Match Reports

Round 3 (23rd April 2023 The ANZAC Round)

“LEST WE FORGET”

 

Supers v Northern Warriors

It was balmy Sunday afternoon at the Mecca of football, Wembley Sports Park. The key recruits for the day included the young fellas who kept hydration levels high and a bottle of sunscreen found wedged in the crevasse of the change room from cricket season.

The Mark Blicavs of the team, Plonk, started in the ruck where the rest of the midfield looked a class above with silky skills and swift ball movement in the first quarter. Ross and Marcus looked dangerous up forward with strong leading patterns, with the latter taking a spectacular one handed contested grab. The first quarter ended with the home side in front by a couple goals.

The first quarter lead wasn’t good enough for the parochial home crowd, with plenty of jeers from the home balcony. Gus returning to the side after a preseason injury, showed pace and agility that quickly resulted in cheers. Tom kicked one of the goals of season, which thanks to Cambo’s video footage will live on in infamy through YouTube.

BP, Abba, Bassie and Brock were moving around like 20-year-olds racking up possessions, which raised questions why anyone would want to chase cheap kicks playing second fiddle to Irish in the Masters.

The cold and flu tablets kicked in at 3 qrt time for Adam, who started to make his presence felt. Brad’s recent venture with Big Dog Spices seemed to give him extra sticky hands, taking a number of strong grabs. His move into the ruck gave the fittest man at the club Kim O an opportunity to show case his contested clearances skills.

The intercept marking and transition was a feature of the defence, with Dol, Chidz and Al enabling Danners to demonstrate his pace down the wing. Danners finished the match with a world record 10 bounces and one running too far infringement.

Coach Hilux’s defensive wall through midfield has resulted in two wins on the trot for the Magpies, with the team proving too strong for what was a plucky Warriors side in round 3.

A couple notes for those playing Supers Fantasy football.

Doc – Appears to have become a genuine A grader under Hilux’s tutelage at the Magpies. He again dominated on the wing and is still bargain priced for someone that has been averaging 90 fantasy points.

Ben O – Currently owned by 90% of sides as the premier backman in the Super’s competition. Looked to be struggling with a back injury late in the game. If he doesn’t get up for Rnd 4, Cambo might be a trade option. In his second game Cambo had a break out performance against the Warriors.

The writer spent the afternoon behind the bar, where the “one for you, one for me” approach to bar service has resulted in a hazy recollection of the game. Fortunately, there is video footage available.

https://youtu.be/6bzzPGXjHuI

– Ben “BB Gun” Burges

 

Masters v Northern Warriors

The morning started off with a confused bunch of blokes wandering around, trying to work out how to set up a day of footy. Something that most of the guys have done a few times, but still need guidance all the same.

40 minutes later, we are all set to go. Well, except those complaining about the amount of dew on the ground. More about that later….

The games proper started with a simple observance of ANZAC Day. Strongly led by Anton “Dozer” Avila, reciting The Ode. Followed by The Last Post, a minute’s silence and finishing with Reveille. A big thanks should go out to the Northern Warriors for joining the Wembley Vets in the observance, real class was shown by all.

The Masters were a little short on numbers, making Sarge’s job all the more difficult. One of the ring- ins was promptly given a strict critique of the size of his calves as a way of saying thanks for helping us out with numbers. Nevertheless, thanks for helping out Bassie.

Missing Fev and Uni on the wings was not a problem though, these rarefied slots were abundantly filled with the likes of Jimmy and B.O’M. Plenty of run from these guys was going to be the difference all day. I think the most successful manoeuvre was to get Joffa playing of the Half Back Flank, giving the Warriors a headache with his outright pace. Epo had leather poisoning in the first quarter. Unfortunately, his wife turned up at quarter time. She got to watch a much quieter hubby running around in the second, so much so that I was trying to find a way to get him back into the game!

