Seniors
Fantastic win at
Coorparoo with a come from behind last stanza reminiscent of Ali’s
‘rope-a-dope’. ‘Cat-a-prat’ maybe?
Final Score: Broadbeach 8 14 62 def Brisbane Lions 8 11 59
Goals: Fulton3, Cooke, T Rolfe, Moss, Balcombe and Shreeve 1 each
Best: A Rolfe, J Pantic, Zorko, Fife, Flanagan, Cooke.
The day started when
we ran into Fevalenko having the first of his caffeine injections about 1.00pm.
The mind boggles as to how much would be running around in the veins by 7.00pm! Never mind, the Leos had a downer and
there was no need for a sleeping draught. But our Perko after working nights this last week was well into the
no-doze.
The game started with
the Leos putting an A grade side on the park with 15 listed players plus
Spackman included in the 22. This was a classic game of two halves. The first
half consisted of quarters one to three and the second half was the last
stanza. The scorelines were about even at the short break but the Leos had
seven scoring shots to our three; at the long break they were one point short
of five goals up; and at three quarter time they held a similar margin leading
8 10 to 4 6.
Throughout those quarters they held sway through a running zone. One that saw
their forwards push, push, push, demanding reverse gut running to present
targets on the way back once they had the turnover or won a contest. Plus they
scored at least three majors from kick-in transfers wherein our blokes did not
set hand on ball. The story
changed in the last.
There was a fair
zephyr favouring the scoreboard end, our end in the first quarter, and with
Tink at full forward on a lumbering Irishman and Fults, Rolfe brothers galore
and Lukey Shreeve roaming across the half forward line, one anticipated a fair
feed for Tink.
Our first came off the
boot of Squiz who received a free plus 50m via Rainesy to put him in range.
Hales and Macca playing as defensive forwards were prominent early, along with
Rusty, the Pants brothers and JD. The nut was delivered forward and deep, but
not low enough for Tinka. He was mismatched and quickly found himself on ball
with Sheldon as his close mate, clearly a pre game match up and a tribute to
Tink’s recent form. It was
something of an arm wrestle but the Leos were implementing a game plan that
made us look very ordinary at times. Their break and run on winning possession
was similar to the no neck bum sniffers with no offside, and if it wasn’t for
Rusty in the middle, and our backs in J-Pants, playing unusually in defence,
Fifey, Searly, Rhino and Jacko Rolfe, their forward forays may have produced
more than 2 goals 5 behinds, one goal of which was a gift after Scalesy was
penalised for throwing one behind the play.
Luke Shreeve showed
off his foot skills after winning a contested ball and bisecting the erections.
He showed class at some stoppages as well. Tom Balcombe produced our third for
the term assisted by Flanagan and Jacko Rolfe. Cookie went to centre half
forward and Moss to full forward. While the Leos were busy running their zone
the wind advantage gave us 15 to 10 inside 50s clearly indicating our low
efficacy within the arc. The most worrying feature was the boundary stoppages
close to goal. We don’t remember one set play goal from about five such
stoppages; only the run of the Leos to take the ball away.
At quarter time we
were as worried as an Asian masseuse about Cookie’s groin which he had
apparently strained on the track Thursday night. No need to worry, he went on
to play a pivotal role in the victory, dominating in the air, contested and
uncontested.
We went goalless for
the second stanza while the Leos got their stuff together and added five. They
ran in numbers for their team mates and spread from the contest to present a
target. They did it well. Our notes recall desperate efforts by Squire, Rusty,
A Rolfe and Flanangan. Flanagan is a really good listener and makes thoroughly
visible moves to act in accordance with coaching instructions. It was in this
quarter that the Leos went on safari through the corridor in rebound defence
moves and we didn’t touch it. But for all the despondency of supporters, the
players were not about to chuck it in. Moss and JD won a couple of centre
clearances and Fifey, Tinka, Squiz, Azza and our last line contested, blocked,
and chased to get back into the game. A Fults poke that looked good in the air
lifted our spirits but deflated on contact with post.
We went to the rooms
as Tommy Balcombe was stretchered off with a busted fetlock, and club
physiotherapist Carly shattered when she discovered her engagement ring had
slipped off her neck chain and was resting somewhere in the Coorparoo growth. A
good way to exit a relationship? No way. An extempore emu parade was organised
but could find nothing. Brendan Howard organised the Leos to get a metal
detector – they weren’t all that cooperative – so Carly rented one. She was
going nowhere without her ring. Jump to the end of the game in twilight, fading light,
and Carly and friends were still trying. We were at Yatala when we learned that
Chris Searl had found the offending circle of pink gold in the centre circle.
Carly and Mike are OK. Carly will not wear the ring again at footy games.
We also went to the
rooms amazed at the modern game, and to be truthful concerned that rotations
and positional changes were taking over at the expense of big picture strategy.
