Official Team Thread S35 – Alberton Qootball Club, the Sin City Swamprats ["What have the Romans ever done for us?"] - Congrats GremioPower Toots medal winner!!!

[philreich]

Round 8 v Wonders by philreich

The Wonders started the round in 10th place – just 3 spots above us, so after taking care of the Bears, we fancied our chances of securing back to back wins.

We started superbly, booting 7 goals to 3 – we went to quarter time with a 23 point lead, and things were looking rosy.

¼ time: Wonders 3:3 (21) to Swamprats 7:2 (44)

The home side started to get their act together in the second stanza, adding 5 goals, while we were a bit wayward with 3:5. But we still led by 14 points at the long break.

½ time: Wonders 8:5 (53) to Swamprats 10:7 (67)

The Wonders slammed on 7 goals to our 2 in the 3rd, as a 14 point lead became a 15 point deficit with a quarter to play.

¾ time: Wonders 15:8 (98) to Swamprats 12:11 (83)

Ticky009 scored the first goal of the last quarter, to reduce the margin to just 9 points. But it all fell apart from there, as the Wonders piled on another 7 goals to blow the final margin out to 47 points. What had started so promisingly became a bit of a disaster in the end.

Full time: Wonders 22:16 (148) to Swamprats 15:11 (101)

GremioPower continued his stellar season in the ruck with 21 possessions and 15 hit outs, in an otherwise dirty day for the Rats.

Votes:

Grav 13
Spookism 12
Okeydoke7 8
GremioPower 7
Ant Bear 5
TheDarkDwarf 5
Philreich 4
GotTheGoodes 3
Power Raid 2
BloodySwan 1

 

[philreich]

Round 9 v Old Boys by philreich

With half the season gone, and only 2 wins to show for our efforts, we now found ourselves in “must win” territory. We visited Spotswood Oval for the second time to meet the Old Boys (we still haven’t played them at The Underground – hopefully that changes this season!!!). They were sitting in 9th spot, so they weren’t exactly firing on all cylinders themselves.

We started slowly – the Old Boys began the game with 5 goals to our 3, to take a 10 point lead into the first change.

¼ time: Old Boys 5:2 (32) to Swamprats 3:4 (22)

The second quarter was fairly even. We closed to within 5 points late in the term, before 2 late goals to the home side blew the margin out to 17 at the long break.

½ time: Old Boys 9:4 (58) to Swamprats 6:5 (41)

Frustratingly, we simply couldn’t narrow the gap after half time – we only scored 2 goals, as the margin grew to 25 points with a quarter to play.

¾ time: Old Boys 12:6 (78) to Swamprats 8:5 (53)

As she did a week earlier, Ticky009 gave us hope with the first goal of the last quarter. But unfortunately, that was as good as it got for us – the game was pretty even after that, as we went down in the end by 20 points. The mood in the dressing room was a rather sombre one, as we contemplated another season without finals: unless we could stage a remarkable form reversal in the last 7 games.

Full time: Old Boys 15:9 (99) to Swamprats 12:7 (79)

Votes:

Power Raid 18
Grav 14
Ant555 8
BloodySwan 6
Philreich 5
Okeydoke7 3
GremioPower 3
Jackster83 2
Ticky009 1

 

[philreich]

Round 10 v Furies by philreich

Astonishingly, we were on the road for the 5th straight week – we had almost forgotten what it was like to play in front of our home crowd!!! We were up against the ladder-leading Furies, so on paper at least, we had our work cut out for us to keep our season on life support.

We started brightly, but would have struggled to hit the Great Wall of China with a machine gun – such was our inaccuracy in front of the big sticks. Would those misses come back to bite us in the end?

¼ time: Furies 2:1 (13) to Swamprats 2:5 (17)

A tight second quarter saw the lead grow by a point. It was the sort of quarter you’d like to replay for your mother in law if you don’t like her.

½ time: Furies 4:2 (26) to Swamprats 4:7 (31)

Whatever the coach said at the long break, it must have paid dividends, because we piled on 6 goals to 3, to turn for home with a 22 point lead. We couldn’t lose from here…..or could we?

¾ time: Furies 7:4 (46) to Swamprats 10:8 (68)

An early goal to okeydoke7 blew the margin out to 29 points, and we looked home for all money. But then I reckon the bar looked a bit too attractive, because we suddenly went missing in a big way. The Furies went on a scoring spree, adding 6:6 to a solitary goal, as we limped to a costly 7 point loss – to all but end our season.

