2005 Season - Cougars v Eagles v Seattle August

Cougars continue last season surge

It was yet another beautiful summer’s days that faced the Cougars/Eagles entourage as they headed down to Seattle to play what was supposed to be a 4 team mini-tourney with Victoria and Seattle. As always the group gathered at the Broadway Avis at 8am in Vancouver to get the convoy of mini-vans going and head off on the pleasant 3 hour trip down the I-5 south to Seattle.

After being treated to a few weeks of football on the plush and consistent surfaces of Thunderbird Stadium and Burnaby Lakes, a few of the boys were taken aback at the pitch conditions at Lake Washington High School in Seattle where the ground was scattered with long thick green grass, hard burnt brown grass, patches of dirt and the odd pot-hole. After a few of the veterans re-called playing on the (basically) cow paddock in the early years of playing Seattle, this ground was deemed rather luxurious.

Unfortunately, the developing Victoria club couldn’t field a full compliment of players for the day, so their players split themselves amongst the other 3 teams, and the day’s competition would be split into 3 teams. The upside of this was that the day would see yet another Cougars V Eagles clash which was not originally scheduled for the day.

Game 1 – Eagles v Seattle

Unlike the last game these two teams played, the Eagles didn’t have it their own way. At the end of the first quarter, the Eagles were actually down 3.2.20 to Seattle’s 4.1.25. However things completely turned around and in the 2nd quarter as the Eagles piled on 5 goals to 1 and yet another large victory was on the cards and that is what eventually played out.

Game highlights –

• The Randy Dickins show. With the Cougars having the first game off, half the team took the opportunity to form the Randy Dick Entourage behind the goals for the first half. With Dickins only a few goals off the top of the goal-kicking ladder (a tremendous effort for a Canadian) achieving the status of having a fan club was more than justified. Despite the heckling…I mean support, Randy was up to the challenge, leading hard and taking a number of great grabs, kicking three goals for the game.

• The Goiter Aeroplane. Looking like a whippy rover rather than a tall ruckman, Goits was everywhere on the half forward line during the game, kicking 5 goals and getting himself past the double figures mark for the season, and more importantly, passing flatmate and prettyboy Walks on the table. Goits second goal was humorously celebrated by doing the aeroplane. When it was done again for goals 3-5, well quite frankly it was getting a bit old. A great performance none the less.

• Big John. Quite frankly it was amazing performance that Big John was even able to stay awake. He literally went out all night on Friday night and arrived home just as SuperCoach Grills picked him up to take him to the game. Despite being laughable slow around the packs and looking like he was 5 seconds behind the play at some stages, he continued to dominate the ruck and set up many chances for his centerline players.

• Age has no barrier – For the second week in a row, MyK Aussie continued to thrive across the back pocket, constantly backing himself by running straight at the ball and getting a number of important clearances out of the backline. Will his dodgy hammy’s make it to grand final week? Time will tell.

• Chris (ma)Rauder – playing in his first game, the Canadian almost set a team record by scoring a goal in only his 2nd quarter of footy. Throughout the game he looked strong and confident in the forward pocket and hardly overwhelmed. Expect big things.

• Steveo handles a tough ask – After punishing the Eagles with 3 quick goals in the first quarter it looked like the Seattle’s Chevlin was going to tear apart the game. Steve was given the tough ask of handling the dangerous Chevy and did so with some dogged play.

• Luscious – little more that’s new can be said about the constant and classy play of Louie who was once again all over the ground and kicked his usual couple of goals.

In the end, a high scoring game saw the Eagles crack the ton !!

Final Score – Eagles 16.6.102 to Grizzlies 8.2.50
Eagle Goals – Goiter 5, Randy Dick 3, Luscious 2, Sam 2, Shane 2, maRauder 1, Freemo 1

Game 2 – Cougars v Grizzlies

After watching the Eagles maul the Grizzlies, the Cougars clearly wanted some of the same. Right from the start, the Cougar shot to a 4 goal to two lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back throughout the rest of the game. Seemingly just to get one up on the Eagles, the Cougars beat Seattle by 53 points, vs. the Eagles 52 point victory.

Game highlights –

• Slammin Sammy – Had the Grizzlies in a quandary across the half forward flank as he took grab after grab and kicked 3 superb goals.

