Official Team Thread [Nunez – ‘Toots Hibbert’ Winner] S30 - Sin City Swamprats: "A Rats' Dinasty is Nasty in Double”

[philreich]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and serial_thrilla. Good evening, and welcome to the best and fairest count for the Sin City Swamprats for season 30. We've had another excellent season - pity we fell just short of back to back flags. This year has been a tough year for everybody in so many ways, so it's been great to be able to get some light relief in places such as the SFA: this really is a fantastic community.

Tonight we will be awarding the following awards:

Toots Hibbert medal - best and fairest
Groove medal - highest goal kicker
Drazah medal - most outstanding club rookie
Captain's award

Hopefully I'm a bit better prepared than I was for this award in season 29: let's see how it all pans out.

So without any further ado (whatever ado is), let's get this count started.

 

[philreich]

Round 1 v Royals by philreich

We began our premiership defence at home against the Royals – little did we know at that point that we would play them again 4 & a half months later in the premiership decider.

We started slowly, although Lukeparkerno1 gave us a rare highlight by kicking our first goal of the season. SarahSmiles added another 10 minutes later, but other than that, the visitors dominated the quarter – going to the first break with an 11 point lead.

¼ time Swamprats 2:4 (16) to Royals 4:3 (27)

The second stanza was a fairly tight affair, with the Rats unable to eat into the lead. In fact we lost the quarter by a goal, to go into the long break, down by 17 points.

½ time Swamprats 5:6 (36) to Royals 8:5 (53)

The premiership quarter was our best of the day – it was the only one we won. But we still turned for home 10 points down, and hoping for a strong finish to get the premiership defence off to a winning start.

¾ time Swamprats 8:9 (57) to Royals 10:7 (67)

It wasn’t to be. The Royals had the first 5 scoring shots of the quarter to lead by 25 points, and they coasted from there, to win by 22 points.

Full time Swamprats 11:12 (78) to Royals 15:10 (100)

SarahSmiles had a very promising first outing, kicking 5 – but it was slim pickings after that, with only Lukeparkerno1 and GotTheGoodes scoring multiple goals.

Votes:

ant555 25
SarahSmiles 15
Nunez 12
Ant Bear 8
Power Raid 7
jackster83 3
philreich 2
Rich the Babe Evans 2
Sparkle 1

 

[philreich]

Round 2 v Furies by philreich

We next faced Turbo’s Furies, who undoubtedly had revenge on their minds after we knocked them off in the season 29 preliminary final.

We started quite well – blissfully unaware of the second half ambush that awaited us. It was 5 goals to 2, with doubles to ant555 and Power Raid, and things seemed rather rosy.

¼ time Furies 2:2 (14) to Swamprats 5:4 (34)

3 goals each in the second quarter, and we maintained our 20 point advantage, heading into the long break. We should be able to ram home the advantage from here, right?

½ time Furies 5:6 (36) to Swamprats 8:8 (56)

WRONG!!!!!!!! I don’t know if Stephen Dank visited the Furies changerooms at half time, but whatever happened, they were a different team – slamming on 8 goals to 3, and turning a 20 point deficit into a 13 point lead in 25 minutes of devastating qooty.

¾ time Furies 13:9 (87) to Swamprats 11:8 (74)

If we thought it was a fluke, those hopes were soon dashed. The home side piled on 5 goals in the first 8 minutes, to lead by 37 points – which happened to be the final margin. Where the hell did that come from????

Full time Furies 21:11 (137) to Swamprats 15:10 (100)

One bit of bright news: despite 2 losses to start the season, we actually rose from 12th to 11th on the ladder, thanks to the Bombers having lost their 10th game in a row – dating back to round 10, season 29. So things were looking up .

Votes:

ant555 25
GotTheGoodes 16
MannumPower 10
Nunez 8
Sparkle 6
Power Raid 4
GremioPower 4
Far Kern 2

 

[philreich]

Round 3 v Hawks by philreich

We returned to The Underground to face the Hawks. I don’t know how often a reigning premier had started the following season with a hat trick of losses, but we certainly didn’t want to add ourselves to that exclusive group. The game was a tight affair early – we managed to eke out a 4 point lead by the time the siren sounded.

