THE NEW ERA OF LOCAL FOOTY IS HERE. HOW WILL IT LAST THOUGH

The new local afl comp is here and ready to start in the first week of april. The new competition consists of the 11 teams from the northern conference and 7 from the southern conference. It looks very confusing for the first year, especially when the northern conference only has 11 teams in it and there a meriod of byes that are confusing to say the least. One weekend there are only 2 games on and I have a feeling that has a lot to do with a bye for the afl maybe, I am not sure. Some teams are going to have to play at yeronga when they play the suns and that's even more ridiculas in the sceme of things. They could just use southport and play there and that make a few more happier than having to go to yeronga. Aspley and a few other teams will play the thunder twice in the territory and I think the reason for aspley to play thunder in the territory twice is, what happened 5 years ago with a racial slur being used against an umpire. The afl needs to move on from that and last year we were all well behaved when the thunder came to town. The first year of this comp will be interesting and I wonder how long this will last and how long the other clubs will like being used as puppets for the benefit of the afl

ONE STEP CLOSER TO TITLE TOWN

Labrador came into this season with high hopes of making a good run at a finals birth and a grand final appearance. Well they certainly made hay while the sun shined. Their new recruits for the year were clealr their best players all year long. Tim notting was their leading goal kicker and a handy player up the ground and the ever green peter Everett had an outstanding season playing up forward and in the ruck when needed. They rested their best players on and off all through the year and at one stage with Aaron shattock missing a fair chunk of the season, you would have to wonder will it pay off. Well we were proven wrong for most of the year. Arguably their best win was at aspley in round 6. they gave aspley an 8 goal head start and they clawed their way back into the game after half time and ran away victors. Their finals campaign started in week 2 after getting the first week off and they were looking down the barrel of a hefty defeat at 3 quarter time when they came out and piled on 6 goals to stop Morningsides run and put them straight into a grand final. 2 weeks later they faced Morningside again and it was a titanic battle and at 3 quarter time with a 3 goal lead, it looked like the flag was going back to Cooke Murphy oval for the first time ever. But they ran out of steam in the last and were run down to lose by 3 goals. They should be happy with a fantastic season. They are one step closer to glory and with a new coach they can take that step

IT IS A GRAND OLD FLAG. BACK TO BACK FOR THE SIDERS

Morningside were the hunted this year and they came into this season on a 18 game winning steak and looking to build on it. They lost the jor grant medalist from the year before, when he left the club to join his dad at coorparoo and they had to fill that hole he left. They filled it well with the prize recruit of Aaron rogers and gee he had an outstanding year across the half back line and repelling the best any opposition could throw at him. They started off the home and away season with a bang, after unfurling the flag from last season. They romped home against an undermanned Mt Gravatt side by 16 goals. They won their next 2 away from home and they lost 3 of their best players to injuries in the process. The streak came to an end at the hands of a determined aspley team in round 4 and in that game they lost their live wire forward Hayden Wilson to a season ending knee injury. For the rest of the season. It was an up for a while and than down in patches. Punctuated by disappointing losses to Labrador at home and the Vultures at ditmar park. They still had enough will to beat a strong southport team at home. Their finals campaign started off like a house on fire. With an 8 goal to 1 burst in the second quarter against the wind at southport. Morningside booked their berth into the second semi final against labrador. They led all day against labrador in the second semi final too be run down by a fired up labrador team in the last and they were to meat arch rivals in the preliminary final. The preliminary final was a tight game up to half time. Morningside kicked 6 unanswered goals to gap the sharks and with Hughes and co being blanketed out of the game by Rogers and Price. It looked like the panthers were going back to another grand final. Southport kicked the first 2 and got6 a sniff and came flying home and everyone was starting to think, oh no not again. But the strong backline stopped southport in their tracks and sent the panthers back to the grand final for the third year in a row. The grand final was a classic. Morningside really had the best of the fisrst half and should have been further in front. But Labrador jumped them in the third and got a run on and had a handy lead going into the last. When labrador kicked the fist of the last, things were looking as bleak as the greay sky over head on the day. Tom hickey was thrown into the ruck andf he turned the game on it's head. 8 unanswered goals and 4 from fester mugavin, later the flag was heading back to esplin oval and oh what a game of footy it was. It was another great season for the panthers. They have lost a few good players since. Gough retired and hickey off to the suns are the biggest losses. But I am sure they will recruit well to replace them and compete well in NEAFL next year

