Central Blues Australian Football Club

It was another rough weekend as the Central Blues fielded an inexperienced lineup against the Toronto Rebels. Although courage and endeavor was found in their rookies, bad luck around goal and one quarter of poor footy resulted in a 87-39 loss.

The Blues had topped the likely 2011 wooden spoon Rebels by 39 points four weeks prior, but both clubs were fielding radically different sides in this round 13. While the Rebels found themselves as full force as they've been all season, the Navy Blues were undermanned due to six of their top Canadians still in Australia representing Northwind for the International Cup. Additional local veteran outs again opened up opportunities for those new to the game to step up and make their mark on the club. Out of the 24 dressed, a total of 11 rookies were named on the gamesheet including four debuts. Central Blues original gangster Rob "Bulldog" Barker also made a cameo appearance for his first run and puff of the year as he's on a break from his Canadian Navy stint.

The opening quarter found an even contest with both sides going hard at the ball. Riley "Vossy" Armstrong jumped back into the side as a rover, winning a handful of centre clearances in the term that he followed with penetrating forward 50 kicks. Player-coach Dan "D2" Lock hit first on the scoreboard, sniping a short boundary throw-in just to the left of goals and then threaded the needle through. Daniel "Willsy" Wills started up front to generate movement in the forward line and maybe take a crack at the team's goalkicking lead. His chase was rewarded when a Rebels defender was pinging for throwing the ball under pressure 40m out which Willsy in return booted through the sticks, just beyond an outstretched Rebels fist.

Quartertime had the Blues down a goal and competing well across the ground. First gamers Brent "Biebs" Bogucki, Mark "Weedo" Weeden, Andrei "Drei" Neagoie, and Adam Despres were attacking the pill without hesitation and using their athleticism to get a few touches and make the Rebels accountable. The lone Blues goal in the second occurred when Vossy cut off a midfield kick and quickly volleyed it back for a contested mark to Drei 20m out. Just 30 minutes into his first crack at AFL, Drei unselfishly had the instinct to handball to a running through Arnaud "Toby" Marthouret whom then converted under pressure. Unfortunately more than a handful of other chances went for behinds or out on the full while the Rebels exposed a raw Blues backline to take uncontested marks and convert five majors of their own. With the Rebels pulling away, it was required to man-up tighter on a well-positioned veteran opposition.

At the long break, it was discovered the chronic knee problem in team leading goalkicker Damien "Damo" McDonald's dominant kicking leg had reared its ugly head after a grueling 2011 home/away; this would knock him to the sidelines for rest of the game and likely for the season. This weakened structures up front with his half-forward absense meaning the elimination of an experienced midfield link since Dan "D-Train" Zimmerman was at half-back or on-ball taking care of constant Rebels' threat Morgan "Morgs" King. In the third, much ball movement ended up flirting around Blues' defense but they only had two more goals added onto the scoreboard deficit at three quartertime. Dave "Fritzy" Whittington, eight games to his name, anchored the backline with spoiling fists and rebounding kickouts usually handled by vets Bruce Parker and Steve "Snorkel" Rutledge. His aerial antics had him named Top Contributor on the day.

A worrying occurrence in the third had Vossy's head over the ball rewarded with a Rebels' hip to the head that had him dazed at groundlevel for minutes after a whistled time-on. The Rebels player would receive a yellow card for the quarter and it's fairly unexplainable how he wasn't reported for intentional head-high contact. Does the OAFL protect players going for the footy or is that ruling poppycock? Vossy bravely attempted a final term return but retreated back to the sidelines soon after having already put up a Best on Ground performance.

The fourth still had both sides about even at scoring shots, but wayward Blue boots killed any chance at a comeback after five posts were struck on set shots during the four quarter journey. One more goal would be tallied when D2 marked outside top of the 50m arc and moved it on quickly to Derek "George" MacDonald leading out right, whom kicked a 35m set shot true. Even going down 13.9.87 - 4.15.39, the Blues were still having fun when a last minute headturner saw first gamer Bogucki unexpectedly enter a half-forward contest from the side to take the Blues' mark of the day. His endeavor on offense and defense along with his mate Drei had both named in the game's best for inspired Blues debuts.

Blues Best: Riley Armstrong, Andrei Neagoie, Daniel Wills, Dave Whittington, Brent Bogucki, Dan Lock
Blues Goals: Derek MacDonald, Arnaud Marthouret, Dan Lock, Daniel Wills
Match Day Staff: Richard Jenner, Bruce Parker

Gamesheet

Photo credit: Rob Colburn