Full time: Furies 13:10 (88) to Swamprats 12:9 (81)

Votes:

Ant555 15
Power Raid 10
Kennedy Parker 9
GremioPower 7
Okeydoke7 5
Philreich 4
GotTheGoodes 4
Jackster83 3
Grav 1
Firestarter 1
Darthmann 1

 

[Grav]

Hey Phil, where are all the boys, not watching the cricket surely?

 

[philreich]

Leaderboard after round 10:

Grav 88
okeydoke7 76
GremioPower 65
philreich 62
Power Raid 57

Can FORMER Rat (he's moved to the Bombers) Grav sign off with a Toots Hibbert medal???? Stay tuned.............

 

[philreich]

Hey Phil, where are all the boys, not watching the cricket surely?

Not sure - I'm fairly certain nobody was thread banned............

 

[Kennedy Parker]

We will now award the Groove Medal, to recognise our leading goal kicker for season 35. No prizes for guessing that the gong goes to okeydoke7, who steered through 51 goals. Pity it wasn't 53, as it would have put the 1000 goal discussion to bed once and for all. But well done to okey on a great season.

A real indictment of our forward line is the fact that the second highest goal scorer was Dominic03 (Dewyyyyy) with 23, and he ain't even playing this season - he's retired. It was basically okey or nobody for much of the season, so hopefully we find several avenues to goal in the season ahead.

okeydoke7 had a solid season up until Round 8.

 

[philreich]

Before we conclude the count, it's my pleasure to award my final captain's award to the incoming skipper, jackster83. Jackster has been a stalwart of the club for many seasons, and has faithfully taken care of the team stats and numerous media threads (among other things), while I've been busy stuffing up team sheets.

He's also getting this award to butter him up, because I'm hoping to move to full forward this season after smashing it in that position in the state of origin series, so maybe being nice to him will convince him.........

 

[philreich]

Time to conclude the count!!!

 

[Grav]

Before we conclude the count, it's my pleasure to award my final captain's award to the incoming skipper, jackster83. Jackster has been a stalwart of the club for many seasons, and has faithfully taken care of the team stats and numerous media threads (among other things), while I've been busy stuffing up team sheets.

He's also getting this award to butter him up, because I'm hoping to move to full forward this season after smashing it in that position in the state of origin series, so maybe being nice to him will convince him.........

Congratulations jackster83 a worthy winner indeed, good luck in the up coming season.

 

[philreich]

Round 11 v Gumbies by okeydoke7

In round 11 the Swamprats faced off against the team nobody cares about - the Gumbies.

The 11 page mundane match thread couldn’t come to an end quickly enough, as paint dried, causing much excitement.

The game itself lived up to the lack of hype. The Rats took a narrow lead into the half time break, were down by just a goal at 3/4 time and managed to lose by a comfortable and uneventful 19 points.

Nobody was good.

Spookism had 26 possessions and 2 goals in an attempt to show some spirit, which must be respected. BloodySwan laid 4 tackles - somebody had to.

Ant555’s 7 frees for caused some excitement, but it was short lived. The futility of the season was laid bare in this mediocre contest.

Votes:

Spookism 15
Power Raid 13
BloodySwan 10
Grav 5
Firestarter 5
Ant555 4
Jackster83 4
Philreich 3
TheDarkDwarf 1

 

[philreich]

Round 12 v the bye by okeydoke7

This week, we played the Bye. Still more entertaining than the Gumbies.

 

[philreich]

Round 13 v Warriors by okeydoke7

Round 13 saw us compete against the Warriors. In a stunning finish, the Swamprats piled on NINE GOALS FIVE in the last quarter - still losing by 9 points.

It was the okeydoke7 show in the second half as he got on the end of a few, but that was after a pathetic first half in which he didn’t touch the ball.

It was an even performance, with Kennedy Parker amassing 14 kicks in his 24 possessions, certainly among the best for the losing side. Any Bear’s 11 kicks (26 possessions) was also essential in the comeback.

Though the Rats took heart from the fight back, falling agonisingly short once more was a nail in the season’s coffin.

Votes:

Kennedy Parker 14
Ant Bear 11
GremioPower 10
Philreich 6
Grav 5
Okeydoke7 4
Jackster83 4
Ant555 2
KinderSmock 2
Firestarter 1
BloodySwan 1

 

[philreich]

Round 14 v the bye by okeydoke7

In Round 14, we faced the bye AGAIN! Still better than that Gumbies thread. Stupid fixturing. Fix it KP.