But as we have learned from Roos, Clarkson and Hardwick, coaches need to be
close to the game calling the moves and interacting with players as they come
through the box. Fair dinkum there were more positional changes than a busy sex
worker and more rotations than a swiss movement watch. Who could keep up? Point
is, it requires people all over it because it is such a finely tuned affair,
and the advantage of a strategic redeployment here can turn negatives to
positives, and a rub down there can ensure fresh legs when required. We still
think there is a balance but the evidence from Saturday was that it was
supervised in a winning manner in this instance.
In the third quarter
we heard more voice especially from runner Stewie displaying his leadership
skills from the boundary. Searly was running through the bench and on the nut.
The Pants boys, Tinka and Rolfe brothers met each other on the way through
rotations and JD, Rusty, Olly, Mossy, Cookie, Lukey and Fifey were all greeting
each other as they exchanged positions and had rests. We think the only players
not be rotated on the day were Squire, Quickie and Rhino. Cookie started to
take over the airways and Squire Pat chipped in with a timely mark. Quickie,
who has looked a little jaded since the state game, fought his way back and
combined with the usual suspects to rebound the ball. Lukey was showing his
foot wares again – he and Flanagan increase our collective foot skills markedly
– and Rusty to Flanagan initiated a switch unfortunately to no avail. A Rolfe
trifecta (Rolfe to Rolfe to Rolfe) to Luke resulted in a point and eventually
Mossy snapped one from a boundary stoppage – not before its time, but again we
had one goal return from 10 inside 50s.
Three quarter time:
Brisvegas 8 10 to us 4 6: 4 goals 4 down.
Optimistic at the huddle? Coach Smithy reckoned it was on, he had us equal in
general play and key performance indicators. Co captain Fifey huddled the
blokes and told a few home truths while calling for his players to lift. Stewie
stood tall and demanded a win. It was enthralling stuff. Quietly, we knew we
had to score in one quarter what we had taken three to do until this point in
the game, plus hold them scoreless.
Enter the ‘second half
of the game’. Cat a Prat. The Leos running zone broke down. They were two down on the pine
to our one and their legs could not carry their game plan. We had the legs - although surprisingly Lukey went off with cramp, we won’t let Bluey know
– and we managed them with astute rotations and trainer treatment so the blokes
were in condition to effect team rules and game plan. We were that undeniable
force. We just drove forward, blokes blocked, put their heads over it, showed
immense courage at the contest and generally rose to the occasion.
Cookie was deep and
Fults out a bit. Squiz got us forward twice and the old bloke decided it was
time and goaled from a free kick. Searly won the centre clearance and found
Jacko breaking and spreading wide – fast - off the back line. A good hit to
Fults resulted in goal number two. 8 10 to 6 6. Squire Pat took an intercept grab, sent
a loooooooong handball to JD, off to Hales, R-Pants, back to Squire Pat, onto
Scales, a point! But it felt good, looked good, was good! Game on. JD snapped a
point. Fifey marked the kick in and passed it off to Cookie, another point.
Shit. The game was in our half. Flanagan used his left foot to go deep and
Cookie marked. Goal! 7 9 to 8 11. Tinka took the centre clearance, bounce 1, bounce 2, OB
next to behind post. The Leos rebounded but Squire Pat intervened and found
Quickie on half forward on the flank having run from full back – fantastic! The
blokes were working hard and overtime. Olly was holding his own against some pretty well credentialled big blokes and Flanagan took part in another play in
which he featured twice and that resulted in Lukey kicking another point and we
had one rushed. 7 11 to 8 11 Fults marked
a fair way out courtesy of Squiz and Rusty and very cleverly kicked a behind to
put us 5 points down but with the sherrin in our half. Play was frenzied and
somewhat messy, time was running over 30 miniutes and OBs were giving us
heartache. Out of the blue, close
to the boundary, too far out, came KLF. With his interior linings working
overtime and his goal sense as sensitive as ever, he put one towards the
erections. Against the breeze, it appeared too high, too much of a helicopter
spin on the nut, and going far too slowly, spinning, spinning spinning – goal!
A point up. The ball was transferred back to the centre.
Stewie was heard over
everyone. “Five in the Square. Five in the Square” Forget Fire in the hole,
five in the square should be the call from now on in tense situations before a
blast. Amazingly he was right and furthermore amazingly, the adjudicator took
heed and paid it. We had possession, a point up and surely as little a amount
of time for Smithy to finish let
alone the game. Don’t know what happened after that, don’t care. What a great
win and richly deserved to blokes who never gave up. We’re back. And Geebung came back. A certain
tallish interchange steward was absolutely stoked. That round ball thing could
never give us this standard of theatre at these levels of sport.
Magoos
The boys fell just short and were within 5 points in the last stanza. A certain
ranga apparently remembered why he was deployed to this planet and was clearly
BOG. It’s just around the corner fellas, and there is unfinished business in
the senior grade that you can influence. Well done.
Final Scores: Morningside 13 12 90 def Broadbeach 10 6 66
Goals: O’Hare 2, Palmer 2Skrinnis 2, Edwards, Emblem, Frawley J and Luke 1
each
Best: Ryan, Palmer, Skrinnis, J Frawley, Lyons, Christie
Ready for next week's challenge?
Last Modified on 11/07/2010 19:15
