Gaelic Football in South Australia

[Footy Chick]

The grapevine tells me that Nicky J was pummled by a guy half his size (namely G.Baust )on Sunday.As George Burns once said:

" I'd like to see that!"

[lutz]

As anticipated a quality match Friday night between Onkas & W.I For a while there it looked like Onkas were going to run away with it but the goats had a really good opening 15 mins into the wind in the second half. Fortunately for Onkas tho in the dying seconds the unflappable Matt Whitford was able to get the ball, fumble, look the wrong direction before calmly slotting the ball into the back of a defender and over the bar from about 3-4 feet.

Bit of a surprise Port Districts getting done by Irish Australians.

Was hard to take after being 11 points up (I think) after just 10 minutes. IA were good though. I thought their big men were pretty good, number 6 in particular up forward (I think he may have been Irish). Their keeper was pretty good too, with his short kicks often hitting a target. IA didn't seem to rely as much on Doecke as in the past.
Smitheram again was good, with Toasty doing some special things in the second half.

[wristwatcher]

As anticipated a quality match Friday night between Onkas & W.I For a while there it looked like Onkas were going to run away with it but the goats had a really good opening 15 mins into the wind in the second half. Fortunately for Onkas tho in the dying seconds the unflappable Matt Whitford was able to get the ball, fumble, look the wrong direction before calmly slotting the ball into the back of a defender and over the bar from about 3-4 feet.

Bit of a surprise Port Districts getting done by Irish Australians.

Was hard to take after being 11 points up (I think) after just 10 minutes. IA were good though. I thought their big men were pretty good, number 6 in particular up forward (I think he may have been Irish). Their keeper was pretty good too, with his short kicks often hitting a target. IA didn't seem to rely as much on Doecke as in the past.
Smitheram again was good, with Toasty doing some special things in the second half.

I thought the big Fish was good as well, playing a good solid game down back and beating his man in the one on ones and giving a bit of rebound. Jacko was also quite dangerous. No.6 for Irish was Cathal Mcgafferty (i think its something like that anyway) and he was outstanding and single handley swung the game of his own boot. I assumed he had a body odour problem because no matter how much damage he did no-one from Port seemed willing to stand next to him.
It was a good game though but again its fair to say that Port let another one get away despite being in a winning position. Experience will prevent this from happening in time.

[wristwatcher]

Last night saw our first warm night of 7s to coincide with the hot Gaelic action on show....

West Ireland Minors 5.12 -27 def The Beach 4.9 -21
The star of the show was once again "Das wunderkid" Jamie Conlon who was well suppported by Paul "Shifty" Elsom and worlds oldest and baldest minor JFlo. For Christies Coach Goose was the biggest threat with his raking right boot although he was seen in a heated half time exchange with Jonah Hill who accused him of being tactically Superbad

St.Brendans 5.14 -29 def Flinders Olds 2.12 -18
Best on show for the Taints (ok,ill start using it ) was the unstoppable Jordy Peg despite his not ideal preperation and new Irish sensation Danny O,hara whilst Toddy Mac was his usual damaging self for the Reds. This loss sees Flinders Olds drop out of the 4 with their minors still occupying it. Should make for a very interesting run home .

Flinders Minors 5.18 - 33 def Dingoes 2.3 -9
Best for Flinders was Sam "Magic" Magor and Cameron "Well" Dunne whilst Chris "Skip" Donelly was the standout Dingo for the evening. It was 90 seconds into the game that the Dingoes nailed the opening goal and their captain called to declare but alas it wasnt to be as the young Flinders boys hit back with 4 goals in 4 minutes to sieze back control and momentum and break the hearts of the ever growing Dingoe fan club .

[wristwatcher]

Onkas 5.31 -46 soundly defeated Angry Leps 1.4 -7
Best for Onkas was Gabe "Welcome to the jungle.... " Phillips and WadeO who seemed to bring their own ball and were not that keen to share it with the Leps. For the Leps young Harry continues to impress for both Mitcham and the Leps and the boys in green and gold deserve credit for fighting it out to the end and not dropping their bundle against a much more experienced opponent.

