HFL Division 1 (Central)

[Cougar]

Yes Rooster, we'd still thrash u blokes. He's signed for next year. With a couple of retirements we will need to pick up a few to be competitive in Country Div.

Who has retired?

..........and what happened to the bloke who's better known for his days as the lead singer for the Doors? Where did he play this year?

Good ol Jimmy Morrison. Missed him big time this year. Took the year off, and we're hopeful he comes back next year. Retirees so far Matt Scott, Sprouter and Ash MacDonald.

[bernie]

News Flash- Extra Extra

Chris Judd has turned his back on the AFL to play country footy in the Adelaide Hills. It seems that the group of AFL clubs with salary cap room and million dollar offer were not able to match the offer put forward by the Torrens Valley Football Club of the Country Division of the Hills League. The offer is rumoured to include free tickets to the AFL Grand Final (which he was unable to make with the West Coast Eagles this year), several plasma screen televisions, renovation works and a very substantial monetary remuneration. The package also contains the possibility for work for Rebecca Twigley at a local Torrens Valley bakery. Local women were unavailable for comment on Miss Twigleys attire, should she choose to work there.

Judd is expected to struggle initially in the competition, due to the lesser conditions of the grounds, the lack of protection from rumoured sub-standard country umpires, and targeting from opposition hard men (Meadows are currently seeking to sign the Lobethal sniper for this purpose). However, the club is certain to win more games and is most likely more talented than either the Carlton or Richmond squads which were the leading clubs fighting for Judd's signature.

The signing does not pose any significant threat to Torrens Valley's salary cap as they have never been concerned with following the cap in the past. The signing does cause problems for further recruiting for the club due to the new points system implemented by the HFL this coming season. Judd will cost the club 5 points, 2 more than any other non-local player from another league. Other Country Division teams are rumoured to be aghast at the signing but also are attempting to recruit players of a similar calibre to counter the impressive signing. A possible signing for the entire Carlton and Melbourne teams are Gumeracha and Callington as they all achieved about the same level of success in recent years.

Coach Hughes of the Torrens Valley club said that a move up to the higher Central Division was still not part of the club's plan until they further bolstered their midfield with another signing. A possibility is Judd's fellow Eagle Ben Cousins as he is currently hamstrung by a lack of supply following his debacle earlier this year, and given the relative closeness of Murray Bridge, supply would no longer be a problem. Coach Hughes said the club was prepared to make any other AFL superstar "a significant offer". Only time will tell however if Judd's signing will result in a premiership for TV in 2008.

[the wonder elephant]

girthy some names 4 you worky ,a cramp, leverence no.51 at chb ,ready carved on the wing as well saw none of these 4 during the h/a season there were a few more as well .....
alaska ,banker or a/footy does anyone know if these guys have been checked for qualifing status ? or is it all ok because blackwood still had 3 sides in on the weekend and there for would have been able to move players through all sides ??

[Amateur Footy]

girthy some names 4 you worky ,a cramp, leverence no.51 at chb ,ready carved on the wing as well saw none of these 4 during the h/a season there were a few more as well .....
alaska ,banker or a/footy does anyone know if these guys have been checked for qualifing status ? or is it all ok because blackwood still had 3 sides in on the weekend and there for would have been able to move players through all sides ??

They are still only B graders so who really cares eh? Besides, Lofty boys keep reminding us of how strong they are, so this should be the real test. If Blackwood had played their true B grade (A Country) in Div 1 they would have pumped us all I reckon.

[Justquietly]

AF - cos they knocked you guys out, you assume they would have pumped everyone?
Chin up, mate.
I think a lot of boys from several teams have talked themselves up a bit on here, it's all just a bit of fun.
But you just sound like you've got a touch of sour grapes.
As a few blokes have said...if it's Blackwood's TRUE b grade, so be it.

[the wonder elephant]

girthy some names 4 you worky ,a cramp, leverence no.51 at chb ,ready carved on the wing as well saw none of these 4 during the h/a season there were a few more as well .....
alaska ,banker or a/footy does anyone know if these guys have been checked for qualifing status ? or is it all ok because blackwood still had 3 sides in on the weekend and there for would have been able to move players through all sides ??

They are still only B graders so who really cares eh? Besides, Lofty boys keep reminding us of how strong they are, so this should be the real test. If Blackwood had played their true B grade (A Country) in Div 1 they would have pumped us all I reckon.

settle down big fella was just posing the question from a club point of view wouldnt you want this checked if you had played in this team ..i agree it is blackwoods real b grade anyway but rules are rules mate and wouldnt it be negligent not to play by the rules ????
by the way no sour grapes here beaten by a better side on the day !!

[Justquietly]

TWE - was that directed at me?
My 'sour grapes' call was actually about AF's comments.
I agree about the eligibility aspect, totally.

[GetTheSherrin]

mate, i dont care who we play. i'll play against their central a's if it means playing in another gf..

[dangermouse]

TWE, you'd think that the regular country A graders that played central B's on the weekend against you blokes would have all played enough central B grade games to qualify throughout the season, as as a player you can only move up a div in finals for a debut, not down. Does anyone know the total number of games you need to qualify for a lower ranked team? Is it four total?, or the last three? I hope Blackwood know now.

[Amateur Footy]

Sour grapes? You idiot. I just like to deal with the facts.

Blackwood now have a few of their Country A Graders now playing in their Central B's. Note that its not the whole team. Those guys made a big difference. If they brought across all the Country A graders we wouldn't stand a chance...I/B or Lofty. They have massive depth at Blackwood. Have for a long time, just lacking quality A Graders as they don't hang on to enough of their juniors.

