HFL Division 1 (Central)

[Mop Up]

How good was Gazz "Gnombe" Williams' game TDU. 29 Possies and 6 goals from the middle. Would hope he received the 3 votes!! And great to see once again 4 of the 5 in the best were 21 or younger.

[ronburgandy]

IB 24-18 defeated B'Water 7-8. Too quick, too classy and better use of the ball around the ground sums up the game. Name players for Bwater gave nothing...Kluzek yellow card for abusing Umpire at one stage then spent most of the game talking to opposition players and crowd. Noted not too shake hands with opposition players after the game as well. Gatto unsighted. Summerill and Nieuwenhuizen both red carded in last qtr and would expect will miss games. Franz in the ruck battled hard all day for them but few contributors overall. No Donnelly/Bevelander but doubt they would have made much difference. IB had winners all over the ground. IB B Grade won 27-21 to 2-7 so a bleak day overall at senior level for Bridgewater although they did have a win in the Under 17's.

It would be interesting to see how many on the track this week for them as lots of players looked disinterested in the game. Birdwood a chance maybe. Two big games coming up this week, IB vs Uraidla and B'Wood vs Mt Barker with results having a big impact on final five.

So over to you Ron for assessment of your club and its future.

well i didnt c the game so not gonna say 2 much but.
raiders had won the week before, 4 wins for the season so thought they would have done alot better. beverlander has been there best player so that was a loss. along with steve feijen injured.
as for the club, they are in trouble but i only no wat im told. good 2 c the 17's doing well. i said last year that they should make finals, so pretty sure their only just out. hopefully they can make the finals. alot of young players in a grade 4 raiders at the moment which is a good sign. as for summerill, that was his 1st or 2nd game of a grade 4 the year. dont no wat he did but it dont suprise me n hope others involved are okn he gets wat was coming to him. basically it only takes a few to spoil a club n thats wats happening at shanty. my involvment in the club is now very minimal. there are alot of good blokes at the club but far to many spoil it.
as for next year i wouldnt no, hopefully their still theer but honestly there is gonna be alot of change for that 2 happen.

[ronburgandy]

Bridgewater have done worse, they had that many players sent off with red cards that the game was abandoned during the final quarter due to the lack of Bridgey numbers on the field. I think it was against Onkas or Lobethal a couple of years back.

nah mate i believe there were infact more loby players red carded coz raiders tried to claim the game as a win but it was called a draw. it actually started when a loby player hit i believe matt batemen from behind. same thing happened last year when p t cruiser had kicked 6 goals when a loby player hit him from behid and on the ground. he was than red carderd. yes raiders have had some players who may not be as fair as they should be i believe loby are the worst central club for punches behind play n other dirty acts.

[Tex]

Country div Leading goal kickers
Gutnick 95 (Kers,maccy,callington)
James 83 (Kangy,meadows,Nairne)
Hunter 78 (Gum,kers, maccy)
All should Kick 100 goals in minor round that would be a first I would have thought?

[Hills#fan]

Match report Uraidla v Onkas:
B grade: Uraidla started strong and appeared to have faster legs at the start but then onkas came back and scores were pretty even at qtr time, onkas squadered a few good chances at goals. More of the same in the second quarter with uri's passing around well and finding players in their forward lines. For the second half onkas simply played 'catch up' and couldnt quite get there as they appeared a bit 'flat'; uris win by 3 goals or so.
Probably a good thing for our lads really as they were getting a bit overconfident after wins aginst the top two; im sure they will now come back down to earth and finish the season solid - well done to uri's though.

A grade: Very even start in the first qrt. with both sides going in for the ball fast and hard; incredible pace maintained; heard alot of players mentioning how fast the game was - and it certainly looked it. More of the same in the second accept our shorter onkas players just seemed to want it a bit more and were consistently winning pack clearances and finding players in their forward lines. Onkas controlled alot of the ball and ended up with a 2 goal lead at half time (could have been alot higher than that though).
The beggining of the third is where the game was won; onkas 'dropped their bundle' and for 10 mins Brown, Loffler, and Ebert combined to put on 7 goals. Onkas then steadied and 'locked up' for the rest of the quarter. However the damage was done with uris outscoring our boys 7-1 to 1. The final quarter was fairly even with momentum shifting back and fourth; Uris win by 40 points or so - we certainly missed Shee, Coffey and Kerber.
It's a little bit ironic (based on the events last week against IB) that Onka's had the lead and more of the ball for alot of the game, and by all accounts probably 'deserved the win' but for just 10 mins they let their game slip off and Uri's capitalised; ive heard others speak about Uris ability to do this. If anyones going to beat them they are going to have to make sure they play 4 full quarters of footy. If this game was anything to go by Onkas certainly have the potential to beat Uri's on a good day; cant wait for the finals!

[Tex]

Cougar,
Your boys smashed Maccy how confident are you this week against Kangy this week should be great contest, kangy have really hit some super form.

