The New York Magpies were recently honoured to host AFL International Development Manager and former Fitzroy, Collingwood and Hawthorn player Tony Woods as part of a fact finding trip to the United States. Woods was very generous with his time during his visit, especially when taking the Magpies for a training session mere hours after getting off the plane from Australia!
As well as training, where he passed on several valuable tips to the Magpies, Woods attended a Magpies leadership dinner where a significant discussion was held about AFL overseas, in the US and in New York.
Later in the week club stalwarts Ojas ‘Juice’ Desai and David ‘Digger’ Kyle showed Woods a true New York sporting experience, escorting him to Yankee Stadium to see the New York Yankees take on the Minnesota Twins. Finally Woods was a special guest at the New York Magpies annual ANZAC Day event where he offered tips to one and all as part of the traditional handball competition.
The New York Magpies would like to thank Tony Woods for the time he spent with the club and we welcome him to return anytime.
Photos from the training session that Woods took can be found here.
The New York Magpies kicked off their 2012 season with 2 hard fought wins against the Boston Demons in Massachusetts. After the long bus ride from New York to Boston, the day began with Magpies coach Glenn Ormsby announcing the leadership group for 2012, consisting of Jordan McIntyre, Todd Smith, Jack Taylor, Bryan Caine, Brad Davis, Mike Murphy and David Kyle. The game started fast and furious with plenty of stoppages and both teams’ backlines repelling plenty of attacks. Taylor and Mike Fraietta were attacking the ball relentlessly and the pressure from the midfielders and contests of the forwards saw New York sneak the first goal for the day via Fraietta. The Demons responded almost instantly though and the Magpies led by a couple of points at quarter time.
The second quarter continued as the first had ended with players throwing themselves into the contest. The backlines continued to dictate the play with Alex Kwiatkowski, Smith and Hawkins all showing poise under pressure in the backline. Glenn Caldwell played strong to take a couple of big marks and the Magpies gradually worked their way ahead on the scoreboard. With Rob Donner and Chris Walsh presenting well up forward, rovers Matt Barlaz and Brad Davis had plenty of chances to crumb the packs. However, Boston kept coming and at halftime the difference remained mere points, the Magpies up 3.5 23 to 3.1.19.
After a halftime rev up, the Magpies hit the pitch with greater intent and through strong work from undersized ruckman Nick Kerr and midfielders Mike Dixon and Brett Felsenthal, gradually grinded out to a 4 goal advantage. The going remained tough as debutants Tai Scott and Zach Katsof got involved and the coaching staff worked continuous rotations. Bryan Caine began to get an advantage over his opponent and a Magpies’ goal towards the end of the quarter saw them take a handy 3 goal lead into the final break, 7.7 49 to 5.1 31.
The last quarter remained tight with both teams butchering the ball under pressure and tired legs starting to show. The Magpies appeared to stop running and Boston could sense it, making a late surge to try and pull off an upset. Although Boston had the better of the play they were wasteful in front of goal, missing several scoring opportunities. The Magpies’ rotations increased in response with Ben Metten, Dylan Martin, Joe Hocking and Tom Burke all having an impact on the game. The backline continued to provide strong resistance although work is required on the kick outs. After a tough game, the Magpies held on to run out victors 8.7 55 to 6.5 41 and retain the ANZAC Plate.
The coaching staff were pleased to get the win, saying, “It’s always good to get a victory first up and over rivals Boston. I thought that our new players showed some encouraging signs; however, there is plenty of work to do as we were very rusty today. We’ll definitely be having a hard week on the training track before heading up to Chicago.”
Best Players: Kwiatkowski, Taylor, Hawkins, Walsh, Dixon
Goal Kickers: Davis 2, Felsenthal, Taylor, Dixon, Scott, Walsh, Fraietta
Following the four quarter game, the Magpies’ reserves battled Boston’s reserves in a two quarter game. The Magpies, aided by a strong midfield featuring Ormsby, Martin, Jones, Burke and Bennett, burst out of the blocks and were never really threatened with the backline of Mick Maguire, Conor Walsh, Myles Walkington, Paul Martin and Tristan Keeffe holding particularly strong. Troy Danilo and Tai Scott were lively up forward with a couple of goals. All players who travelled got a decent run and the coaching staff will no doubt have plenty of headaches at the selection table when picking the starting team for Chicago.
The New York Magpies will kick of their 2012 season this Saturday, April 28th with a trip to Boston to battle in the annual ANZAC Plate game with the Boston Demons. The game is scheduled to commence around 1pm at Ipswich River Park in North Reading (the address is 235 North Street, North Reading for any interested supporters in New England).
The Lady Pies also begin their season on Saturday and will travel to Montreal, Canada by car, bus and plane to participate in a tournament that will also feature the Montreal Angels, Central Canadian Blues and Boston Lady Demons. Several Montreal Angels players were part of the combined squad with the Lady Pies that finished runner up at the 2011 USAFL National Championships.
Score updates from Boston and Montreal will be posted to the Magpies Twitter feed on Saturday so keep an eye on the top right hand corner of nyfooty.com. Match reports from all the games will follow.
Go Pies!
After some concerns earlier in the week, Saturday April 21st dawned bright and sunny for the New York Magpies 12th annual ANZAC Day event. Once again held at the Frying Pan on the Hudson River in New York, around 550 guests were treated to a fair dinkum downunder lunch, games, live performances and an official ANZAC Day Ceremony hosted by the voice of Australia in the US, Drew DeCarvalho.
While guests enjoyed the spring sunshine and a few Coopers around the Frying Pan NY auction celebrity and New York Magpie Duncan Schieb kicked off the days entertainment, hosting the LIVEAFL.TV handball competition which saw a season pass to LIVEAFL.TV and Collingwood merchandise awarded to one winner and $100 worth of MooLife vouchers to the other. The handball competition was followed by an energetic performance by Laura Bowman with Level 2 which featured a mixture of original songs and some well known covers.
With the rumbling of stomachs commencing, Pie Face kicked off service of a variety of mini meat (and vegetarian) pies as well as sweet pies and the occasional, elusive ANZAC biscuit. The MooLife Group salads also proved popular with the bacon laden Cow salad disappearing particularly quickly! Lunch was enjoyed by all while listening to a great performance by Hurrah! A Bolt of Light! which got the crowd rocking and at one point even Keith the Koala hit the dance floor.
As the sun dipped into the horizon Drew DeCarvalho hosted a traditional ANZAC Day service which featured Sitash performing the Last Post and Rouse, the Ode and a Minutes Silence as well as Kath Byrnes, James Rodgers and Laura Bowman with the Australian, New Zealand and United States national anthems respectively. The Magpies were pleased to be joined for the service by Australia’s Consul General in New York, Philip Scanlan and his family. Finally, The Telephones headlined their second ANZAC Day in event in a row and had the crowd revved up for the end of the night.
Photos of all the festivities courtesy of Magpie Rob Donner can be found here.
By all accounts the event was a great success and the New York Magpies would like to thank all involved in making the day what it was including the Frying Pan/Pier 66 Maritime, Pie Face Bakery Cafe, Balance Water, Coopers, MooLife Group, LIVEAFL.TV, Toby’s Estate, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Australian Bar and Restaurant, Eight Mile Creek, Nelson Blue, Drew DeCarvalho and the Collingwood Magpies.