¼ time Swamprats 3:0 (18) to Hawks 2:2 (14)

The visitors decided that they didn’t want to score any more goals before half time – or so it seemed. They added just 1 point for the quarter, allowing us to go into half time with a 16 point lead.

½ time Swamprats 5:1 (31) to Hawks 2:3 (15)

A very different Hawks outfit confronted us in the third. They added 4 goals, and only our accuracy in front of the big sticks allowed us to stay in front as we turned for home.

¾ time Swamprats 8:1 (49) to Hawks 6:5 (41)

Early goals to Power Raid, SarahSmiles and another to Power Raid settled the nerves, as we raced to a 27 point lead. The Hawks added a few consolation goals, but it was too little, too late as we cruised to a 21 point win. Who the hell kicks 13:2 – we could thank our deadly accuracy for the win.

Full time Swamprats 13:2 (80) to Hawks 9:5 (59)

Was our season back on track after that drought breaking win? Time would tell.

Votes:

GotTheGoodes 22
SarahSmiles 15
Sparkle 11
ant555 5
MannumPower 5
jackster83 5
Rich the Babe Evans 4
projectv 4
Far Kern 4

 

[jackster83]

Who's up for some Sambuca shots?

 

[philreich]

Round 4 v Dragons by philreich

We next visited Dragon Island, or whatever it’s called these days. It was 5th v 10th in favour of the home side – surely the Dragons wouldn’t have any problem disposing of the lowly Rats. Thankfully most of our blokes don’t know how to read: we certainly didn’t read the script.

It started so well for the home fans, and the predicted easy win seemed within reach. They led by 20 points at the first break.

¼ time Dragons 5:3 (33) to Swamprats 2:1 (13)

We hit back in the second quarter – having conceded 5 goals to 2 in the first, we did exactly the same to them in the second, and we held a slender lead at the long break.

½ time Dragons 7:4 (46) to Swamprats 7:5 (47)

Our confidence was clearly up after a strong second quarter, and we continued the momentum in the third by repeating what happened in the second: another 5 goals to 2. We went to the final break with a handy 3 goal lead.

¾ time Dragons 9:5 (59) to Swamprats 12:5 (77)

It seemed by this time that the Dragons had been taking performance reducing drugs, because they only scored 1 last quarter goal, while we piled on another 6. After quarter time, we scored 16 goals to 5, to win by a very impressive 50 points. The premiers were back in business, and we felt confident about facing the next challenge.

Full time Dragons 10:9 (69) to Swamprats 18:11 (119)

Votes:

ant555 20
Nunez 15
MannumPower 13
Quadzilla 7
Far Kern 6
SarahSmiles 5
Firestarter 4
jackster83 3
Rich the Babe Evans 2

 

[ant555]

Off to a flying start. All down hill from here

 

[philreich]

Top 5 after round 4:

ant555 75
GotheGoodes 38
Nunez 35
SarahSmiles 35
MannumPower 28

 

[Hatchy1992]

I'm here in the Dragons corner guys! serial_thrilla is here to

 

[philreich]

Our first award for the evening is the Groove Award for the highest club goal kicker. Some dude called Daylight came second, behind SarahSmiles. SS finished the season with 58 goals (including finals) - double his nearest rival. Perhaps if we want to reclaim top spot next season, we'll need another potent forward to help him out!!!!

Well done SarahSmiles: even though you've been 12 years old for the last 5 years, you're already a club legend.

 

[ant555]

SS

 

[philreich]

Round 5 v Warriors by Sparkle

The Rats and the Royals entered their Round 5 match fourth and fifth on the SFA Ladder; the clash between the two sides being awarded the Match of the Round status. The Rats had won their previous two matches over the Hawks and Dragons, while the Warriors returned to the winners list in Round 4 with a strong win over the Bombers.

The match got off to a scrappy start, @Sparkle’s opening goal for the Rats met with a reply from leobarryyoustar. NaturalDisaster extended the Warriors lead to eight points, before @GremioPower’s late goal reduced the margin to one point at quarter time. The second quarter began in a similar fashion, however the Rats were able to steadily build a lead through the course of the stanza, and headed into the half time break 24 points in front.

