After suffering their first loss of the season a few weeks ago, New York didn’t have to wait long for their chance at redemption. The Magpies had a few key players returning and were primed to start well and that’s exactly what they did when their Captain, Andy Brennan, kicked the opening goal in the first two minutes of the game. Brennan had finished off some strong bullocking work by Donner in the forward line.
However, the Magpies seemed to relax and Philly took full advantage, winning the contested ball in the middle and controlling much of the first quarter. This enabled them to go into the quarter time break leading by 1 goal.
The second quarter saw the Magpies continue their sluggish form. The game was being played in the Magpies back half and if not for the tremendous work of their back line, the Magpies would have been down by a considerably larger margin. Caldwell, Thompson and Davis all held their opponents to little or no influence while Georgiou, McMaster and Miller found plenty of the ball. When the Magpies were able to finally get control of the possession, McMahon took a brilliant one on one mark in the goal square to kick the pies only goal of the second quarter.
At the half time break the pies were down 5.10.40 to 2.2.14 and looking in serious trouble. The coaching staff made a few changes and told the players in no uncertain term that they weren’t working hard enough.
This seemed to work as the Magpies came out breathing fire and kicked 5 goals in 10 minutes. First it was Blandford and Buxton combining to hit a leading Squires who kicked truly, then Rush and Brennan combined to kick truly for the Magpies. This was followed by goals again to Brennan and Buxton as a result of work of Kerr, Mantzaris and Taylor in the midfield. By the time Spataro had kicked truly the Pies had taken the lead and had the momentum.
Both teams wasted scoring opportunities for the rest of the quarter and NY went into the last break leading by 3 points and full of running.
The last quarter was played at a frenetic pace and with McCormick, Lyndon and Stone all winning the ball forward of the centre, however the Magpies kept wasting chances to give themselves breathing space. Keeffe, Walsh and Desai all got their hands on the ball and provided plenty of supply to the forwards and it resulted in a brilliant piece of team play ending with Torney taking a great mark running with the flight of the ball. Torney composed himself and kicked truly from 35 meters out to give the Magpies some breathing space. Despite both teams missing a few more shots on goal, the Magpies held on and out winners by 10 points. This was a high pressure game played by two high quality teams.
New York’s record for the season now sits at 5-1.
After the match New York Assistant Coach Adam Overell paid credit to how much Philly had improved saying “they got us in Philly a few weeks ago and put up another strong performance today which shows they have really come a long way”. However, Overell was also trying to find a reason for New York’s lacklustre first half saying “we thought the guys looked OK in the warmup but they just couldn’t get out of first gear in the opening half. We made a few moves at half time but it was the players who decided to put their head over the ball and have a real crack in the second half and it showed what we can do when we get going. However you can’t play half a game of football and expect to be successful so that’s something we’ll have to go away and work on”.
Dan Lehane is a 17 year old New York native who is in his fourth season with the New York Magpies. Dan has been selected in the World 18 team that will compete in the 2011 NAB AFL National Championships in Sydney, Australia during the week starting July 11.
As part of his preparation Dan embarked on a 6 week training program to ensure he is in top match condition for the tournament. He also travelled to Australia a few weeks early to play some local games and get acclimatized.
Dan’s itinerary is a follows:
- Friday 17-Jun-11: Arrival in Melbourne
- Saturday 25-Jun-11: Play with Uni Blacks U 19’s
- Saturday 02-July-11: Play with Uni Blacks U 19’s
- Monday 04-July-11: 11am – Arrive at Melbourne Uni for 5 day high performance camp
- Friday 08-July-11: Travel with team to Sydney
- Sunday, July 10, 2011: Blacktown Olympic Park – World XVIII vs. Northern Territory
- Wednesday, July 13, 2011: Bruce Purser, Rouse Hill – Queensland vs. World XVIII
- Saturday, July 16, 2011: Blacktown Olympic Park – South Pacific vs. World XVIII
- Sunday 17-July-11: Head home to NYC
Dan has been writing a blog and will be updating it weekly so we can keep up with the young Magpie star during his adventure down under. Good Luck Dan!
Last Wednesday saw the Lady Pies with special guest Brett Kirk hosted Aussie Fare For Freedom. The wine tasting and dinner at The Australian helped raise money for the Lady Pies representatives from the USA Freedom team competing in the International Cup in August.
The delicious five course meal included delicacies such as crumbed shrimp, kangaroo skewers and mushroom ravioli paired with six great Australian wines. A highlight of the night was Brett Kirk entertaining the crowd with stories of his playing days, details of his current travels and participating in a Q&A session. The evening ended with New York Magpies representatives Glenn Ormsby and Myles Walkington presenting Brett with an official New York Magpies guernsey (including his #31 playing number).
Brett (and his energetic son Indhi) also attended round 2 of the NYCAFL held under Friday night lights. Brett joined Arne Pulle umpiring the 2 match NYCAFL matches with both games being great contests. Brett and Indhi also took part in the Rec Footy game with the Lady Pies giving their team a strong defence and excellent delivery into the forward line.
Brett has visited football clubs across 18 different countries, promoting the game and the camaraderie associated with Aussie Rules. To read about his adventure go to www.brettkirk.com.au or follow him on twitter @brettkirk.
The Lady Pies still need assistance to get to Australia. Help them by donating here.
As part of his duties of being an AFL Ambassador, Brett Kirk is travelling across the world promoting the AFL International Cup (to read about his adventure go to www.brettkirk.com.au or follow him on twitter @brettkirk). Part of that trip landed him in New York for a week and the NY Magpies were more than happy to learn all they could from the Premiership Captain, All Australian and all round good guy.
Brett took the New York Magpies training and although the conditions were a little wild he took charge showing the Magpies a range of drills and skills. The players and coaching staff soaked up what Brett had to say and he imparted a tremendous amount of knowledge on everyone.
The New York Magpies would like to thank Brett and his family for their time whilst in New York and wish them all the best for their rest of their trip. The Magpies will be keeping up to date on Brett’s journey through his blog.