Deep down back PK was doing a good job of keeping his opponent quiet, so much so, that he got swapped out with his new recruit / mate to get a run in the forward line. Dozer managed to pull in a couple of grabs in the defensive goal square, showing resolute defence that Wembley is known for.

The Warriors finally worked out how to slow down some of the run of Wembley, a massive hit to B.O’M saw him depart the field for the day, leaving us with no bench for the remainder of the game. Confusion reigns supreme as to the actual injury, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon. This also created the opportunity for big Simon V put on a marking display, leading straight at the kicker and demanding the ball repeatedly.

Irish gassed himself by 3 quarter time, so much so that he asked others to do the rucking duties for the last quarter. Might be time to move into the Seniors squad Irish, you never know. At least that way Ruz would get through a game without being heckled, too. Another bonus. Cogs and Brocky were massive through the midfield all day. Cogs playing the true centre man role, by rarely leaving the centre square.

Fingers was great leading the forward line with Sam the able sidekick. Though the way Fingers was hobbling around post-game, Sarge may need to come up with another tall forward for the next round. Damo got sick and tired of looking into the sun, so at 3 quarter time he gave his full forward slot and offered it up to Dozer. That showed how selfless some at Wembley can be! (Irish, take a learning here). And to think now some of the boys were complaining it was not too hot for footy!

A good day had by all, with Sunburn or Sunscreen in the eyes the majority of ailments displayed by the Wembley Vets.

– Ben “BP” Powell

 

Seniors v Northern Warriors

On a sunny and very warm day on our home ground with a 3.20pm bouncedown our boys suited up against the Northern Warriors in the final hitout of a really successful day for the Wembley Veterans Football Club. Our outs were telling with the who’s who of seniors football either sidelined, awol or unavailable. Out’s in no particular order however this man left a big vacancy – Slarkes (carer’s leave), then Hammy (awol back overseas), Twitter (knee), Mario (finger), Eppo (playing down), Space (unavailable), Sarge (preferred to play as an opponent), Rolls (ribs) and yours truly who was always doubtful with general softness and lack of commitment to this cause. In’s – Wayne/Magic, Simmo and Youngy…..so with the outs greater than the in’s and with only the two on the bench (Irish and Newy) our fitness in the heat would be crucial.

The first quarter was a tight tussle with the Warriors holding their own to keep us well held at the first change. Had I known pre-game that I would be writing this report I would have taken more interest in the general play and less chatting on the sidelines to our extended bench that included spectators Joey (previous Club Merchandise Manager from a few seasons ago, good to catch-up with him), Twitter (Resilience Shield Co-founder and partial to some good conversation about life’s challenges), Brainy (who rocked up with a beer and said anyone got an issue with me having a drink….of which we replied no issues whatsoever Brainy), Tracy (Selfie’s other half who I hadn’t seen for a bit and the chat meant the Romance novel was put on hold) and then our playing bench of Irish (even after a couple of early arvo beers and some home cooked afternoon tea he was willing to suit up for the cause; done his best clubman chances no harm at all) and of course Newy who in true “Club comes first”, put his gear on as a back-up if needed only to be robbed of a chance to be subbed into the game.

In the second quarter after visiting the huddle to get a sense of what’s it like out on the turf I noticed our boys had clearly upped the ante. We were now showing our superior skills and our bigger tanks which would soon come to the fore in what was another tight quarter.

As the first half came to a close and with myself enjoying the warmth of the afternoon outing benchside I felt the need to rattle a cage or two to fire the boys up a bit at the main change…..first man I went to was Matty Franklin – asked him for a lift and to take the game by the scruff of the neck…..this clearly worked as Matty tore it up in the second half and finished with a really nice goal.

Our boys were certainly blowing pretty hard at the big break as the Warriors had a couple of lads that had clearly showed their class…..names like Jose, Gav, then the big fellow at CHB who had been a handful for Magic until he broke away as the game went on and clearly won the contest for us. They also had a couple of other strong runners that had challenged us in the first half.

