The 2004 Season burst into life on Friday March 12 with all eight teams playing at 8.30pm, and weren't there some shocks in store! Please note I would always be happy to receive detailed game reports from people from the other teams, and will add to the wrap each week if you email them to me at oz_bat@hotmail.com!
Arana could hardly have started the season in worse fashion, when, after a heavy shower greeted the opening whistle, they dropped the ball from the kickoff and Souths five-eight scored a try without a hand being laid on him from the ensuing scrum! However it was to be another 52 minutes before the Magpies again breached the defence during which time Arana had piled on 38 points, including a spectacular hat-trick of tries from hooker Brendan (or "Snoz" as he is now known, after a training mishap on Wednesday). With Alex Jagers, whose face was padded up to make him look like the Elephant Man, they made a fearsome sight in the forward pack. Souths competed well for the first 20 minutes, but once Arana started hanging on to the ball, the Magpie defence started to weaken, however the final scoreline of 44-10 was not a true indication of the effort that the Souths players put in over the full 60 minutes. There was a number of positives out of the night for the Panthers - the competition debut of the country kids Alex J and Tom Whalley who both impressed, another non-stop performance, highlighted by a number of line breaks by Matt H, and the solid performances of Luke (centre) and Mitch (fullback) playing in new positions. A downside of the evening was the unfortunate broken collarbone suffered by Josh in a seemingly innocuous tackle early in the second half, as he was in great form and has seemingly added a metre of pace this year. Despite some poor handling in the first half, the team settled down to play some great football, and the work was shared around by the 18 players who took the field (and waterboy Zac) with everyone doing their job.
By the minute below now includes brief summary of how tries were scored:
By the minute:
1st min: Souths try/conv; Souths 6-0 (5/8 scores untouched from scrum in after Arana drop kickoff)
8th min: Rob try/Josh conv; 6-6 (Rob scores from close range after break by Matt on back of good run from Rodger)
12th min: Brendan try/Josh conv; Arana 12-6 (Brendan dives over from dummy half after sustained pressure)
22nd min: Matt try; Arana 16-6 (Matt scores wide out on 5th tackle after Arana held-up in goal and play ball - new rule!)
FIRST HALF STATS: Penalties: Arana 5-3; Completions: Arana 10/18 (55.6%); Souths 7/14 (50.0%)
33rd min: Brendan try/Luke conv; Arana 22-6 (Brendan scores from 20 metres out, wrong-footing defence from ptb)
38th min: Brendan try/Luke conv; Arana 28-6 (Brendan backs up down middle from great backline move)
46th min: Rodger try; Arana 32-6 (Alex T and Mitchell draw in defenders with Rodger dashing over in corner)
50th min: Dean try/Rob conv; Arana 38-6 (Dean follows through grubber from Geoff on 5th tackle)
53rd min: Souths try; Arana 38-10 (Hooker dives over from dummy half)
56th min: Alex T try/Rob conv; Arana 44-10 (Alex T dives on ball over line after Alex J toes it through on last)
SECOND HALF STATS: Penalties: Souths 2-0; Completions: Arana 9/15 (60.0%); Souths 6/11 (54.5%)
TOTAL STATS: Penalties: 5-5; Completions: Arana 19/33 (57.6%); Souths 13/25 (52.0%)
Tallowood Park hosted its first game of the season with the relocated Redlands team taking the field as Spring wood against a Norths side that really turned up to play. After the disruption of the off season, the home side never settled and, with halfback Jacob leading them round the field, Norths established a comfortable 24-10 lead at half-time. Springwood needed to improve their handling in the second stanza to be any chance, but under pressure from the Norths defence all night, they were unable to make any inroads with Norths running away with the game 40-16. Redlands never had 40 points scored against them in a game in the previous 3 years so this was a rude awakening in their new guise.
The game at Scott Park saw another competition record broken with Easts and Centenary scoring the lowest total points in a game since the start of U13s. Easts were the only team to trouble the scorer in the first half, leading 4-0 at the break after their physical style of play unsettled the Panthers, who had only had trials against lower grade teams. The Centenary boys knuckled down to the task in the sceond half and held the Tigers scoreless, however they could only manage 2 tries themselves, their 10 points equalling the lowest winning total in our comp's history as well. The 10-4 scoreline really indicated the toughness of the match, and certainly shows their will be no "easy days out" in the comp this year!
The final game of the night saw pre-season comp favourites (well "THE COMPUTERs" anyway) Logan Bros travel across the Houghton Highway to take on Redcliffe. All seemed to go to script in the first half, with the visitors setting up a 10-0 lead, although Redcliffe showed gimpses of what was to come with a try just after the break. Logan Bros skipped away again and looked to have the game safely in their keeping leading by 14 points halfway through the second half, however the Dolphins had other ideas and stormed home to score a surprise 24-20 victory, much to the delight of the local crowd.
The first round of the competition has really thrown up some surprises with both of last year grand finalists being beaten. This certainly augers well for a great competition this year. See you "Round the Grounds"!
Brad T
13/3/2004
