Summer

[justabaraker]

Big day at Purser today. I would have given BOG to Beehag who has a deceptively big massive tank. Ran and ran out of the back half and kept the evergreen Emery within limits too.
shame he couldn't find a place in the Team of the Year, but Mikey Carroll had the FB spot locked in, as Veale had CHB locked (hey, is he a true CHB or did they just have to find a spot for him ?).

But my true winners were the ECE club - more helpers than our club could dream of...in the canteen, operating the BBQ, moving around the ground and doing the hard little bits. Still working on getting it right on-field but I'm always impressed by the band of helpers.
Good luck to you all

[Norris Lurker]

I was there earlier in the day. East Coast did a great job as finals hos; a well run canteen.

And so we move to the big games at Blacktown on Saturday. North Shore and Manly for the second year in a row, with the Wolves being minor premiers but the Bombers getting first into the Grand Final while Manly had to come from behind to beat UNSW-ES.
Should be a cracker, but I'm tipping North Shore to do the double and take both Premier Division titles.

[justabaraker]

Well done to North Shore on winning bigtime yesterday in ones and women's.
It was their runners who did the damage, though I thought Loone in defence was fantastic too. Manly's Behagg was fantastic as a kind of running defender - got a deceptively big tank that gets him up and down the ground all day. At quarter time the Bombers coach instructed his charges to 'let 'em have the wings and flanks' and that held the Bombers in good stead, especially in the third quarter when Manly's defence went wide again and again, only to come unstuck when they tried to bring it inboard upfield to be met by brickwall after brickwall,

I didn't stay to hear who got the Rod Podbury but I expect it was a Bomber's small mid.

The Eastern Bulldogs canteen was a bit disappointing - egg & bacon rolls, hot chippies, souvaki, bag of lollies and that was about it - what happened to the good old days in Adelaide where there was no substitute for a pie floater ! I was tempted by the souvlaki (which sounded interesting) but I saw too many of them end up all over the deck....really guys,you need it wrapped in silver foil in the best Middle Eastern tradition, or at least on a plate to catch the spillage.
By half time (5pm or so) the food had pretty much run out - no potato chips, no bbq, no souvlaki..and there was still a half of footy to go ! ..
I say, bring back ECE - the best canteen in Sydney footy, year after year..

Good work to Norris for holding our forum together this year under difficult circumstances. and good to see you there yesterday to see your club's success - on all three legs

[Norris Lurker]

Certainly, enjoyed every minute of being there after last year, when I was following on the Streamer feed from a hospital bed. It was a historic day - I can't recall when was the last time a team won both Mens & Womens Prems in the same season.
Extraordinary effort by the Baby Bombers in the Womens Prems. 13 of that team qualify for Under 20s, but they had the maturity to stand up when the game was there to be won.
And in the Mens, only a kick in it at half time but an outstanding second half by the Bombers. Fraser Thurlow best on ground for the second year in a row, a dominant effort in the ruck. I was expecting Nick Pavlou or Ned Campbell to be called as the Podbury Medal winner, they were both outstanding. Matt Buskariol definitely gets the gong for the best goal celebration when he high-fived about 30 spectators after the last goal.
An extraordinary club performance, several years in the making by some extraordinary people; none more so than John Goode. The work he does to make a 14-team club function is never-ending; and somehow, he manages to hold down a full-time job as well. North Shore is in a fortunate position of having a number of great people; the success they've had doesn't just happen. It raises the bar, but clubs will step up and respond - we've seen that with Manly, who were struggling a few years ago but are genuine contenders now.

[Norris Lurker]

A few rule changes, it will be interesting to see how that works in our league.
The lassoo for out of bounds is a no-brainer, which eliminates the need for deliberate out-of-bounds calls. Will certainly speed things up, particularly in lower divisions where there's no time-on, no boundary umpires and where club umpires can be reluctant to make deliberate calls. The only surprising thing is that we weren't already playing the lassoo rule in Womens Prems.

[justabaraker]

Norris, any other rule changes ?

[Norris Lurker]

Rucks no longer need to nominate before a ball-up; although only one person can go for the hit-out. I don't think that will have a significant impact.
There's a couple of other changes, but they are minor; like 6-6-6 no longer requires someone to be in the goal square.

[justabaraker]

I was down at Gore Hill and saw the girls going hard in the early pre-season.
They look scary already

[Norris Lurker]

I was down at Gore Hill and saw the girls going hard in the early pre-season.
They look scary already

They had a couple drafted by the Giants this week.