Wattsie then gave his stock standard “General’s” speech that certainly had the desired effect as the boys started to take control in the second half. As the half got underway Brynna was soon off with a tightening hammy. This would keep the Warriors further in the game as Bynna had controlled the backline in the first half. He would remain sidelined for the remainder of the day.

We were starting to slowly but surely get on top of the opposition with Moose gently palming the ball down to our midfielders with the likes of Nankers who was using his size and strength to win the centre bounces. Prindi, Simmo, Poobah, Ray (Werns) and Co were finding their mojo and Loui was having a strong game with excellent positioning and dish off’s until a 50 metre penalty went against us? Loui was the likely culprit of some umpire dissent however Youngy was also within earshot and may have questions to answer here too.

I did see a big shirt front to Poobah on the wing in front of us which did result in him receiving a late and very warranted free. AJ (kicking was a delight), Longy (who was in everything), TK (he is a dangerous forward when given the chance) and Drew were now clearly in control of the backline in Brynna’s absence. Our key targets up forward in Selfie (no doubt regrets not kicking it to Loui who was all on his own inside 50 but rather took the shot to only send it OOF), Magic (in everything and should hold down the CHF position for mine) and Kavs (nice goal from the pocket) were in full control of the Warrior’s defence.

Youngy was getting settled into the game and should have received an in the back free kick but play- on was the call. Matty was now clearly dominating and running riot in the middle well supported by Wattsie who ran all day and Irish was offering some real presence around the contests. All in all the boys performed really well and came away with a strong win.

Mario was busy doing a great job running the water for the day and below is his synopsis so I will leave it to your better judgement as to who would receive the 3-2-1 votes from a strong performance by the boys.

• Poobah. Started like a house on fire with silky skills, one grabbing and spearing passes with breathtaking efficiency.
• Youngy. Provided forward option out wide and fearless forward pressure on the opposition defence.
• Simmo. Usual dash from defence with speed and skill. A joy to watch.
• Wattsy. Found space out wide and kept the statistician busy. Complained to Mario that he
  wasn’t getting a drink but poor Mario just couldn’t catch him.
• Nankers. Hard work in and under, pressuring the opposition with physical presence.
• AJ. Rock of Gibralter in defence with characteristic raking kicks finding their targets.
• Selfie. Provided a key target up forward leading, and leaving his opponent breathing rocket
  fumes in his wake.
• Drew. Another solid performance in defence. Impassable.
• Longy. Impressive below the knees mopping up the ground balls with ease.
• Moose. Leading the hitout tally and providing great physical presence.
• Prindi. Got leather poisoning by seeking out open space (but not his opponent).
• TK. Got plenty of it covering heaps of territory and providing relentless pressure on the opposition.
• Matty F. Fabulous game with gut running keeping the odometer spinning. The heat map needed a squirt from the water bottle to prevent spontaneous combustion.
• Sarge. Provided valuable assistance posing undercover, engineering useful turnovers and opposition tactical blunders.
• Lui. Disguised as a shadow in the sunshine, and just as elusive with plenty of the footy out wide.
• Magic. Provided a reliable big forward target with hard physical focus rewarded with plenty of the footy. Great goal snap off his non preferred the one time he used it!
• Ray. Fierce performance giving out more shirtfronts that Tony Abbott on a diplomatic trip to Russia.
• Kavs. Well done to the first gamer, proving very elusive out wide and snapping a valuable major. We see loads of potential in this tall forward option.
• Brynna. Usual hard man performance, unselfishly taking himself off in the last quarter.
• Irish. Helped us out again, the true clubman he is. Like Wattsie but despite Mario’s best efforts, he couldn’t buy a drink.
• Newboy. The young injury sub patiently waited for an opportunity to show his stuff, only to miss out. Maybe next time.

Report compiled by Mark “Mario” Milazzo and Tim “Boeky” Boekeman