Langwarrin Away 2010-Now with Reserves Gallery !!

1st August.. Stonecats v The Kangaroos at the Roo cave. Weather Balmy, Life’s Good !!

Zannon cops the full brunt of  Michael Parker’s 150 kg frame…

After the 65 point demolition of Langwarrin at the Stonecave in round 6, Coach Barry felt confident that he had the right game plan and match ups to take on the Roos Unit, even including their YCW expat Brigade, which had now grown to 8 old boys, with the inclusion this time round of A J Borrie..    Going thru his copious collection of notes on opposition players, Bugs decided to bring in the untried Reserve halfback, Tim Gilham, for his first senior game, to replace the once again unavailable (sore knee) Andy Kiely, who has recently had more ins and outs than than The Great Ulmer !!  Equally controversial, was his matchup of  Blake `The Snake`McCormack, with`Gun`forward Brad Wakeling, Maca on to Tomamichael, and super in form, Paul Wintle on whoever started between the big sticks….all of which proved to be winners !!

In perfect sunny conditions, Bugs Boys kicked toward the Cranbourne Road end with the aid of a light wind.

Old Teamate, Benny Wehner, showed he still has his old skills working for him, as he gets away from Maca, and a possible unhappy ending !!

The Roos came out full of fight at the siren and played  it hard and fast with a hilite of their game being their kicking to position and slick handball which moved the ball quickly around the ground. Their assaults on goal however, ground to a halt against the impenetrable wall put up in defence by the Barry Cousins with 9 touches each, Patty Heijden, 6, and Tim Gilham who showed class and dash putting the ball in to attack.

After a 15 min period in which neither side took control or scored, Brad Wakeling took a mark directly in front and converted to put Langy in the lead. This lead was to be short lived however as 2 min later Tellis found himself on the right end of a pass from a brilliant piece of play by Byron, and took a set shot from in front, to bring up the twin Calico’s….

The Q ended with Langy 1 point in front and the only highlite, being the ability of Bugs Boys  to miss the goals from any angle and any distance as the 1.6.12 scoreline showed…and it weren’t gonna get much better !!

 Young Maca cops it from every which way as Tails applies the pressure !!

The 2nd Q saw the Roos step it up a notch, and with quick movement of the ball forward, were able to place more pressure on our backs and enable Nathan Pike to get the second of his 5 for the day.

Again this was to be short lived as The Barry boys tightened the screws and made sure that this was to be their last score for the Q, while Steve Roberts hit some rare form, amassing 12 possession’s and Bods in control of the ruck and on track for another B on G in his 4 week purple patch.

With this flood of ball, Lewis Roberts was having a field day up forward, but was unable to convert and Langy held on to their 3 point lead at the 10 min mark, but Bodley was able to pick up a loose ball and snap a goal on the run from the pocket. Further pressure on the Langy backs saw the ball fumbled in the pocket near the point post and Steve Roberts pounced on the chance and goaled from the square to finish the half 4.10.34 to 3.4.22

Paul Wintle having his third shutout ( baseball parlence??) in the last three games

The 3rd saw the wheels begin to fall of the Roo Wagon as Andy Douglas took over on his wing, The Great Ulmer kicked in with his best Q and Tellis and Bodley,controlled the contested ball around the forward line.

At the 5 min mark Tellis, picked up in the pocket and snapped a goal from an acute angle, but Langy via Nathan Pike answered immediately to set  the scores at 4.5 to 5.11.

 Bods then hunted down a loose ball to kick a goal on the run from the goal line to go 3 goals up. This was further increased  at the 16 min mark when Maca picked up and goaled from the 50m mark, dead in front, immediately followed by another goal from Maca courtesy of an inspired hand ball from Chappy.

The 5th and final goal for the third was dispatched at the 24th min by Kyle who snapped from deep in the pocket.

