heat was starting to take a toll on the onballers who had being running hard and playing solid all day. To compensate the weather conditions, some on field rotations were set up so that the onballers could rotate themselves out for a rest as they needed.
In the third, injuries started to occur and players started dragging themselves to the bench as energy levels began to fall. Bendigo was assisted from the ground by the team’s new physio after running into a wall of players. Eamon Byrne also put his hand up for a bench rest but was told to stay on and move to CHF instead. Five minutes later that decision resulted in Burnsy now dubbed “Barnsy”, snapping the football amongst heavy traffic from the centre square to score a goal from a favouring bounce.
The Kookas took a strong lead into the fourth quarter which had Lethal Lee running around organising print copies of the team’s anthem for all the ‘newbie players’.
Although the very first Kookas win was in sight there was still a quarter of football to be played and the injuries kept coming!
Both rucks were now sitting on the bench unable to play which left Kenty as the only option and he did a fantastic job. Richo and Timmy C, who had both played impressive games, were also done for, with nothing much left to give. The only player who looked fresh in the forth was Goldie who had a standout final quarter.
At the full time siren there were celebrations all-round and peg leg Gemmill was jumping around like an idiot.
The final score was 10–10–70 to 8–5–53.
Best on Ground: Burnsy, Kenty, Party, Gareth S, Azza, Goldy
U18 Challenge Cup
Mac Uni Warriors 3.2.20 lost to Manly Wolves 17.19.121
To be advised
Best on Ground: A. Brockway, S. Wood, L. Woodman, D. Bruce, D. Skin, T. Morris
Last Modified on 20/04/2010 12:33