• The Helmet is back – rigorously denying that he had put himself at full-forward to get back on top of the goal-kicking ladder, Grills was a constant target at full forward throughout the game, leading as hard as he has in year, taking his usual strong grabs and snagging a couple of beautiful goals…

• Another mis-goal contender? With much debate raging around the club as to who has the right to the worst attempt at goal for the year (currently between Randy and Col, with Grills very close), Campo put his hand up for consideration. After a magnificent passage of play that saw Coops deliver a pin point pass from full back to Vargo on the half back line, a couple of bounces was followed by a long bomb to the forward pocket where Campo gathered the ball, streamed into an open goal and from 15 metres out on a slight angle – hit the post. Umpiring at the time, Freemo was heard to ask Campo how he could even hit the post as they were literally only a couple of cm’s on thickness…

• V is for Victory – with few of their teammates showing up to form their own side, it was great to see big Al and Josh from Victoria fit straight into the Cougars line-up. Big Al was sensational across the Half Backline while Josh was elusive across the forward pocket kicking a couple of goals for the day.

Game 2 – Cougars 13.10.88 to Grizzlies 5.5.35
Cougar Goals: Sam 3, Grills 3, Campo 1, Cashie 1, Walks 1, Vargo 1, Settacassi 1, Josh 1, Lappo 1

Game 3 – Cougars v Eagles

After a thumping victory two weeks before, could the Cougars do it again to the Eagles? It looked doubtful early on as the Eagles took it to the Cougars by being a lot harder at the footy, leaving the Cougars looking flatfooted. The Eagles bounced out to an early lead and extended that to 16 points at half time. After watching both teams thump Seattle, this was a welcome change for the supporters as this was clearly a tougher and more skillful game.

The tide began to turn in the second half and the Cougars could sense it. The Eagles seem to run out of legs as the Cougars slowly clawed their way into the lead early in the last quarter and held on for a magnificent come from behind victory.

Game highlights –

• The Eagles turnabout – as a collective mass, the Eagles gave it to the Cougars in the first quarter. Two weeks ago, the Cougars seemed to beat the Eagles by being harder at the ball and tackling and niggling the most. Well the Eagles played the Cougars at their own game in the first half, being first to the ball and seeming to want it more…

• Lappin statistics – if the Cougars were to adopt the trend of the AFL over the last few years to include fancy new statistics such as “hard-ball gets”, “effective disposals” etc.etc. then surely one of the biggest losers would be Josh Lappin. Clearly the leading possession getter for the Cougars in the game where basically he seemed to be everywhere and fought hard for the ball, his disposal continued to provide constant amusement to all and sundry. If you had to ask how many kicks came within 5 feet of their intended target, then that % figure might surely have been close to the low teens… If there was a stat for most out on the fulls….well we have a winner.

• Oh Luscious….One of the worst, funniest, and best moments of the game happened in the 2nd quarter. Young Canadian Chris (ma)Rauder playing his 2nd game for the Eagles took a mark 35 metres out directly in front. Rather than backing him to kick it himself, a nearby Louie called for the quick handball in an attempt to snag the goal himself. Louie’s kick was duly smothered off the boot by Cashie Jnr. What could have been an absolute disaster turned to triumph when the MaRauder gathered the crumbs and calmly stepped up and thumped the ball straight through the goals.

• The SuperCoach returns – there is no doubt with the Cougars on the march that a rousing 3 quarter time speech by Grills helped inspire his team onto victory. Surprising to many, Grills even reached a new echelon of his vocal range and managed to utter a few comments at such a high pitch that they could even be heard by a number of dogs a couple of suburbs away. Grills continued the inspiration with a magnificent on the run goal from 50 metres out late in the quarter. His 3 goals were only equaled by Cashie Jnr who played a magnificent game when switched to the forwardline and drilled 3 beautiful running goals himself. He was unlucky not to have 4 when the siren blew just before he sent another long bomb through the sticks.

• A lesson in tackling. Quite simply – just watch Cashie. Throughout the day Cashie was at his brilliant hard tackling best – he even gathered quite a few kicks as well. A last quarter tackle on Luscious who seemed to be streaming into an open goal might surely have ensured the Cougars victory.

• Another SuperCoach catchphrase? After the monumentus victory, when asked to sum up what the turning point of the game was, Grills was quoted as saying it was in the start of the last quarter when the Cougars began to gain the “impetuous” over the Eagles. One can only wonder if such a word will reach the Freeman coaching verbiage…

Game 3 – Cougars 8.6.54 to Eagles 7.6.48

Cougar Goals: Grills 3, Cashie Jnr 3, Vargo 1, Lappo 1
Eagle Goals: Randy Dick 2, Luscious 1, Freemo 1, maRauder 1, Goits 1, Si