Na Fianna 3.16 -25 def Steve Irwins Allstars 3.8 -17
Best for the Warriors was "Swervin" Merv Stynes and Tommy "Fingers" Duurland wrapped his little mignon looking hands around all the balls much like he did my ex girlfriend (story for another time maybe ). As per usual the big Rhino was the driving force behind most of the Steves charges but its hard not to ponder if the absence of Lewis "Curl and Fluff" may have effected the result .

[the milky bar kid]

Onkas 5.31 -46 soundly defeated Angry Leps 1.4 -7
Best for Onkas was Gabe "Welcome to the jungle.... " Phillips and WadeO who seemed to bring their own ball and were not that keen to share it with the Leps. For the Leps young Harry continues to impress for both Mitcham and the Leps and the boys in green and gold deserve credit for fighting it out to the end and not dropping their bundle against a much more experienced opponent.

Na Fianna 3.16 -25 def Steve Irwins Allstars 3.8 -17
Best for the Warriors was "Swervin" Merv Stynes and Tommy "Fingers" Duurland wrapped his little mignon looking hands around all the balls much like he did my ex girlfriend (story for another time maybe ). As per usual the big Rhino was the driving force behind most of the Steves charges but its hard not to ponder if the absence of Lewis "Curl and Fluff" may have effected the result .

Which ex are you talking about?!?!?! The last two have shown weakness to the 'Dirtbags' irrestable charm & massive arms

[wristwatcher]

Lets be honest MBK what woman wouldnt want to sample the sweet ripe nectar that is the forbidden fruit known as "The Dirtbag" Tommy "Fingers" Duurland . Im sure even once or twice you must have caught Lady Milko sneaking a peak at the visual stimulation provided by that sweet little piece of man candy . I guess we should warn the rest of the comp...Allow your partners near him at your own peril

[the milky bar kid]

That's a reality I had to learn to live with a long time ago WW

On a gaelic related note , good to see the updated ladders on the site. Don't know if we'll see a team be able to break into that top 4 from now barring the wheels really falling off on one of these teams.

[the milky bar kid]

Onka's v Na Fianna - Onka's 1-5
Taints v IA - Taints 6-10
Flinders v Mitcham - Flinders 1-5
WI v Port - WI 6-10

[wristwatcher]

Onka's v Na Fianna - Onka's 1-5
Taints v IA - Taints 6-10
Flinders v Mitcham - Flinders 1-5
WI v Port - WI 6-10

I would have to assume that your tip is based on the 11 yes 11 outs that we have this evening. Thats gotta be some sort of record This will be a real test of the fighting spirit of the Na Fianna Warriors tonight not to mention our depth and flexibility. It will also be very interesting to see what sort of conditions St. Marys provides for us tonight as its weather pattern most certainly has its own agenda

[Cheese Twisties]

Onka's v Na Fianna - Onka's 1-5
Taints v IA - Taints 6-10
Flinders v Mitcham - Flinders 1-5
WI v Port - WI 6-10

Not even picking your own mob?!

Also MBK following on from your comments stating you think the top 4 is possibly already settled. What are peoples thoughts on the State League setup of now playing 1 x continuous season instead of the 1 x pre christmas comp and 1 x post season comp? Whilst i do think that the one full season (and longer finals system) concept makes the most sense, i can see the point of the argument that if a team is likely out of finals contention before the Chrissy break, it doesn't really give their players much to play for post Christmas.

Also are Western Ireland and i suppose Irish Australians losing 2 points for no umpires this season?

[the milky bar kid]

Onka's v Na Fianna - Onka's 1-5
Taints v IA - Taints 6-10
Flinders v Mitcham - Flinders 1-5
WI v Port - WI 6-10

I would have to assume that your tip is based on the 11 yes 11 outs that we have this evening. Thats gotta be some sort of record This will be a real test of the fighting spirit of the Na Fianna Warriors tonight not to mention our depth and flexibility. It will also be very interesting to see what sort of conditions St. Marys provides for us tonight as its weather pattern most certainly has its own agenda

11 outs?!?!? You including me in that list? Other outs include Damien "Moose" Emery, Jason Fay, Mick Lawlor, Josh Kilvington & Liam Hennessey.
Come on WW, no excuses!

[the milky bar kid]

Onka's v Na Fianna - Onka's 1-5
Taints v IA - Taints 6-10
Flinders v Mitcham - Flinders 1-5
WI v Port - WI 6-10

Not even picking your own mob?!

