HFL Division 1 (Central)

[The Gimp]

There's a lot of talk of the terrible conditions at Mt Barker but would it make up 50 points difference - how about a report on why you lost by so much??

How is the Maccy oval after saturday? I would only imagine it would be worse than Mt Barker - can anyone report?

[ORDoubleBlues]

There's a lot of talk of the terrible conditions at Mt Barker but would it make up 50 points difference - how about a report on why you lost by so much??

How is the Maccy oval after saturday? I would only imagine it would be worse than Mt Barker - can anyone report?

Yeah as mentioned this time last week, the Maccy Oval is in terrible condition at the moment and it's in the clubs interest to do something about it as they would get more finals and a grand final every now and then as well. We need to do what Meadows did and just dig the whole thing up and put the sand and gravel underneath as well as 'doming' the surface. Meadows were fortunate when they did their oval because it was considered part of the primary school grounds and they got a sizable government grant.
This season has once again proved that the oval at Maccy doesn't drain at all as given that we had two away games on the trot as well as the long weekend, it still got cut up as soon as the next home game was played on it. I know we had a lot of rain but at the moment the water is just sitting in the middle part of the oval.

[Mop Up]

Mt Barker had a few more front rowers and theyre scrum pack weighed more than Ironbanks. The scrum half or Ironbank couldnt get the ball and our passes were sloppy. In other words it wasnt football. Hard for people who werent there to understand but what was played could barely be called football.

Only thing you could take out of the game was maybe Mt Barkers hands were little cleaner than Ironbanks. And they were more productive up forward. 8-10 of their scoring shots were rushed behinds mind you.

Mt Barker i still think are better team than Blackwood and will make the 5 but there isn't much you can take out of the game if ya talking about finals football.

[Tanka]

Mop Up....... I have seen both sides play this year and there you IB boys must still have had to play pretty poorly to lose like that.....27 scoring shots to only 7......I would have rated you as a better side than Mt Barker in any conditions so IB must have been down.....Was the match taken too lightly after the big build up to the Lofty game....any thoughts??

[O'KNOWLEDGABLE ONE]

Mt Barker v Ironbank game was a bloody disgrace to watch & be a part of. Hats off to Mt Barker for their desire in wanting the ball more & bigger & harder bodied, but bloody hell as a game of football what a joke. No excuses for Ironbank losing as Mt Barker did play harder, cleaner football. No arguments in regards to the old saying that both teams had to play on it & they did. But surely for the league & the benefit of good quality football, if the oval was a dam disgrace during the week how the hell was it going to be ready to be played on with 4 full games on Saturday. Something has to be done, it is a health hazard and hopefully it is not at the expense of a players career before something is done. Again well played Mt Barker they were better on the day. Dam disgrace and fingers are pointed easy in the Hills at some clubs facilities & in the same sentence some clubs facilities are ignored. Enough said move on & again well played Mt Barker they wanted it more in shocking conditions. Mutual ground or fix the dam oval I say - should not happen in a division 1 standard of football!

[Cougar]

Kersbrook had a home game taken away from them a couple of years ago when the Oval fell off the pace, and consequently were sent to Milang for their final Home fixture. If the HFL do the same to Mt.Barker, sounds like their next Home Match could be played at the only Hills Associated Ground (Apart from Callington) where you can bounce the ball all day!

[Justquietly]

The ladders are up on the HFL site and what a battle for 4th and 5th spot.
Blackwood have the advantage of pumelling some teams at the start of the year and still have a healthy %.
Having played some good footy, IB find themselves with a weaker % than B'wood and Mt Mud, and now only one game ahead of them as well.
Some big battles coming up.

[Tanka]

Mt Barker v Ironbank game was a bloody disgrace to watch & be a part of. Hats off to Mt Barker for their desire in wanting the ball more & bigger & harder bodied, but bloody hell as a game of football what a joke. No excuses for Ironbank losing as Mt Barker did play harder, cleaner football. No arguments in regards to the old saying that both teams had to play on it & they did. But surely for the league & the benefit of good quality football, if the oval was a dam disgrace during the week how the hell was it going to be ready to be played on with 4 full games on Saturday. Something has to be done, it is a health hazard and hopefully it is not at the expense of a players career before something is done. Again well played Mt Barker they were better on the day. Dam disgrace and fingers are pointed easy in the Hills at some clubs facilities & in the same sentence some clubs facilities are ignored. Enough said move on & again well played Mt Barker they wanted it more in shocking conditions. Mutual ground or fix the dam oval I say - should not happen in a division 1 standard of football!