As I have said, I have no problem with the loss in the Bs to Blackwood. Wish we had won but thats the way it goes.

[Justquietly]

Now now AF, enough of the stroppyness.
So I assume you've written off Lofty. By how much do you think?

[The_Special_One]

I feel sorry for the regular central b graders who will miss playing a GF now for the country boys... Not sure how it will work next year, where are all these blackwood B graders going to play? Doubt they would be happy playing C's

This a topic very close to your heart isn't it Banker

[Banker]

keep stirring JQ, you will catch a big one soon...

Im not 100% sure but in 2003, Blackwood beat IB at Handorf in the Senior Colts, did they go on to beat Mt Lofty in the GF?

dejavu anyone?

Special One- not sure what your implying... could be a few things if you know me haha

[the wonder elephant]

no jq not served at you mate was at af and i also agree that just to be playing in a gf would be ace no matter who you were up against gts
af like i said no sour grapes mate just wanted to throw the question out there hoping someone might know more thats all

[ORDoubleBlues]

Bernie, that Hughes/Judd thing is humurous.

Even though the Hughes to Loby thing probably won't happen, lets not forget that even if it does he'll only be able to take 3 from TV with him so there'll need to be recruits picked up from elsewhere for them to make a return to finals football.

[Justquietly]

Yeah Banker, can chuck a bit of bait out every now and then. No harm.
Interesting that the Courier had Mehta on the bench for lofty...

[tedbullpit]

LOFTY V URAIDLA - THE BIG ONE!!!!

Rather than give a prediction where will the game be won or lost?

Battle of the Midfields: Bawden was unstoppable in the ruck for Lofty last time. Can't recall him losing a tap. Gave the Lofty midfielders 1st use of the ball. If he does this again Uri's are going to have to go man on man from the outset. Bawden was great around the ground too so the Uri rucks are going to have their hands full.
A Uri midfield consisting of Anderson, Ebert & McLean will be keen to make amends for their lacklustre performance in the 2nd Semi but they will be up against it with the likes of Trezinski, Floreani, Paech-Horne & Cutting to contend with.

Uri Forwards v Lofty Backs - Aside from Loffler the Uri forward line was well held by the Devil defence. If the Devil defence can emulate their 2nd semi final efforts and contain the Uri forwards they are going to be hard to beat. However, you cant underestimate a forward line comprising of the Brown Bros., Loffler & former Norwood league player Matthew Vidic. Remember that the Brown Bros. kicked 9 between them at Lofty in the minor round which was more than the Lofty forwards could manage for the day.

Lofty Forwards v Uri Backs - If you take out the last quarter of the 2nd semi Lofty have managed only 24 goals in 11 quarters of footy against the strong Uri defence and none of the Lofty key forwards has been able to kick more than 2 goals in a game against them. Given how bad Uraidla were in the 2nd semi the only reason they were down by 3 points at the 3/4 time was due to the efforts of their backline who have done a great job blanketing the Lofty forwards. Wait, Gordon & White have been well held in the games against Uri's with Lofty relying on their midfielders to kick their goals on all 3 occassions.

In 12 quarters of footy Uri's have convincingly won 2 quarters, Lofty 1 with the other 9 quarters relatively even. Both sides have relied on a burst to win each game.

Injuries may also play a part with the Uri bench last week nursing several players with what appeared to be hamstring injuries. You would assume they will all front up given it's a GF but whether they are fit or not remains to be seen.

Should be a great game and honestly is too close to call.

[devilsadvocate]

girthy some names 4 you worky ,a cramp, leverence no.51 at chb ,ready carved on the wing as well saw none of these 4 during the h/a season there were a few more as well .....
alaska ,banker or a/footy does anyone know if these guys have been checked for qualifing status ? or is it all ok because blackwood still had 3 sides in on the weekend and there for would have been able to move players through all sides ??

They are still only B graders so who really cares eh? Besides, Lofty boys keep reminding us of how strong they are, so this should be the real test. If Blackwood had played their true B grade (A Country) in Div 1 they would have pumped us all I reckon.

I remember playing against all of those mentioned in the 98 senior colts GF, and who won?

The Devils beat them then, and we'll beat them again. Far superior unit the Super B's. If Blackwood want to bring out their dad's army central A Grade to face the Supers, then so be it, we'll take on whoever and come up trumps.

(P.S. - 2 well coached units in there - '98 U17's and '07 supers!!! )

[Justquietly]

Ted - great summation, well thought out and researched. Sorry, no room for that sort of commitment on here !
I can't wait to watch the games this weekend but agree with Ted, A grade is too close to call.
If Uris did have some hamstrung players and they play on Saturday, come late in the game they may regret it. Lofty has too much pace and will run all day.
If Buckets Nielsen comes off the bench he'll go forward and if Lofty forwards have done their job and worn out the Uris backmen, Nielsen will be a massive headache with his marking. That may be decisive in what will be a lower scoring game.
Or even Temme floating around the fwd line. They're lighter blokes but have great reach. The Uris backline is solid but tall blokes don't get any shorter as the game goes on.
If DK can hold Loffler Uris will struggle. Cooper vs Brown will be a cracker as well.
Get Bawden tapping to Trigger and Flo and when one of them is rested, perhaps a Baldock or Mehta on the ball will hopefully blow the Cabbage back to Summertown Heights.
Can't bloody wait !

[Cougar]

For interests sake, Morrison and Heinrich have the big one Saturday.

Lofty to come home with 3 flags again for mine. Was it 3 or 4 years ago they were flogged by 40 goals against Lobey?? Fair Comeback.