This past weekend, the (1-0) Hamilton Wildcats were again on the road to face the (1-0) Central Blues at Humber College North in Toronto. Both Clubs were coming off convincing Round 1 victories, and both were looking to improve their respective records to 2-0; but only 1 Club could come out on top.
In '09, Hamilton had an undefeated record versus the tenacious Blues side, winning both games and were looking to increase that streak to 3 with a win early on in 2010. In seasons past, the 'Cats and Blues have had several nail biting finishes; with Hamilton losing by 2 points in '08 and winning their first of 2 games in '09 by only 3 points. With many new faces on both sides of the oval, their first of 2 match-ups in 2010 looked to again be a hard hitting, tight scoring affair. Apparently the Blues never got that memo, as they exploded from the gates, cutting up Hamilton's midfield with great pace and accurate kicks into their forward line. Their speed and fitness definitely seemed to catch the 'Cats off guard, and despite coach Johns making a few defensive changes across the ground, nothing seemed to slow the youthful Blues as they took a 30 point lead into the 1st intermission. To add insult to injury, literally, former Blue Steve Bridle (who started his career with Hamilton but had played his last 40+ games w/ the Blues until the '10 season) stepped in a pot hole while bursting out of the 'Cats backline, and dropped like a heap. After being helped to the sideline via stretcher, Steve's 2010 season looks like it may be cut short; but Bridle's been known to have a huge heart and all of the Wildcat faithful wish him a very speedy recovery.
As the first 20mins were now in the books, it looked as if the hometown Blues' took a page out of Hamilton's book; as the 'Cats came out with guns a blazing in their 1st quarter vs the Dingos a week earlier. Unfortunately for Hamilton, they knew the "Navy Blues" could not be taken lightly, and still had a tough time shutting down their offensive onslaught. Hamilton's backline of Thompson, McKillop, Krikke and Hamilton's '09 Best & Fairest Justin Settle were doing their best to turn the tides and keep the score respectable, in hopes of giving their forwards a chance to claw their way back into the game. After the Blues jumped out to a 5 goal lead in the 1st quarter, the Wildcat backline held the much quicker Blues outfit to only 2 goals in the 2nd frame and fought back with a goal of their own thanks to a fantastic individual effort by veteran rover & '10 team Captain Brett Hill which earned him a set shot at goal. Despite notching their 1st goal on the game, the 'Cats still had an uphill battle as the Blues now took a 6 goal lead into the half.
After a much deserved tongue lashing from Head Coach Johns, the 'Cats were poised to make a game of it heading into the 3rd; which is traditionally their best quarter of football. Despite a fairly daunting task ahead of them, the visiting 'Cats still had a chance to still earn 4 points on the day and in hopes of swinging momentum back to their side, Coach Johns made a few blockbuster line-up changes. After a very strong performance at fullback in Round #1 vs the Dingos and a solid first half vs the Blues, Johns decided to move the Club's All-time Leading Goalkicker Charles Thompson (190 career goals) up to CFF alongside their current curly-haired goal machine Daniel Crouch; in hopes their strong leads and overhead marks might boost the wounded egos of the 'Cats heading into the 3rd frame. His move paid off almost immediately, as Thompson snuck in behind one of the Blues' defense, took a great diving mark 35m out from goal and proceeded to kick a beautiful goal from a set shot within minutes of the 3rd quarter bounce. Unfortunately, the Blues had an answer for anything Hamilton tried to throw their way, despite several impressive passages of play from rookies Mark Furlan (voted BOG in Round #2 vs Blues) & ruckman Debruijn, aussie Darren "stereotype" Stepien (playing in his 1st regular season OAFL game), as well as 11 year OAFL veteran Thompson; who took home the 'Hard Hat Award' (hardest working player) for his efforts in Round #2. The Hamilton Wildcats AFC would also like to welcome and congratulate Canadian rookie recruit Thomas "Gordie" Howe, who played his 1st OAFL game this past weekend vs the Blues. Great start to your footy career mate and we look forward to what the rest of the '10 will bring for you and our Club! Unfortunately these handful of strong individual Hamilton performances were not nearly enough to take down the full-on attack of the hometown Central Blues; as Toronto got all the scoring they needed in the 1st frame, jumping out to a 5 goal lead after 20mins and never looked back running out winners on the day 14.7.91 to 4.3.27.