Author: The Postman (Due to privacy concerns our reporter is not fearless and requests a nomdeplume)
Two and a half metres out from goal, Brohaska stands and takes the easiest of chest marks unopposed and barely a minute into the game. Calmly he walks back off the mark and puts it through for a solid behind. And that was the story for the day – Stu’s dominance and a litany of behinds.
For a change, the day begun under a blue sky and the introduction of a new change room was too much for some. However, once we lined up for the first bounce it was evident that Flash had taken no ill effects and he proceeded to be a nuisance to the Doha back men throughout the first half with his dodging and weaving, weaving and dodging routine. Stu also chipped in with some touches and goals.
Doha’s continued and annoying presence where the ball was saw them take a lead into quarter time. Supercoach wanted to see more Falcons first to the ball in the second quarter and an obvious lift was noted. BC came off second best in a spirited contest and saw more stars than an episode of You Can’t Do That On Television. One Falcon, particularly bereft of touches at this stage of the game, sprinted to his aid to relieve him of the kick. The second quarter saw a plethora of brilliant running goals that never were – the safest place to park your car for the day was directly behind the goals.
One Touch Brownstone was becoming evermore present in the forward arc taking some strong marks in front of his dark Johnny Depp eyes. With straighter kicking (some suggested he should just aim for the Crossbar) he could have demanded a paragraph to himself. Alas, I will go on to mention Trigs growing influence and radar like foot skills, and note that Stu chipped in with some touches and goals.
With Dan and Dev preying on good delivery from the back line the avenue to goal was opening up in the third term. Multiple majors were kicked by Dev and Woody as well as Mike Day kicking truly from a great piece of roving off a Falcons behind kick-in proving that direct gets results. Jim saved a certain goal in the Doha goal square with a great spoil and coolly walked away without the need to rub it into the Doha player – proving he still has a lot to learn about AFL. With the game in the balance, Will and Flippa were proving solid in defence and I saw Johnny O’s eyes light up when he found himself close enough to a Doha player hovering over the ball – you can guess the result. (He ran through him like a road train). Stu also chipped in with some touches and goals.
The last quarter saw a great team effort from the Falcons to wrap up the game with pressure and the ability to find forward targets. Dan picked it up another notch and Mick Molnar turned it on for the by now bulging crowd. Ash and debutant Gary Tracey showed that they have the poise to be great contributors for the team and Sammy added the pressure and spirit that the other Falcons thrive off. Stu also chipped in with some touches, some goals AND a megapunch. The final score line stood 13.22 – 100 to 8.9 – 57.
Doha applied great tackling pressure on the day and credit must go to them for the ability to find lone men on many occasions. However, the Falcons were better on the day. Stu was adjudged best afield on the day with other votes going to Dan and Mick. Three goals apiece went to Woody, Dev and Stu, two to Crossbar and singles to Flash and Trig.
Big thanks to Troy, (recovering from a knee injury), Scotty, Gus, Watto, Watto Jnr and others for their help on the day. Looking forward to the next game and a lot of goal kicking practise on a Monday.
The Gus Observations: Doha was able to stay in the game due to poor conversion by the Falcons. The final scoreline did not reflect the apparent closeness of the game. While there were no incidents, there was a bit of verbal between the teams. To say Doha were a bit lippy is like saying there is a bit of sand in the UAE or St Kilda have a bit of an image problem. For the most part, the Falcons stayed out if it, extending our fearless leader’s edict not to mouth off to the umpires to the opposition as well. Although, there’s not much you can say when you have missed your 12th relatively easy shot at goal…
About Russell Yule
Indogus is the alter ego of Russell Yule. He has retired more times than actually played games, although is completely retired now in order to live vicariously through his children's sporting proclivities. Given any available space in a conversation, he will regale you with boring stories about his exploits with the Bali Geckos or Abu Dhabi Falcons, of which he is extremely proud.
Leave a Comment