[statsman]

who the hell was red carded for loby against shanty last year? no one i can remember,take a look at the first meeting this year with the punch behind play and the red card for shanty that the pathetic tribunal let off. on the umpiring side of things, heard a great comment at birdwood v loby game from one of the birdwood supporters "you umpires arent f@#*ing cheats you are just f@#*ing bad". over 20 free kicks in the first 1/4 alone for the most pathetic things and more 50's than at a bingo night! Umpiring ruined a good game of footy between 2 teams who were both desperate to win,good atmosphere at the game as well.

[LuvsFooty]

Umpires are always bad! The funniest thing about them is the stuff that they say on field to justify decisions. Some of it is down right hilarious. Could be a idea for a new thread. 'the funniest thing an umpire has said to you during a game'

[Cougar]

Cougar,
Your boys smashed Maccy how confident are you this week against Kangy this week should be great contest, kangy have really hit some super form.

Our blokes are in pretty good nick also, and with the Minor Premiership and Courier Cup on the line, it should be a good game. Wonder if Stringer will make his players do sprints after the game again should they lose??? I know Brett won't.

Don't take much from the result against Maccy. They were severely undermanned with nothing to play for, and with plenty of their blokes not putting themselves up for 'A' grade, to qualify for the 'B' grade finals. I know most Clubs do this with one or two players if they were in the same position, but I seriously reckon Maccy's 'B' grade right now is not far off their 'A' grade in standard.

[alice the camel]

When are you d!ckheads going to learn - umpires go out there to do their best and sometimes stuff up. Put your real name to your post if you're so talented so we can judge all of your wonderful efforts. Grow a brain and appreciate the fact that they're doing a job that obviously not a lot want to do

[LuvsFooty]

You are right. We would be stuffed without them! I still have a go at them, but I also put my hand up and umpire juniors. Thats the key! Get more players to umpire

[statsman]

When are you d!ckheads going to learn - umpires go out there to do their best and sometimes stuff up. Put your real name to your post if you're so talented so we can judge all of your wonderful efforts. Grow a brain and appreciate the fact that they're doing a job that obviously not a lot want to do

i know we are lost without the umpires and they do a thankless job and most weeks i believe they get it pretty much right but when they dont have a good game it doesnt mean they cant be put under some scrutiny. supporters from both sides were constantly left bewildered at alot of decisions and the players confused as to what the hell was going on.remember the games not about them but on this occasion thats how it seemed. i think every week we all query some of the calls they make but the birdwood /loby game nearly all were queried by both sets of supporters,i know we were left wondering what the hell alot of the frees we recieved were for.

[Tex]

Cougar,
Your boys smashed Maccy how confident are you this week against Kangy this week should be great contest, kangy have really hit some super form.

Our blokes are in pretty good nick also, and with the Minor Premiership and Courier Cup on the line, it should be a good game. Wonder if Stringer will make his players do sprints after the game again should they lose??? I know Brett won't.

Don't take much from the result against Maccy. They were severely undermanned with nothing to play for, and with plenty of their blokes not putting themselves up for 'A' grade, to qualify for the 'B' grade finals. I know most Clubs do this with one or two players if they were in the same position, but I seriously reckon Maccy's 'B' grade right now is not far off their 'A' grade in standard.

Should be a good game I think it will be alot closer than last time possible the result might go the other way.

[shake'n'bake]

My view on the unravelling of the Raiders is a country division revival! A couple of seasons in the country div could be exactly what's needed for them as a group of players, supporters and officials. The question has to be asked though who would come up, meadows are too cowardly and no one else has a strong enough club on and off the ground to even look like coming up!

[alice the camel]

Have heard that Meadows recently had a vote to determine whether there was enuff interest at the club to go into Div 1 - idea comprehensively thrown out!! Why wouldn't you have a go - surely playing at the highest possible level is what it's all about??!!?

[Cougar]

All this talk of Bridgewater not going so well and throwing them back to Country Div, has overlooked Birdwood's stellar season in the top tier. They will now NOT win a game for the whole season, their once powerful Senior Colts are also winless, and they WILL have to spend big to be competitive next year in Central Div. If someone's gotta go, Big Brother would surely evict Birdwood. I will say it again, their 'A' grade would NOT make the 5 in Country Div at the moment.

[the wonder elephant]

i think u need to give birdwood at least another 2 years to establish themselves in div 1 then judge them at least they had the balls to come up and have a crack (cue..tex and couger)

[Justquietly]

I agree with Cougar, you can't drop another team back, when the promoted team hasn't won a game, but Shanty have won 4.
From what I've seen, I thought Birdwood would have beaten Lobey twice and maybe Bridgy once. No-one else. But even that won't be achieved.
Forget another country team coming up next year, or even the year after.
If it's true about the B'water coach's attitude post game, that's deplorable. 'Uninviting' an opposition to your clubrooms? WTF?
I won't be inviting any Ironbank supporters over for a Sunday roast , but oppostion should be nothing less than encouraged to grab a brew at the home club's bar.

[Cougar]

i think u need to give birdwood at least another 2 years to establish themselves in div 1 then judge them at least they had the balls to come up and have a crack (cue..tex and couger)

Yeah good on em. It's great they're having a crack, as it gives me a big laugh each week when I open up the Sunday Mail.

[toad17]

Cougar you have a huge chip on your shoulder about Birdwood, why is that ?