 

[philreich]

Round 15 v Royals by BloodySwan

BloodySwan and philreich put out all the stops against the Royals. In spite of their best efforts cadsky put in a Judd like performance, bringing their team home.

(he's a man of few words, is our BloodySwan )

Votes:

GremioPower 15
Ant Bear 10
GotTheGoodes 7
Grav 6
BloodySwan 5
Philreich 4
Firestarter 4
Jackster83 3
Spookism 3
kinderSmock 2
okeydoke7 1

 

[philreich]

Round 16 v Roys by BloodySwan

With the season on the line philreich put in an absolute blinder, with our captain leading us to a commanding victory.

Votes:

Power Raid 15
GremioPower 12
Spookism 6
Grav 5
Philreich 4
Ant555 4
GotTheGoodes 4
Kennedy Parker 3
Ticky009 3
Jackster83 2
Firestarter 1
BloodySwan 1

 

[philreich]

Round 17 v Demons by BloodySwan

In a make or break match the Swamprats did everything they could to avoid the spoon. The demons posters commanded the midfield but a strong defensive effort lead by Kennedy Parker and okeydoke7 did enough to keep the Swamprats off the bottom of the table.

Votes:

GremioPower 12
Ant555 12
KinderSmock 12
Ant Bear 6
Kennedy Parker 5
Okeydoke7 4
Philreich 3
TheDarkDwarf 3
Jackster83 2
Power Raid 1

 

[philreich]

Round 18 v Bears by BloodySwan

This is the match, the legendary okeydoke7 is going to kick his 1000th goal. Getting off to an absolute blinder he is everywhere, posting all over the shop and at many stages counted for more than half of the thread. In a game which appeared to be okeydoke7 verses the world, okey was destined to kick 1000 goals and write himself into the history books.

Except okey got benched after kicking 2 goals! One must assume okey did something seriously wrong to the board of the swamprats to be punished this way.

Kennedy Parker and philreich also did everything in their power to get okey to 1000 goals, keeping the thread moving forward but unfortunately it wasn't enough.

Votes:

GremioPower 15
Firestarter 11
Power Raid 9
Grav 7
Okeydoke7 5
Kennedy Parker 4
Philreich 3
Jackster83 2
RPCB 2
Ant555 1
BloodySwan 1

 

[philreich]

Final leaderboard:

GremioPower 129
Grav 116
Power Raid 95
okeydoke7 90
philreich 85

It is with great pleasure that I announce that GremioPower has won his second straight Toots Hibbert Medal - a feat that occurs about as often as the Wonders win flags in the modern era, or maybe about as often as the Warriors make the big dance. A sincere congratulations GP - a very well deserved honour.

Well that just about concludes tonight's festivities - it's now time to return to the TV, to watch Australia drop even more catches. Bring on the new season - it promises to be an exciting one.

 

[BloodySwan]

Congratulations GremioPower on an awesome season! Very well deserved and I hope you rested up as we'll need you at your best for Season 36 in just a few weeks!

 

[Sun Ra]

Well done Grav ! Sorry for your loss Rats !

 

[Grav]

Congratulations GremioPower thoroughly deserved award, you have been the backbone of the team for a couple of seasons & it’s great to see you get rewarded, well done.

 

[Kennedy Parker]

Congratulations GremioPower, another stellar season in the ruck

 

[jackster83]

Round 12 v the bye by okeydoke7

This week, we played the Bye. Still more entertaining than the Gumbies.

At least we didn't lose to them, despite our best efforts.

 

[jackster83]

Final leaderboard:

GremioPower 129
Grav 116
Power Raid 95
okeydoke7 90
philreich 85

It is with great pleasure that I announce that GremioPower has won his second straight Toots Hibbert Medal - a feat that occurs about as often as the Wonders win flags in the modern era, or maybe about as often as the Warriors make the big dance. A sincere congratulations GP - a very well deserved honour.

Well that just about concludes tonight's festivities - it's now time to return to the TV, to watch Australia drop even more catches. Bring on the new season - it promises to be an exciting one.

Apologies, I was up at my footy club with no phone reception.

Congratulations GremioPower!

We'll deserved and let's see if you can make it a hat trick in season 36.