The game opened up in the third quarter but neither side was able to take control, the Rats were able to build a lead of 31 points but faced strong resistance from the Warriors, with a goal from BigJoeD_ reducing the Rats lead to just six points, before goals from Nunez, SarahSmiles and LukeParkerno1 extended the Swamprats lead to 26 points at the final change. The Warriors offered little resistance in the last quarter, while an early goal from chelseacarlton kept the margin at 25 points, three late goals from the Rats extended the final winning margin to 47 points.

Sin City Swamprats: 16. 16. (112)
Coney Island Warriors: 9. 11. (65)

Leading Goalkickers: GremioPower 4 Sparkle 2, LukeParkerno1 2, Rich the babe Evans 2, Nunez 2

Leading Disposals: haydo 28, Rich the babe Evans 24

Votes:

haydo 25
Nunez 17
Rich the Babe Evans 12
GremioPower 6
ant555 4
Sparkle 3
edgie 3
GotTheGoodes 2
Far Kern 2
Firestarter 1

 

[philreich]

Round 6 v Bombers by GremioPower

Before the match, only one win separated the third-place Rats and the eighth-place Bombers. Both teams had started the season with two losses, but had been recovering ground since. They both had won their previous matches, and the game in a cloudy Sin City was perfect for a thriller!

The first quarter was wild, with both teams quickly switching momentum. The Bombers stroke first, but right after the 10’ mark, the Rats had leveled the score. Then, the sides exchanged scores before the home club taking a two-goal lead. However, TheCoach16 scored a major when the siren was about to sound. At QT, Sin City was up by merely 6 points. (SCS 32-26 BOM)

Bar a late goal by Quadzilla, the second term was all Baghdad’s. The visitors took control of the match, while the Rats couldn’t kick the ball straight in those rare moments they had a chance to score. Led by CALL ME SNAKE, the Bombers went to halftime three goals in front. (SCS 41-59 BOM)

During Q3, though, the tide changed. It wasn’t that the Bombers stopped playing well, because they didn’t, but Sin City raised their level of play up to a point the visitors simply couldn’t match. Baghdad kicked a respectful 3.2:20 score, but its defence wasn’t able to stop the Rats’ advances. Moreover, it seemed that, during the main break, SarahSmiles had decided that the Rats wouldn’t lose. He scored 3 of Sin City’s 6 majors of the frame, which, combined with 6 behinds more, have put the homers on top at 3QT. (SCS 83-79 BOM)

The last term also witnessed the Rats a class above their opponents. The Bombers managed to regain the lead at the beginning through SammaGilberto, but soon Sin City took over the match’s reigns. Two more goals from Sarah sealed the game for good. @Sparkle’s goal in the end only helped the Rats improving their percentage. Final score: SCS 103-88 BOM.

Votes:

Nunez 22
ant555 19
SarahSmiles 12
MannumPower 8
GotTheGoodes 6
Ant Bear 5
edgie 2
projectv 1

 

[philreich]

Round 7 v Wonders by jackster83

After a solid win against the Roys, the third place Rats could have been forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief seeing the lowly Wonders as the next opponent on their fixture. However, the history between the two sides meant that this was never going to be the case, particularly with the SFA’s Supreme Chairman returning to the Rats after a stint destroying playing for the Wonders.

Fittingly it was Ant Bear who had the first touch of the game, as the Rats drew first blood. An error-riddled first term saw the Wonders up by a solitary point at the first break. LukeParkerno1 put the Rats ahead early in the second term, before inexplicably being benched straight away. Apparently shouting “fu** the Wonders” is not an acceptable goal celebration. He was to come back on the ground a short time later, before another outburst saw him dragged once again. The Wonders then piled on three straight goals before the Rats hit back through GremioPower, SarahSmiles and a hot under the collar LukeParkerno1. At the half time siren, the reigning champions were up by two points.

Some scrappy qootball at the start of the third term saw nearly 10 minutes elapse without any goals scored before Firestarter finally split the middle. A huge mark taken by Bonz left an imprint of his boot in projectv's neck, before a rare piece of run and carry from jackster83 resulted in another SarahSmiles goal. By the final change, the Rats had added another two goals to extend their lead to 19 points. The Wonders tried to hit back early in the final term, but four straight behinds put paid to any chance they had to apply scoreboard pressure. The Rats then responded with goals to star players SarahSmiles, ant555 and Firestarter before the floodgates opened.