The Orange break saw Ycw in front and running away, 9.15.69 to 5.5.35, again with some shocking kicking for goal producing another 5 points for the 3rd, and Langwarrin theoretically still in the hunt despite our total superiority..As I keep saying`better sides`wont be so kind, and unless we improve, it will come back to bite us on the bum !!     Bring out the pole Bugs !!!

Kyle Hutchinson hits the grass !!

The last Q finally saw the flood gates burst, as Craig, Blake, and The Barry’s totally wiped out the Langy forwards and a plethora of Stonecat forwards and onballers peppered the goals, with 6 different goalscorers for the Q. The first goal for the Q was scored just after the ballup and then Tellis really started the rot by kicking a goal off the ground in the goals square which he followed up immediately, with a snap from the pocket.

10 min on Chappy centered to Byron in the corridor who had a shot on goal which was marked by Steve on the goaline to bring up the twin flags.

Zannon then picked up a spilled ball from a marking contest and passed to Young Maca who made no mistake in bringing up our 14th. Still the boys attacked and at the 20 min mark Lewis marked and kicked goalwards where Chappy marked in the square to bring up his sole goal for the day.

The final score for the day, saw young Maca boom a kick from the centre, to the pocket, where Zannon spilled the mark, which Rhys snapped up and goaled from an impossible angle,  finishing the day with a splendid conversion for a 66 point win 16.19.115 to 7.7.49 , and on the way, bettering our first half win by 1 point…if nothing we are consistent !!

Ryan Dwyer and Jie Coghlan tussle for the ball ..

My unbiased assessment of the game, after due consideration, was that we were just too good, skill wise  in all departments and in commitment for the Roo Machine. The Langy forwards were denied all but  a quick sniff of the ball for the entire game, by what has to be the best backline in the competition.

 This is verified by the stats, which now show us with a unheard of 200 % at this time of the year, with almost 300 points less kicked against us than the next best team, and 3% points better than our most successful team (19 to 1) of 1992 could manage after 15 rounds  ( They reached 203% after Rd 18 however !!)…..

The Barry boys, Byron (27 touches) and Bundy (33 ), who continued to turn defence in to attack all day were my best, but Patty Heijden (23), Blake, Pauly, Zannon and Jie were not far behind.

Bods with another great game in the ruck, amassing 22 touches, a plethora of hitouts and 2 opportunistic goals was my third pick, while that `Diminutive Dynamo`in Lycra, Benny Tellis was at his effervescent and elusive best, snaring 4 goals from his uncanny abilities to read the play around the goalmouth packs, got my nod for 4th.

Lewis up forward, had a mixed day, getting a lot of the ball (22 touches-and as many points !!) but finding it impossible to convert, while Maca was his ever reliable self, getting 2 majors despite the attentions of a close checking Hadley Tomamichael.      Three games left and Im excited !!

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.Turbo in pain !!

Schneider’s Scintillating Seconds had a tuff time at the Office in the first half with a persistent showing from Langy which belied there 8th place position and holding us to just a one goal lead at the long break causing Coach Schneider to raise his voice in the half time speech !!!!  

 T he 2nd half saw the boys take on Schneider’s words of wisdom, and with Steve back to his old self and controlling the ruck, Dylan Hoare alight in his first game for 6 weeks, pressing for an immediate return to the ones, the forwards in the Grover, Andy, Herby and the Bessel banged on 4 goals for the Q and put the game away.

The last Q saw Lang put thru their last goal for the game while The Stoners put on another 2 strait to finish easy winners 9.7.61 to 4.12.36, again showing the benefits of accurate kicking !!!!!!!

Best on ground, Dylan Hoare ( one more week ??), while the X Man, Grover , Ricky and Scotty all had days out and look good for the finals.. Next week our most important game of the year against Pines, where a win will lock in 3rd place and the double chance with games following…. against cellar dweller Eady and 7th placed Chelsea.

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The Thirds had a close game against the top placed Langy side to go down by 20 points, but is September slipping away ???  The last game may decide it.

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