Quick Update

Just a quick update on a couple of things... been a bit slack lately and I apologise. Still wanna catch up with a couple of match updates that are missing as well but I'll get to that soon(ish) hopefully.

Firstly some not good news. My Dad went into hospital yesterday. He's been sick for a couple of days and has basically been bed ridden. Hasn't been eating or drinking much and was so dehydrated the GP sent him to the hospital when he went yesterday. He's been there ever since. Blood tests show a high increase in white blood cell counts indicating his body is attempting to fight some form of infection. He has undergone Cat Scans, Chest X-Rays and a Spinal Tap to attempt to isolate the infection. They at first believed it to be brain related. All tests have come back clear encouragingly but they admitted him last night for observation and also to diagnose further. So tests clear = good but still in hospital = not good. Am sure I will find out more today as things progress.

Secondly better news. The AFLQ are running a Division 3 Rep Game. Every club has been asked to nominate a few players for a training run with a chance to be selected for the Rep Game. I have been asked if I would be interested if the club was to nominate me. I have at this time said yes. Training Run is Monday with a match Friday night. It is a match against a Darling Downs Rep Team. Anyway would be pretty cool to have a chance at being selected and to see how that turns out.

I think that'll do for now. Currently stressing about my Dad, trying to get a bunch of work I don't want to do done by the end of the day (stop procrastinating Michael!!) and trying to figure out costume pick ups and training tonight.... more on the costumes later...

Rebirth of my Flickr.

Given I'm trying to get into photography and am now visiting a few photography forums I needed somewhere to host pics for sharing on those forums and getting assistance etc. I also wanted to keep this separate from my "happy snap" pics I use on Picasa. So my Flickr account experienced a rebirth.

On Saturday I went and watched our 2s and 1s play. I ran boundary and water for the 2s so didn't get a chance to take any pics. But for the 1s I took my first Aussie Rules pics with my new dSLR.

The best of them can be found here ---> Mick's Yeronga Photos

There are a couple on there that are a bit out of focus but I only put them up to tell a story to the boys at the club. Am sure you'll be able to see the two I'm talking about. I'll give you a hint they form a 2 shot action sequence of something that looks terrible when captured.

Anyway I think there are some nice pics in there... some of them turned out quite well I think. Would be happy for comments if you think there are things I could do better etc.

My Aussie Rules Rd #2 2008 Match Report

Well I'm getting lax in blogging again. Hope this blog doesn't just become Match Reports... but I have a sneaking suspicion it might just turn out that way for a while. Got so much stuff going on...

Round 2 of the 2008 Season rocked around and I was again selected to play 3rds. Again, not that much of a surprise, especially given my small input in Round 1. This time around we were scheduled to play Griffith Uni @ home on Friday night.

Going into the game I was fully aware of just how badly we got done the week before and also the fact that Griffith toweled us up in one of our two matches against them last year. On the flipside I was stoked as I was named @ Full Forward, and while Centre Half Forward is my dream position, I was thinking it was GOOOOOAAAALLLLL time.

Of course this wasn't to be. For the starting lineup I found myself @ CHF. The first quarter was largely a lead-a-thon for me. I lost track of just how many leads I performed. Needless to say I never got kicked the ball and each lead saw me spin and sprint back towards my CHF position to "reload". This made me at least feel like I was doing something even though I didn't get a touch. We performed better as a team overall and the first quarter intensity was a dramatic change from our weak as piss opening quarter last week. Also the 2s coach Gary (for those keeping track my 3rds coach last year) came up to me and said I was doing really well leading and then getting back to position when I didn't get it. So kudos to me for that.

I can't remember exactly where I played for each particular quarter but I ended up playing Full Forward for a while in one of the quarters. The ball got inside our 50 quite a few times while I was down there but never got clean hands on it for a shot on goal. A couple of memorable moments from that time involved a lead out from the goal square as the ball was coming inside 50 from the wing. I ended up in the pocket pressuring their defenders and trying to harass the ball back into our possession (from what I remember my lead was either ignored or it didn't make it to me). It went out mere metres from the behind post. I sprinted back to the goal line and after the ensuing boundary throw in the ball was popped towards the square. I propped myself against the Full Back (FB) and reached hands for the ball. Just as it was about to make my hands and give me a certain goal (I was still inside the goal square) a fist came over my shoulders and punched it away. Dang it!! Still good times...

Played CHF for most of the game only about a quarter @ FF. At one point I was standing completely clear about 30-35m out from goal on a 45ish degree angle and the ball got turned over to us on the wing about 25 metres from me. As our player ran I was screaming my lungs out for the ball and waving my arms. It took him what seemed like an eternity to notice me and then, without even looking at me, he popped it my way. I stood on the spot as it came towards me and a defender dropped in from outside my peripheral vision and intercepted the mark and took one of his own. I could hear the coach yelling from the coach's box about leading at the ball and sure enough the runner arrived seconds later.