The final score was West Coast Wonders 9.10 (64) def by Sin City Swamprats 18.10 (118)

SarahSmiles finished with 6.2, while Firestarter booted 5.1, while GotTheGoodes, Ant Bear and ant555 were all dominant in the midfield.

It was also to be @haydo’s last game in a Swamprats jumper, with the enigmatic wingman requesting a mid-season trade to the Wonders shortly afterwards.

Votes:

Firestarter 22
Ant Bear 21
ant555 8
SarahSmiles 8
Sparkle 8
GotTheGoodes 7
Far Kern 1

 

[philreich]

Round 8 v Roys by Sparkle

Both the Rats and the Roys entered their Match of the Round clash in Round 8 with 5-2 record and only one game inside the top eight, although in an unusually close SFA season the Rats were leading the league while the Roys were sixth. The Rats had won their past five matches, while the Roys had won their last two.

The Roys were absolutely in absolutely scintillating form as the match began and in reality, the positions of the two teams on the ladder should’ve been switched. Three goals to Allikat extended the lead to a high of 32 points, before a goal on the stroke of quarter time through Sparkle gave the Rats a glimmer of hope at the first change. However, there would be no reprieve early on and the Roys continued to pile on the pain, @RU_’s goal extended the lead to 33 points, and while this was quickly met with a reply from SarahSmiles, Allikat responded with their fourth goal just as quickly. The Roys might’ve felt they were home with such a strong lead, but the Rats rallied and with @GremioPower’s goal the margin was just three points, a late goal to Runk brought the margin to nine points at half time.

Neither team was able to take advantage throughout most of the third quarter with the teams trading scores, however the Rats continued to chip away at the margin. The Roys lead was just one point late in the quarter when Firestarter kicked a goal, the Rats taking the five-point lead (their first of the match) into the three-quarter time break. Almost immediately after the resumption of play, Firestarter kicked another goal and the Rats were in front by 11 points. The lead changed hands multiple times throughout the early stages of the last quarter, SarahSmiles goal ten minutes into the quarter the only goal for ten minutes, until GremioPower came to the fore with two goals in two minutes, the Rats winning by 16 points, and in doing so completing a 49-point turnaround.

Roys FFC: 12. 8. (80)
Sin City Swamprats: 15. 6. (96)

Leading Goalkickers: SarahSmiles 6, GremioPower 3

Leading Disposals: Nunez 26, Ant Bear 20, ant555 20

Votes:

Ant Bear 22
Nunez 20
SarahSmiles 11
ant555 10
Firestarter 10
sataris 1
edgie 1

 

[haydo]

Has haydo turned up yet, and if so, how many shots has he had?

Woooo I’m here

 

[philreich]

Top 5 after round 8:

ant555 116
Nunez 94
SarahSmiles 66
Ant Bear 56
GotTheGoodes 53

 

[ant555]

This has Mobbs medal written all over it

 

[serial_thrilla]

I'm here in the Dragons corner guys! serial_thrilla is here to

Yes. The Dragons corner.

 

[philreich]

Our next award for the evening is the Drazah medal, named after our fallen team mate (jackster83's brother ), who will forever remain in our hearts: gone, but never forgotten!!!!

The best of the bunch was undoubtedly projectv. He was our good luck charm for a large part of the season - he came into the side in round 3, and it may have been a coincidence, but his inclusion coincided with the start of our 9 game winning streak. So our success in season 30 can (at least in part) be attributed to projectv's presence - at least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

So congratulations projectv - you are the Drazah medallist for season 30. We're sad to see you leave the club, but we fully understand that real life is more important than a fantasy league. We'd love to have you back at The Underground one day.

 

[PMBangers]

Our next award for the evening is the Drazah medal, named after our fallen team mate (jackster83's brother ), who will forever remain in our hearts: gone, but never forgotten!!!!

The best of the bunch was undoubtedly projectv. He was our good luck charm for a large part of the season - he came into the side in round 3, and it may have been a coincidence, but his inclusion coincided with the start of our 9 game winning streak. So our success in season 30 can (at least in part) be attributed to projectv's presence - at least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

So congratulations projectv - you are the Drazah medallist for season 30. We're sad to see you leave the club, but we fully understand that real life is more important than a fantasy league. We'd love to have you back at The Underground one day.

projectv You were certainly the most under rated rookie league wide, I very much enjoyed our interactions, hope to see you back some time

 

[serial_thrilla]

Chipmunk - what are the odds for an ant555 win here?

