30th June 2007
Fun in the monsoon, but bare bones squad can't contain the Magpies
by Adam Bennett

Right from the word go, this was looking like just one of those days. A huge number of people unavailable through injury, absence and the ongoing giant squirrel hostage crisis meant that the Roos’ for the first time in memory, travelled to a game short of numbers. Oh, and the heavens opened about 5 minutes before kick off and turned the whole game into a massive “catch the bar of soap” challenge.

That being said, many thanks to the ‘Pies for lending us one of their many spares – never a nice situation to be in, but the lads battled hard for us. The Roos opened the scoring straight from the first bounce, with good work from Andy setting up Brent for the first goal. Amid hopeful shouts for full time, the boys set up again, and a suddenly awakened ‘Pies team started the game. Whilst not quite on the same level as the Raiders from last week, they’re a good outfit and improving fast, and the Roos were hard pressed to repel many of the early attacks, even with some heroic tackling in the middle from Andy, Brent and Jon, who had obviously picked today to get seriously stuck in, and was playing out of his skin. Another blow to the team when Jules, after an effort and half to get through uncooperative taxis and delayed tubes to get there, rolled an ankle badly in his second ruck and was forced to ‘hobble’ water for the rest of the fixture.

The rain made the pill very slippery and the Roos back line were lucky on a couple of occasions that the forwards couldn’t hold some decent balls in, but worked hard to clear up the resulting messes. Tim and Oli were blocking shot after shot, and up top Whits and debut man Steve were battling hard to give the ‘Pies backline no peace, but inevitably the goals started to tick over and a gap started to open.

In the second half, the effort was raised and the lads were throwing bodies on the line at every turn. Another debut man Nik was battling hard on the wing and Dan was coping well in an unfamiliar half back line, taking the ball out well. Ads was having a torrid time against a good full forward, and the points kept trickling through, though the hard work prevented a mounting score turning into a rout. The lads were incredibly committed at the ball, sliding through the mud to get there first on many occasions.

The fourth quarter saw Ads move into the ruck and Andy Whits back to plug some of the holes. One incident pretty much summed up the Roo’s day when, after good approach work saw Phil take a mark out wide, a great ball in found Timmy and Ads unmarked at the back post, but with tiring legs and minds there were no shouts, and the ball was fumbled as both went for it. Timmy then made amends with a very classy volley through from a low ball into the goal box.

At the end of the game, a disappointing result, but it swelled the heart to see the commitment that the lads put in, Brent and Ads had nothing but praise for the lads who made it through the monsoon. The game was probably one of the most fun that I’ve played in, with the total commitment from the team making the best of a bad situation a joy to behold, despite the numbers on a piece of board. Well done lads.

Hammersmith Magpies -
Reading Kangaroos -

Squad: Ads, Paul, Tim, Brent, Timmy, Nik, Steve, Jules, Andy, Whits, Phil, Jon, Sam, Dan, Wes (PM)