Speaking on behalf of the club and the coach for the weekend (Michael Cameron) I couldn't have been happier the effort of all of our players who did themselves and the club proud!
We left on Friday afternoon and after a very long labourious drive through the desert we made it to Phoenix around 9 at night. On the way Rob encountered the first signs of car trouble which eventually lead to finishing off the journey inside a tow truck! Moral of the story, don't ever buy a Volvo.
Anyway, after a good nights sleep in different venues, some in the ghetto, others at relatives places, we arrived at the ground ready for our first game at 11am. We only had 7 players, with Jack and MC on the road making their way from San Diego. Thankfully JJ was able to rope his brother-in-law and family friend Lance into having a kick. So along with JFK, we had Ryan and Lance all making their Australian Rules debut, for Ryan and Lance a quick football 101 lesson was conducted as apart from a bit of TV neither had seen the game. JFK had at least been to a few trainings.
We played Chandler (undefeated for 3 years according to one vocal observer) and game them a scare early as we matched them in the first half. The margin was 2 points at half time and we eventually faded a bit in the last half to lose by around 4 goals. Fitness was a key issue in this game, most of the Chandler boys are young, fit and fast... However we played really well and were more than competitive.
Our next game was against IE and we were lucky to have the inclusion of some young fresh legs in Jack as well as some coaching nouse from MC, not to mention some much appreciated water carrying by Andrea and Sara. This proved to be the difference as we managed to account for IE in pretty convincing fashion. Everyone stepped up and played excellent games, the new guys learnt from the prior game and really started to play well. I think we won by 3 or 4 goals in the end.
Saturday night was great fun as we terrorised the bars in Tempe and Scottsdale! Special thanks to Pimp Daddy JFK and his connections at the 'Library' bar. The boys were looked after very well, too well in fact as most were nursing serious hang overs on Sunday morning.
Sunday we played LA Swans in the semi, it's fair to say that with 8 players, most looking like they had been out till 5am drinking (funny about that!), we were going to be up against it. So we were graciously offered some players by Arizona. Unfortunatley these guys were denied a game because of one person with a major attitude problem, I could go on but the guy is not worth it. In saying that, take nothing away from the LA swans players they were the better side, full stop. To our boys credit though, we were 3 goals up early and if we had of kicked straight we may have made it a tighter contest in the end. We ended up losing by 4 or 5 goals but were certainly not disgraced and fought it out right to the very end.
All in all our aims were achieved and I couldn't be happier, while nobody goes out to lose, winning wasn't the main objective. The more footy we get under our belts the better off we will be when the real stuff starts later this year.
Special thanks to MC for coaching the side, Andrea and Sarah for running water and cheering us on (life savers on Sunday!). To Ryan and Lance, hope you had some fun in your first taste of footy and weren't too sore the following days! Also to those Arizona guys that helped us 'stack' our side we appreciate it and we hope you got some good game time out of it.
Our better players for the weekend was pretty much everybody! Justin was svery solid down back, in the ruck and up forward, his marking and long direct kicking a highlight. Rob was impressive around the half forward line, belying his years and often marking strongly and providing a target. Brando was everywhere, playing the majority of the time in the middle. JJ didn't get injured, so that's a plus! He also played a lot of time in the middle and showed good speed and awarness with the ball. JFK played his first ever game of footy on Saturday and over the course of the weekend really improved. Showed great determination, speed and fitness for an old fella and once he masters the skills he will be a very good player. Scuba was very good across half back, he used his fitness and turned defence into attack on a number of occasions. Jack's is young, skilled and very talented. His tackling was a highlight, bringing down adults twice his age and size. Kicked a few goals as well. As for me, well I hid up in the forward line and occasionaly ventured into the ruck.
Richo.