AFL Capricornia proved to strong at the Rockhampton Cricket Ground for its southern neighbours AFL Bundaberg Wide Bay in the annual representative match held 30 April. The match was also a selection trial for the QLD Country Stockman's. In attendance to view the players was AFLQ Services Manager Brian Douge, AFLQ Coach Warren Ledger to support Steve Smithwick, current AFL Capricornia player/coach, who will be in charge of the Stockman's team.
The home team took control of the match from the first bounce to push the ball forward allowing Nathan Shippard to kick his 2 goals in quick succession. Capricornia followed with a further 3 goals for the term to Wide Bay Tigers single goal for the quarter.
The Tigers rallied after the break to attack the ball harder and gain some ascendency as the kicked the first two in the second quarter. Matt Stevens for the Tigers was getting plenty of possessions around the ground. This was matched by Deek Kanther of the Capricornia team. The home team again took charge after the early fight back rebounding the ball from their half back line trough Adam Dickensen to find his BITS team mate Darren Boase on half forward to create goals. Capricornia again wining the term to hold a half time lead 10.6.66 to 4.3.27
Matt O'Niell defended strongly for Bundaberg through out the third term as he had in the earlier quarters. Capricornia where continuing to win the rucks with Wes Hawke finding runners in Kanther and Steve Smithwick who got the ball forward at every opportunity. The third term was a goal for goal battle which finished with a booming 55 meter set shot by Tim Grose for the home team to again win the quarter kicking 4 goals and the opposition 3.
Scoring in the final term became difficult when light rain swept across the ground to reduce the effectiveness of the open running play. A solitary goal was registered for the victors Capricornia who continued on from the success in 2005 to again defeat Bundaberg Wide Bay 15.14.104 to 7.11.53.
The match was controlled by Umpires Terry Carter (Capricornia), Wayne Tillyard (BWB) and Chris Guice (AFLQ). They also selected the best player from each League where their top votes went to Matt O'Niell who was presented with the Tarryn Horner-Smith Medal for Bundaberg Wide Bay and Deek Kanther from Capricornia winning the John Broad Medal.
Goal Kickers: Capricornia; Nathan Shippard 2, Toby Payne 2, Jason Smallcombe 2, Trent Raff 2, Tim Grose 2, Dane Morrish, Deek Kanther, Scott Miller, Darren Boase, Scott Smithwick. Bundaberg Wide Bay; Mick Parmenter 2, Matt Stevens, James Falkenberg, Jamie Rowe, Matt Flemming, Matt Scott
Best Players: Capricornia; Deek Kanther, Wes Hawke, Adam Dickensen, Steve Smithwick, Mick Forde, Darren Boase. Bundaberg Wide Bay; Matt O'Niell, Matt Stevens, Rob Short, Kev Perry, Matt Scott, Jamie Webb
Last Modified on 02/02/2009 13:37