Pies Recapture Anzac Plate!

New York 7-7-49 def. Boston 5-2-32

After a disappointing 2001 against their archrivals, New York traveled to Boston for the fifth Anzac Plate contest and first ever North East League game. Despite missing their 2002 coach and seven starters from the 2001 Div 2 winning side, the Pies still had high hopes of victory, having brought a strong squad of 25, including several new US and Australian recruits.

Preparations for the game began early with a team meeting at the hotel. New York then traveled to and took the field as a team. After observing a minute silence before the game, in memory of the Anzacs, the Pies were raring to play.

Although the ground was one of the better played on by the Pies in recent times, the windy conditions made it tough. Kicking into the strong breeze for the first quarter the Pies were able to gain an early lead with a goal into the wind from new US recruit Neil Thaaker. The opportunity was conjured up by some good running in numbers and some quick thinking by Pies full forward and game captain Eric “Chucky” Kallhovd.

The Pies worked hard all over the ground to keep Boston scoreless with the wind until the 13 minute mark of the quarter. In the final 5 minutes of the quarter the Demons scored another 2 goals to go the first break by that margin.

The second quarter saw the Pies continue to work hard with the breeze, scoring four goals for the quarter. The half forward line of Simon “Cultural Attaché” Bell, Sean “Beeker” Keenan and Andrew O’Flaherty provided strong leading options, kept the forwardline open and worked hard to keep the ball in the Pies forward line.

The Pies continued to be first to the footy and to provide contests all around the ground. The team was being led through the endeavor and commitment being shown at ground level by Eric “Lerndog” Lerner, Andrew “Bubba” Bridges, Shane “Smitty” Smith, Simon “Limo” Walsh and Ojas “Juice” Desai. Relieved of the coaching duties he held in 2001, Brett “Bretta” Moorcroft played his best game for the Pies in a year and gave the team much of its drive out of the center for the first half.

The play of the quarter was also mark of the day from a hopelessly out of position Lerndog on the half back flank. A strong lead from full forward resulted in a mark by Chucky and a quick kick into the forward line which resulted in goal. Mark “Happy Birthday” Colella would have had mark of the day if he had only been able to hang onto his sensational leap on the full forward line.

Marginally up at half time and playing the better footy the Pies were realizing that they had a great chance to steal the Plate and take it back home.

The third quarter saw an inspired defensive effort by the team. Marshaled by big marking Tom Wilson at center half back the Pies were able to hold the Demons to one goal with the breeze. The Boston forward line was effectively shut down by James “Malaction” Malackey and Dan Koral, both of whom were playing out of their normal positions in the center of the ground. Campbell “Rockstar” Doughty, Chris McIntyre and Tom “Shocker” Thompson provided the ground support out of the backline.

With a reduced breeze in the final quarter the Pies knew that all they needed to do was to keep Boston from scoring to win the game. Not only was this achieved but Chucky was able to dob two goals in the final quarter to seal the win. One of them came from out of a bustling run through a pack by new US recruit Gary “Moses” Lerch. First gamer Tom “Buckets” Hayes also showed some promising signs on a half forward flank, after only one training session in Australian football, along with Jon McClelland.

The Pies were as committed at the final whistle as they were at the start of the game. With the Demons playmaker shadowed by Matt Barlaz in the final quarter, his performance effectively snuffed out any chance of a Boston revival. Using an ageing but nonetheless brutal Jeff Farnham in shot spurts off the bench worked well to rest the center players and provide Farnham with some crunching time. Surprise packet of the day was new recruit Sam “Puppetmaster” Reid, who after spending over three quarters on the bench, went out and shone on the half forward line in the last quarter.

For half of the second half of the match the Pies played with 10 US players, which is testament to the recruiting and coaching efforts to date this season.

Special thanks must go to Guy Luminato and Paul Anderson who traveled with the team even though they were unable to play. Both assisted on the day by performing the field and umpiring duties.

Overall it was an amazing team effort that was carried on into the evening (the subject of another summary).

Are those Pies hot!!!!!

Guzz

New York 1.1 5.4 5.5 7.7 49

Boston 3.0 4.1 5.2 5.2 32

Best: Barlaz, Bridges, Colella, Desai, Kallhovd, Lerner, McIntyre, Moorcroft, Smith, Walsh, Wilson

Goal Scorers 2 – Kallhovd, 1 – Barlaz, Colella, Keenan, Thaaker, Walsh

First gamers: Bridges, Colella, Hayes, Lerch, Reid, Walsh

Team: Barlaz, Bell, Bridges, Colella, Desai, Doughty, Farnham, Gurry, Hayes, Kallhovd, Keenan, Koral, Lerch, Lerner, McClelland, McIntyre, Malackey, Moorcroft, O’Flaherty, Reid, Smith, Thaaker, Thompson, Walsh, Wilson