Thanks for the reply OKO....puts us more in the picture....sure you will bounce back this week at home to the tigers

[Justquietly]

I think anyone except Birdwood would back themselves in against the Tiges at the moment...

[schimma]

I watched the lofty vs onkas game on sunday was a close first qtr, before the midfield for lofty took control of the game. Wood, trigger and flo. and number 22 must not have had a shower as no one got close to him all day.


only bad thing for the day was some off the remarks coming from some of the onkas supporters towards a lofty player.

[Justquietly]

I watched the lofty vs onkas game on sunday was a close first qtr, before the midfield for lofty took control of the game. Wood, trigger and flo. and number 22 must not have had a shower as no one got close to him all day.


only bad thing for the day was some off the remarks coming from some of the onkas supporters towards a lofty player.

What sort of comments and at who, Schimma?
They were probably p#ssed off at seeing how far off the pace they are.

[Banker]

Lofty- What does 2nd best get for A's? Hope for Floreani's sake its something different each week

And just on best players awards, Can i ask why junior best players dont get there awards unless they come back to heathfield that night? I think its a very rough policy, IB juniors get there awards straight after the game, then if they can turn up Sat night they go up on stage to get a free coke. Has it always been like this at lofty? And does it cause more juniors to come back?

[magpie in the 80's]

Central Division - Premiership Ladder

A Grade
Club...................Played...Won....Lost....Points......%
Uraidla Districts.....11........11......0.........22......69.72
Mt Lofty.................11.........9.......2.........18......75.18
Onka Valley...........11.........8.......3.........16......58.00
Ironbank...............11.........7.......4.........14......51.59
Blackwood.............11.........6.......5.........12......58.95

Mt Barker..............11.........6.......5.........12......53.77
Hahndorf...............11.........3.......8..........6.......34.51
Bridgewater..........11.........3.......8..........6.......40.21
Lobethal................11.........2.......9..........4......36.42
Birdwood...............11.........0......11.........0......27.05


Leading Goalkickers......Club.....Rd.....Total
J Brown....................Uraidla.....12.......56
T White....................Mt Lofty......2.......44
D Hibberd...............Lobethal......1.......35
J Allen.................Blackwood.......2.......32
J Graetz................Ironbank........1.......30
C Shee..............Onka Valley.......0.......27
D Cahill................Blackwood......2.......24

[magpie in the 80's]

Country Division - Premiership Ladder

A Grade
Club................Played....Won....Lost....Points.....%
Kersbrook..........12..........10.......2........20......69.36
Kangarilla..........12..........10........2.......20......67.94
Echunga............12...........9.........3.......18......63.43
Torrens Valley....12...........9........3.......18......60.41
Meadows...........12...........8........4........16.....60.13

Blackwood..........12..........4.........8.........8......49.78
Callington...........12..........4.........8.........8......31.63
Nairne Bremer....12...........3........9.........6......49.98
Macclesfield........12..........3..........9.........6......39.68
Gumeracha.........12..........0.........12........0......11.54


Leading Goalkickers........Club......Rd....Total
M Guitink..................Kangarilla......4......65
Ryan Hunter..............Meadows.....2......60
Roger James.............Kersbrook.....4......60
B Pearce...................Kersbrook.....6......52
J Hill...........................T/Valley........4......40
Ivan Silvy...................T/ Valley.......0......39
M Westley.................Kersbrook.....2......38
P Kleeman...................Echunga.....0.......29
J Edwards...................Echunga.....1.......29
L Percy..................Nairne/Brem.....0.......28
Brett James...............Kersbrook.....2......26

[bookie]

i think its a fair policy tanka, the main goal is to get as many ppl as possible up to the club on a saturday night about 5 years back all the juniors used to come back to the club however just lately there has been less and less juniors attending on the saturday nights. the more the juniors get back to the club the more they get to know the senior players. i believe coco might be trying to instill more of a family atmosphere around the club which is fair enough!