In my defence he never once looked at me and I had given up on him kicking it to me so the pass caught me a bit by surprise. Having said that though I should have moved towards the ball and not just stood there and waiting for it to make it to me.

At one point I came off the bench and was told to run to CHF. As I sprinted on the ball was coming down the far wing. I sprinted straight across the 50m arc towards that wing before a defender could pick me up and took a mark. Turned and kicked it onto the leading FF and it was an accurate kick but another defender dropped into the space in front of our FF forcing him to have to prop and change direction to get around him. By this time the ball had already been marked by another defender. Which was a shame as it would have been awesome to come straight on, get an immediate mark and have an immediate impact on the scoreboard with an assist.

Not too many other personal highlights to report. Largely was a very frustrated man at the end of the game. Gaz came over and had a chat and asked me how I felt and I said "Physically I'm fine. I even feel like I could play another game. But I'm filthy at not having any impact and running around for a couple of hours and not feeling like I actually did anything". That night when trying to fall asleep I was still very frustrated and fleetingly thought of not bothering to play anymore... yes I was that frustrated. I was never actually going to give it away but the thought popped into my head which wasn't a good sign.

Basically we improved immensely as a team. We only got beaten by about 3.5-4 goals in the end and got screwed by one decision. A penalty was paid out of a marking contest on our defensive 50m arc. Noone was sure which way. Allegedly one umpire held out her arm indicating a Yeronga free kick. A Yeronga player played on and kicked it on. The other field umpire then ran over from furtherer away and paid a 50m penalty to them as it was their free kick. We were about 14 points down at that point and about 5 minutes into the last so that 50m penalty to the goal square and subsequent goal was a killer.

Awesome improvement by the team though especially given we were expecting a much greater challenge against Griffith who, last year, were a much tougher team than Jimboomba (who flogged us last week).

All in all I'm hoping to have more of an impact this weekend and have contemplated asking to play in defence so I can get my hands on the footy regularly for a change. Will keep you all updated...

My Aussie Rules Rd #1 2008 Match Report

This is the first of, hopefully, a season's worth of match reports for matches I play in throughout 2008. Figured I might as well give an update on how things are going more regularly since there appears to be some interest.

Going into Round #1 2008 I was unsure as to which team I would be selected for. Readers of this blog will know that it is my season aim to gain regular selection in the Reserves team by the end of this season. Predictably I was picked in the 3rds for Round #1. Even though I say "predictably" I was still slightly disappointed as it is an indication to some degree that I'm not where I want to be yet. Would love to have been a fly on the wall in the Reserves team selection meeting though to see if my name even came up...

Anyway so first match was up versus Jimboomba. Supposedly an away game for us by their ground was unuseable and it was rescheduled to a home game. Never went there last year either interestingly enough. That was due to drought issues though. Not sure what the deal is now.

The match was scheduled for a 6:30pm start on Saturday night meaning the club had a "Triple Header" with games from all three grades being hosted @ YFC on the same day. It was eventually moved to 5:30pm which was a lot better for everyone involved.

Starting the match I was named on a half forward flank but the structure we set up meant this meant little (refer to quick hack at an image below).



Basically this was to leave lots of space open and keep the key forwards free to roam.

The first half I rarely saw the ball enter our 50. And when it did it was rare to get a clean possession to one of our forwards. Basically we were getting spanked. No goals up to half time and I don't think I had a clean possession to this point. Was involved in a few scraps but not sure I had a clean disposal.

At half time our coach had to head off (this was planned) and my 3rds coach from last year (2nds coach this year) took over. He revamped our fwd structure back to a more tradition setup (again refer to image below).



Towards the end of the match, especially the last quarter, the ball was entering our forward line quite regularly. Played the 3rd quarter @ Centre Half Forward (CHF) and the 4th from Full Forward (FF).

We kicked 3 goals in the 2nd half and I think two of those were in the last to get some kind of score on the board. But were pumped overall 16.11 (107) to 3.7 (25).

On a personal front the 2nd half was a bit better. The last quarter specifically. Got onto some long leads and took what I think was a great mark leading out from the goal square and marked just before the 50m arc. Heaps of times got out in front of my opponent when @ FF. No goals though and only a handful of possessions.

The CHF quarter was ok with me getting on some long leads and basically running around. For a while I was so frustrated with their ability to gain a centre clearance I was sprinting into the middle after the bounce to try and help out. Tried it a few times unsuccessfully but finally got my hands on it... to my surprise though. Was stunned to get it, was about to get tackled, looked around for a red and black jersey, didn't see one and had to quickly handball off and tried to chase it up. They still got the clearance but I held it up for a little bit.

Ran out the game quite well in terms of fitness. Felt fine at the end of the game despite a fair amount of short spurts and running. At one point in the 2nd quarter I was just sprinting off mini leads, turning, sprinting off in another direction, stopping, spinning and sprinting off somewhere else again for a couple of minutes. Was quite fun actually and I like to think caused my opponent some headaches.

Anyway that should do for now. If you have specific questions on the match, really only think Ben might, let me know :)