 

[philreich]

Back to the count:

Round 9 v Demons by Sparkle

The Rats remained on top of the Sweet FA ladder after pulling off a great escape against the Roys in Round 8, while the Demons had the same amount of scoring shots as the Bombers but lost by 25 points in a low-scoring match. The Rats were on a six-game winning streak after losing their first two matches of the season, while the Demons had lost two of their last three. This was the first meeting between the Rats and the Demons since the Season 29 Grand Final, where the Rats were victorious by one point.

It was a low-scoring opening to the match at the Underground Stadium, the Rats kicking three of the first four goals through GremioPower, Sparkle and Ant Bear before a late major from Callums_Guns reduced the home sides lead to six points at the first change. An early onslaught from the Rats began the second quarter and the lead was extended to 22 points before Tarkyn_24 and Proper Gander rallied for the Demons and ensured the lead was kept to 15 points at half time.

Toump Ass and Proper Gander started the third quarter in fantastic form for the Demons with two quick goals to bring the margin back to four points before the Rats steadied once again, @Wojcinski’s goal pushed the lead back to 23 points before another late goal, this time from jmoo wan reduced the lead to 17 points at the final change. In a seesawing final quarter, the Demons began to take control of the match and in a frenetic opening portion of the quarter, a goal from cooney put the Demons in front for the first time in the match. It wouldn’t last, the Rats replying through MannumPower and Wojcinski and surviving a scare from Tarkyn_24 to win by two points.

Sin City Swamprats: 12. 10. (82)
Mount Buller Demons: 12. 8. (80)

Leading Goalkickers: SarahSmiles 3, Wojcinski 2, GremioPower 2

Leading Disposals: GotTheGoodes 22, sataris 21

Votes:

ant555 17
sataris 14
Ant Bear 11
GotTheGoodes 10
Rich the Babe Evans 8
Nunez 6
jackster83 4
Wojcinski 3
Sparkle 2

 

[philreich]

Round 10 v Bears by jackster83

The reigning champs had now registered seven wins on the trot, which saw #yearoftherat trending on Qwitter. Next up was their next door neighbours, the Las Vegas Bears, a side coming off three consecutive losses and desperate to claw back some momentum. As always, the usual suspects in xenxen, Millky95 and MWPP were chirpy leading into the game.

A poor start saw the Bears kick the first two goals of the game, before sataris produced a long torpedo goal worthy of going on the highlights reel. MannumPower was seeing stars thanks to a brutal hit by tony, before Firestarter put the Rats narrowly ahead. At quarter time, the Rats were leading 2.3 (15) to 2.2 (14). The second term started in unspectacular fashion with no scores for some time. jackster83 vented his frustrations on Millky95, and sataris took out Muddiemoose, which led to SarahSmiles finally breaking the goalscoring deadlock. The rest of the quarter played out in similar fashion, with the Rats going in to the main break leading 3.6 (24) to 2.3 (15).

Two early goals to the Bears in the third term saw them take the lead, until GremioPower replied before hurling a barrage of abuse at the opposition cheer squad. One more goal to each side saw the Bears take the narrowest of margins into the last term. The Bears quickly added another six pointer to their score at the start of the last term, while the Rats could not hit the side of a barn, scoring four consecutive behinds. Finally LukeParkerno1 managed to split the middle, before Matera92 replied almost immediately for the Bears. With their supporters starting to get restless, the Rats rallied, piling on three consecutive goals within 60 seconds, which was enough for the Rats to record their eight consecutive victory.

The final score was Las Vegas Bears 8.9 (57) def by Sin City Swamprats 10.12 (72)

Votes:

sataris 23
Nunez 17
Ant Bear 12
GotTheGoodes 10
Firestarter 9
akkaps 2
philreich 1
GremioPower 1

 

[serial_thrilla]

projectv You were certainly the most under rated rookie league wide, I very much enjoyed our interactions, hope to see you back some time

Who was the most overrated rookie in S30?