[The Crumber]

Just as another aspect to the Mount Barker Oval saga, one solution might be to activate the 'toothless tiger' component in the Trainer's Code of Ethics. It actually states in both Level 1 and Level 2 accreditation that trainers 'shall ensure a safe playing surface' for all competitors (or something to that effect). I could only imagine how difficult and daunting it would be for a Head Trainer of any club playing at Mt. Barker to approach P. C. Plod on this matter, but if it came down to legalities, trainers would probably carry more weight than anyone else. I haven't had the misfortune to tread on that oval, but given the discussion here, it's pretty clear the ground would fail the criteria. Might be worthy of an Agenda item at the next H.F.L. Trainer's meeting. In the interim, a letter of concern from trainers of sides suffering in the bog wouldn't go astray. Approach your trainers guys, because one day someone will suffer a serious injury and/or infection. If they've attempted to act, their arses are covered and concerns documented. And even the HFL can't over-rule them.

[bazzw]

I was in Mt Barker today and decided to drop in to the oval to see what all the fuss is about. What i saw was discusting. It is just a bog with stagnant pools of water all over the place. The smell of sewerage was also quite strong and when i tried to walk onto the oval, i got about 1 metre onto the oval before my foot sunk in the ground. Definetly a dangerous situation.

[devilsadvocate]

Just as another aspect to the Mount Barker Oval saga, one solution might be to activate the 'toothless tiger' component in the Trainer's Code of Ethics. It actually states in both Level 1 and Level 2 accreditation that trainers 'shall ensure a safe playing surface' for all competitors (or something to that effect). I could only imagine how difficult and daunting it would be for a Head Trainer of any club playing at Mt. Barker to approach P. C. Plod on this matter, but if it came down to legalities, trainers would probably carry more weight than anyone else. I haven't had the misfortune to tread on that oval, but given the discussion here, it's pretty clear the ground would fail the criteria. Might be worthy of an Agenda item at the next H.F.L. Trainer's meeting. In the interim, a letter of concern from trainers of sides suffering in the bog wouldn't go astray. Approach your trainers guys, because one day someone will suffer a serious injury and/or infection. If they've attempted to act, their arses are covered and concerns documented. And even the HFL can't over-rule them.

RE: Someone will get a serious infection - read my post on the previous page. Does coming within hours of losing your life due to an infection directly related to that oval count?

Also, I have been a trainer for the last 5 years and believe me, if you ever try to approach an ump, you are threatened with a red card. Twice while attending players with serious injuries (one KO another shoulder dislocation) I've asked the ump to stop the game while the play is close to the injured player and twice I've been threatened with a red card. This is AFTER an injury has ocurred. So I think the umpire - trainer relationship is such that the ump would laugh you away for suggesting the ground is unsafe before a game. It's a disgrace to think that as you rightly state, the trainer must ensure the playing surface is safe, but upon raising such concerns will be waved away with the threat of a red card.

Prevention is the best cure! (Gotta love a cliche in the world of footy )

[2 Old 2 Slow]

What a tough gig this coaching caper can turn out to be sometimes. Hours of preparation & planning during the week, then come match day the frenetic nature of duty consumes you that much you forget those little 1% ers…

Like topping up your pre-pay phone & petrol tank in your vehicle, so that when your car spits & farts in the back roads of the Adelaide Hills 10km from home late at night, you can call for help...

Unless of course; it is a nice night for a leisurely stroll from Ironbank to Morphett Vale?

DX… You Idiot!

[The Crumber]

Guess it all comes back to the HFL DA. By and large, trainers are not given the respect they deserve, nor their knowledge recognized or acted upon in many cases. One can only hope that the influx of hard-working club umpires are effectively drilled on trainers' dedication, skills and obligations. Over the years I have witnessed trainers fruitlessly trying to assert the rights of their players. Any umpire who ignores an appropriately delivered request by a trainer should have his own number taken by officials of the club concerned.

I'm going to jump on my pesky hobby horse again and suggest that the entire HFL needs a complete overhaul, beginning with more adherance to basic policies. The Mt Barker oval saga should never be happening and seems to me to involve numerous conflicts of interest.

But then again, who is going to change all this? The occupiers of HFL seats are there because no-one else wants to do it. Maybe an end-of-season Budget (or whatever it is) needs to be dedicated to recruiting new blood at the top instead of silly guilt-trips aimed at players who won't play interleague. Why not tell everyone what election involves, the nature of the task and the vacancies on offer? Why keep it all so secret so that elections are over and done with in the blink of an eye? And maybe the HFL AGM needs to be held just after the season ends so that any interested parties still feel passionate about changing things. And instead of telling club officials what they should do, it would be democratic if the HFL could be brave enough to ask for feedback on what THEY should do.

Just dreaming...............