Also MBK following on from your comments stating you think the top 4 is possibly already settled. What are peoples thoughts on the State League setup of now playing 1 x continuous season instead of the 1 x pre christmas comp and 1 x post season comp? Whilst i do think that the one full season (and longer finals system) concept makes the most sense, i can see the point of the argument that if a team is likely out of finals contention before the Chrissy break, it doesn't really give their players much to play for post Christmas.

Also are Western Ireland and i suppose Irish Australians losing 2 points for no umpires this season?

It worked last time we played Onka's
If we are to persist with the double chance in finals then 1 continuous season is best (as we probably need 2 rounds of playing each other to sort the positioning of the top four.
But I agree that the bottom 4 don't have as much to play for as I can't see any of the bottom 4 teams getting the 2-3 wins against the current top 4 teams required to jump into the top 4. It also appears that 5-6 & 7-8 appear pretty set (unless Irish get there full Irish compliment out).
I'm no expert tho, well I am , but i'm just applying my experties to Women's football this season!!!

As for refs, i'm unsure, but I believe it is still a 1 point penalty. I think WI may have provided a ref?

[Flinders O'Neills]

Whilst I cant argue that the top 4 will be hard to change at this point stranger things have happened.....

Irish Looked good last week (actually the best I have ever seen them)

Port will have the same lineup all year and are getting better almost weekly and once they turn their many opportunities into points they will be taking top 4 scalps

and well I have a dream.... Flinders will keep plugging away......and fingers crossed we pull some results

No umpires = 2 points deduction

[Swooper16]

No umpires = 2 points deduction

Do Western Ireland supply an umpire..? I know the other 3 teams in the top 4 do.

Do Na Fianna get +2 points for providing 2 umpires..?

[wristwatcher]

The men who wave the flags behind the goals are umpires . The man on the field with a whistle is a referee. That and people asking for Powerade referring to the flavours by colour are 2 sets of terminology that must be fixed

On the umpires...Oops referees
Na Fianna actually have 5 qualified refs in Mens as can be clearly seen by the fact that so many off us forget that we are not in control of the games we are playing in
Irish Australians do have a ref in Mens ; Adrian, but he has had a knee recon and when i did the roster i said i would be more than happy to cover his games as im at Gaelic park most of the time that gaelic is being played anyway.
Western Ireland even though they didnt know it at the time actually had a ref at the course this year but he is a 16 year old minor who will NOT be thrown into State League games this year. IMO he still needs to learn more about the game. The plan is too mentor him through the Social 7s league but for a 16 year old reffing can be extremely daunting when your not 100% confident on all the rules and their application. This combined with the fact that soo many players will argue, dispute, dissent, test and even lie to refs during games and even even even b*tch and moan over rules that dont exsist Whilst i think the League has improved the way it treats refs immensly i know some of you creative creatures would eat him for breakfast and break his spirit the same way it was done to me when i was a teenager


So i dont think anyone will lose points this year but i think all reps should be made to go to the course next year prior to the commencement of the season to help educate your teams on new rules and refresh your playing group with the rules and the way the refs will be instructed to apply them. This years key changes were ;
The elimination of the over-hand and back flick hand pass
All kick outs from the 13m line
The 13m rule itself
No entering the field of play on a sideline ball
The new penalty spot

[wristwatcher]

Tonights State League Results....

Onkas 2.9-15 def Na Fianna 0.6-6
St.Brendans 3.13-22 def Irish 0.4-4

[Swooper16]

Didnt see the first game but thats a handy margin for Onkas.

In the Irish / Taints game it was a very even first half. Irish really didnt deserve to be down 6pts at the interval but in the second half we were able to run away with it.

Sets up a big clash next friday night between Onkas and St Brendans. It is scheduled for Friday night however Taints will be missing up to a dozen regulars due to work shows. So not sure whether it will be able to be moved to Sunday with Onkas consent or we may unfortunately have to forfeit.

[Flinders O'Neills]

You can postpone the game if onkas agree

[wristwatcher]

You can postpone the game if onkas agree

I would think it needs to be put through a couple more official channels than that (Comittee, Ground manager, Kenilworth, Ref director, ref etc) otherwise i might switch the game with Port this week to TK Shutter reserve on Wednesday at 3am in our pyjamas if Toasty agrees.
There is a committee meeting on Monday though which should help facilitate a potential change of the Draw.