Round 12 Masters –Aspley-
Last game of the year and coach Burger’s impassioned plea to his men was “Leave nothing out on the field!” Always hard to tell with Masters footy whether that’s a reference to maximum effort or the fact that a player could easily lose his toupee in a tackle and not know about it until after the game.
The Aspley ground was in superb condition. Slim goaled early and TD, playing out of his skin, followed shortly after with a long range effort that bounced through. Freddo made a long awaited return and it was soon clear that he was sadly lacking in match fitness, when his own shadow ran off him at one point and he had to catch a taxi back to the dressing rooms.
Pricey was loving the wide open spaces and Jenko laid some wonderful tackles. A chronic shortage of jumpers for Aspley meant the odd practice of having to remove your jumper when coming off the ground to give to the player coming on, which I’m sure must contravene some health code. Especially when the bloke trying to peel his sweat soaked jumper off runs a squigee over his stomach once he’s finished. Looking at a couple of their old boys, it might have made more sense just to have them shave their number into their back hair. The quarter time banter was frenzied and it paid immediate dividends with the tempo lifting in the 2nd term. Late arrivals Floater and Princess made instant impressions on the game and TD continued to impress with his best showing of the year. Burger marked for a rare set shot on goal from about 20 metres out and though he’ll have you believe he was kicking into a stiff breeze with six broken toes on his right foot, he simply was too exhausted to get the distance.
Dooley showed a turn of speed not seen before and Slim finished the season every bit as angry as he started it. Whilst other blokes get rub downs or concentrate on re-hydrating between quarters, Slim just bites the heads off chickens these days.
By the power of sheer will and determination alone, the Masters clawed back to take the lead in the last quarter and hold on for an inspirational win in the last game.
Supers Round 12 –Aspley-
Twilight footy on a Saturday night caused a few casualties. Most for reasons of previous engagements but I’m certain my old friend Skull was destined to no show the second I walked into the brand new dressing sheds at Aspley and found only one mirror.
Subsequently a few of the already tired Masters boys in Cuddles, Yatala, Peter May and Jenko were forced to back up.
The other difficulty with playing at this hour comes from being forced to stare directly into the sun. Playing on the wing, I’ve got to tell you that I haven’t had to stare into that much radiant sunlight since the last time Haema dropped his car keys in front of me.
Jenko was loving his time in the Supers and the first class service from the likes of Kingy and Dale put him on the end of some perfect passes. Princess and Wolfie were immovable targets up front as well and the coach was coasting toward another bag of goals. Scotty, a Kenmore boy who appears to be on the books for next year was having a memorable first game until a nasty head clash slowed him down somewhat for a quarter at least.
When the sun goes down one can normally expect the stars to come out and right on cue Igor swooped on a loose ball and banged one through from just outside 50, their 50 not ours. A moment of inspiration that took us from a precarious 9 goal lead to a vastly more comfortable 10 goal lead.
Both coaches reached a gentlemans agreement and shortened the last quarter to 10 minutes. The quarter picked up where we left off. Ant, Longy and Chief set up the wall for one last time and Kingy danced around opponents with ease, exposing more holes than the yellow underpants Andy insists on wearing to training.
With siren blown, the curtain pulled around Aspley following a 100 plus point hiding, we trudged off, our season over for one more rousing rendition of the club song. No less than the 8th time this year we’ve had the opportunity to sing it.
For mine, the greatest post-victory tradition is that of sharing. Whether it’s sharing memories of the just completed game, a cold beer or, in the case of Sass & Princess, a shower cubicle.
I see how it is. Turn up to a meeting at work naked and HR gets their nose out of joint but turn a bloody tap on and this makes everything OK apparently.
Great season everybody. Igor out.
Last Modified on 14/09/2009 23:16