This week saw us travel up the freeway to take on the Cardiff Hawks in all three grades.
In what was a disappointing turn up, the 18's were severely undermanned being only able to put eleven players on the paddock. The boys tried hard all day but were beaten convincingly by a strong Hawks outfit. Michael Barrie had a blinder and picked up a swag of possessions. Other to stand out were Reader, Hughes, Ede and Pat Barrie.
The First Division match was the one that everyone travelled up to see and the name on everyone's lips was an old bloke they call "Horsey" who apparently used to be able to play a bit of footy. You see the word on the street was that the Vice President was going to have a run having hung up the boots about twelve years ago. Many thought he preposterous, that he would get smashed. Others doubted his old legs could still carry him but all were keen to see what he could do. The game was a real arm wrestle for four quarters. Cardiff led at every change but only just and the game was ours for the taking. The old bloke was seemingly on the bottom of every pack, kicking goals, putting on hits which led to goals...is there anything this bloke can't do!! In the end Cardiff were too strong and took the spoils. Everyone tried hard but a few deserve special mention. Michael Wilkins played well and must have been close to getting the mug. Darren Beecroft had his now usual strong game, AHo tried hard but the mug went to the old bloke that came out of retirement, Sean Horswell, for his plethora of possesions, sixty metre goal (it would have been had the umpire not put me fifty metres closer), massive hits and showing the younger guys the way, not taking anything away from my younger team mates. (BTW the bias of this review could have something to do with the fact that I also write this column!!).
Coming up against the competition leaders we knew it was going to be a tough day. Our preparation wasn't great but our goal was to improve on the thrashing they handed us in Round 4. It was a tough beginning to the match with one of our key players Travis Christian damaging his knee in the first few minutes of the match and spending a good part of it as a spectator. Cardiff are a well drilled side and for mine the team to beat this year. Their big men were too big for us, their runners too quick and they beat us convincingly on the ground and the scoreboard. The positive is that we improved on our last clash with them and we never gave up, the scoreline not really reflecting the effort put in by the boys. Ryan Berry played a real captains knock leading by example, Billy Denniss was always doing the tough stuff, Shane Armstrong had his best game of the season as did Mick South but it was Jim Pinner who was the deserved winner of the mug.
We look forward to our clash this week against Terrigal-Avoca.
Sean Horswell
Vice President
Wyong-Lakes AFC
0417 776655
Last Modified on 30/10/2005 13:31