2005 Season - Cougars v Victoria April

Wayward Cougars defeat ferocious Lions

A glorious day of sunshine faced the Cougars convoy as the boys headed towards Tsawwassen for the short ferry ride over to Victoria for the second NWPAFL game of the season. The day was in stark contrast to the thick black clouds and thunderous rain faced on the last trip to the Island. With the Vancouver team competing as the consolidated Cougars and sporting their snazzy new jumpers, the mood in the room was buoyant before the game.

As part of the pre-game pep talk, SuperCoach Grills shocked a few of the team veterans when he revealed his new coaching mantra for 2005 - breaking the game into a single game of 4 quarters, abolishing his tried and true formula of 4 games within a game.

As the team ran onto the field under first time (and deserving) Captain Shine Edgar, the boys were confronted with a tiny little ground that was either going to lead to a tight war of attrition type game or a scoring free for all. The crowd had built nicely by the time the opening bounce went down and the boys were fired up.

A great moment for the Cougars was seeing first year player, and brand new to the game – Chris Bennett being given the nod to take on the rucking duties for the Cougars. From the opening bounce, the game was tight and tough. The Cougars centreline lead as always by Edgar and Bobby was quick to the ball first, but as the Cougars have come to expect from the Lions, their predominant rugby backgrounds have made them into a fierce tackling unit and they were not letting the Cougars gather easy possessions.

In the first quarter, the ball was getting into the Cougars forward line regularly with forward flankers - Teddy and Coops (yes, regular backman Coops) gathering a number of tough possessions and sending the ball towards the goals. Despite many chances, the Cougars could not convert and ended the quarter with 7 points from 8 scoring chances.

Q1 - Cougars: 1.7.13 Lions 1.3.9

In the 2nd quarter, the backlines for both teams took over and neither side could seem to break the game apart. Canadians Allen Brett and Matty Neufeld were inspirational across the backline. Both players just played straight-line footy and attacked the ball time and time again. Cashie was asked to lift, and did as expected, relishing the chance to deliver as many bone crushing tackles on the Lions players as he could. The Cougars began to attack the goals in droves. Nelson drifted down from the wing into the forwardline a couple of times, while Bobby and SuperCoach Stu were getting dangerous around the half forward line, unleashing a couple of long bombs - yet the Cougars could not convert. A lovely rover’s goal from Hilton saw the Cougars keep their lead at half time.

Q2 - Cougars: 2.11.23 Lions 1.5.11

Coming into the game in the 3rd quarter, Goalsneak Stratford made his presence felt immediately gathering a number of telling grabs and snagging a nice long goal. Richie Awanda was getting plenty of the ball in the backline together with P Diddy and Matty Werner who was taking some strong grabs. The two new South Australian boys Craig and Nathan were starting to enjoy footy in Canada and were collecting some possies of their own while Joshy Lappin and Simon Nolan were starting to link up some plays through the centre. Still it was the strong play in the Backline of Big Al, Neufy and Cashie that constantly denied the Lions attacks.

In one of the most shocking/humorous incidents of the game, with only seconds remaining in the quarter, and long bomb into the goal square was marked superbly by SuperCoach Grills rising from the back of the pack and marking right on the goal line. Grills calmly went back, lined up the goal and from directly in front, 3 yards out…he hit the post. After later reflecting on his miss, Grills could only contemplate that he had goal-kicking leader jitters, a common fate that has befallen certain other Cougars in the past when faced with the prospect of leading the Cougars goal-kicking ladder.

Q3 - Cougars: 3.14. 32 Lions 1.6.12

As the fourth quarter began, the Cougars were almost made to pay dearly for their poor goal kicking as the Lions doggedly snagged the first two goals of the quarter to get within 6 points of the Cougars. However, the Cougars were not about to throw away this one. Some great tough plays through the centre by Coops, Teddy, Bobby, Shine and Cashie lead to a magnificent rover’s goal by Hilton that started the revival. 2 later goals saw the Cougars finish the quarter without a single point for the quarter and they took a deserved victory.

Final Score: Vancouver Cougars: 6.14.50 to Victoria Lions: 3.6.24

Goals: D. Vargo (3), C. Hilton (2), J. Stratford (1)
Best: R. Marshall, A. Bushell, A. Brett (Can), S. Edgar, D. Vargo, M Neufeld (Can), C. Hilton

Thanks to the guys that umpired - Matt Werner, Simon Nolan, Richard Ananda, Rick Smith, Peter Campion, Myk Aussie (Andrew Harrison)
Thanks to the Cougars who played for Victoria - Shannon Gordon, Mark Whiting, Richard Roberts.

After match festivities

Nothing is sweater after a nice victory than a few victory ales. So about 20 of the boys and associated partners decided to stay the night in Victoria and make a fairly large night of it. So en masse the team headed to what seemed like the outskirts of Victoria to the Lions sponsor pub – The Monkey Tree. The beers began to flow very nicely and the massive food portions were lovingly polished off. Just as things were warming up, the crew was assured quick entry and cheap cover into Whitey’s nightclub downtown – Plan B. The place was heaving as expected and the majority of the Cougars remained until stumps. As per usual, a few of the boys carved up the dancefloor, some carved up the beers/bourbons, while others were having a crack at carving up the local ladies - some even attempted all three at once. In the end, after a few pieces of required pizza from a nearby joint, a late and very fun night was had by all.

Special notes from the Rumour monger (the Whisper is apparently still in retirement)…

1. Who was the Cougar who picked up a local lass that could have had a movie projected onto her rather large rear end?
2. Which Cougar proved he is either one tough bastard or just plain stupid by going the whole ferry ride back to Vancouver wearing just a singlet/wife beater despite the damn chilly winds?
3. Which Cougar was seen constantly dozing – in the car, at the pub, at the footy ground, on the ferry, at breakfast etc.etc.?
4. Which Cougar succeeded in his task of being the drunkest man in Victoria on Saturday night?