CHECK BOOK NEEDED AGAIN FOR SOUTHPORT

Southport came into this year after a big spending spree over the summer with massive hopes of bringing the flag back down the highway. Their buys were 3 ex afl players and a former grogan medalist to add to what was a pretty good squad and everyone was all thinking will this team jell enough through the whole season and win another premiership for the sharks. They started off the season like a house on fire, they were winning games by decent margins and all their buys were in thei best nearly every week. Their first loss came against the thunder in alice springs. The next week they played some sublime football in the second half to run over a gallant vultures side. After the state game where most of their new buys stared in the game. They won their first 3 games and than they come up against their arch rivals and they were pretty much out classed and evern though they made a gallant fight back. They couldn't peg the siders back. Than they started un ravil and 3 more losses and2 scrappy wins against the hornets and the magpies. They went into the finals in second place after holding top spot for 3 quarters of the season. They had a home final against their arch rival and a 8 goal to 1 second quarter put the sharks to rest. In the semi final a week later at home, they came out breathing fire and with as 9 goal to 1 second quarter, ended the vultures year. The prelim final was up next and against their arch rival at coorparoo. It was a massive tight battle for the first 2 quarter. The sidersjumped them acfter half time and took a 6 goal lead into the last and with cleve hughes and Cameron Maclarren being completely shut out of the game. They needed a spark. They got that and got within a kick with 5 to. But they couldn't kick that next goal to get even with the siders. Another year and no flag for southport, that's 2 years in a row now. Danny wise won the grogan in what was a brilliant year for him and their 2s won another flag for the club. Next year will bring a new and old coach for them and they will no doubt go on a buying spree again

SLOW START HURTS IN THE END

The vulture yeas was a very up and down year for the club. They started off really badly and looked like they couldn't find answers to why things were going so ordinary for the team. They were missing up to 9 to grade players from the year before,through injuries and suspension. They lost their fist 2 games by massive margins and they looked very much out of sorts on both occasions. A hard thought loss to Labrador in the home opener didn't ease the pain. They ran into a terribly undisciplined hornets team and with a 19 goal win in their keeping they were on their way. A few hiccups did happen, a hefty loss to a red hot southport team didn't make things any easier and they were totally out played by the form team of the comp in the second half. The second half of the season after the state game told a different side of the story for the vultures. They rattled off 8 wins in a row and their best win in that sequence was against the morningside panthers at home and dean page was the standout that day and was arguably the buy of the year for the comp, coming over from subiaco in the wafl. They won their first final comfortably after a tight first half, they ran away with it in the last quarter and went on to face southport. In that semi final, it was 1 bad quarter that cost them dearly. 9 goals to 1 in the second quarter and a rampant matty Payne put an end to the vultures year. It was a year of plenty of missed opportunities for the vultures and they will rue that 0 and 3 start

A MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

The thunder certainly made a step in the right direction this year. Heavy recruiting helped their cause of course. They picked up Matty Argus and Shaun Tapp from Aspley and Tapp was an outstanding player again this year and show good he is week in week out. They also picked up the brother of Adam goodes and he ws another standout player for them this year. Jarred Iilet led the team well all year and his brother was clearly their best player and duly won their best fairest. The tale of the year will be the missed opportunities away from home. They only won 3 games away from home and lost some crucial games on the run home. They got absolutely flogged against a rampant aspley side at aspley and it put a massive dent in their hopes of playing a home final in Darwin. They beat a depleted Labrador team to garuntee a finals position in the second last game before the finals and than trounced an ordinary broadbeach side in the last home and away game. In the final they played, they just couldn't match it with a team that was on one hell of a roll. They did match it with them for 2 and a half quarters and got run over in the last and were knocked out without a whimper. They will want a big season next year and they will have to play better away from home to get that home final they desperately need

ONE GIANT LEAP BACK FOR THE BOMBERS

Redlands this year would have expected to make hay while the sun shined and it just didn't happen for them this season. Losing early games that they could have won didn't help. One of those was against a very depleted Morningside team that were missing up to 6 top class players at home. At the start of the year they had to fill a gaping hole that White and eagle left after 1 retired and the other moved down south and they didn't fill that massive void that was left by those 2 and it did count against them in the end. Scott Clouston and Phill Carse were their most consistent performers over the whole season. Their most disappointing loss might have been to aspley after having their measure for most of the game and again some of the coaches tactic were mystifying to say the least. Having 2 spare men in defense for most of the game when struggling to kick a goal, was ridiculas to say the least. Their best win was against southport at home and they played some of their best football that day and it just showed how good they could have been this year

FINALS OR BUST NEXT YEAR FOR THE HORNETS

Thats the way their mindset should be for next season after an improving year for this side. The year was punctuated by so many things. The year started off terribly with a dissapointing 8 goal loss to broadbeach and they would have been thinking they were going to roll them in the first game of the year and they were totally out classed by their midfield and the coach. Things weren't looking to great and luckily after a massive scare in the third quarter the hornets comfortably accounted for the magpies and they din't look to flash in that game and the coach had to be coaxed into giving his chargers an all mighty spray at half time... A weeek later they faced the vultures and the shit hit the fan. It was arguably one of the most embarassing performances anyone would see. Only 6 goals down at 3 quarter time they were with in a shout of making a comeback and knocking them off, but 12 unanswered goals and some stupid un disciplined footy ruined their chances. The word going into the round 4 game was, if the hornets got flogged by the reining premiers and a team that hadn't been beaten in 21 games. The coach was gone. A gritty and tough performance was needed and they produced it and knocked off the champs and the coach was safe for another week. A 12 goal loss to southport a week later and the heat was back on. The labrador game was disspointing in so many ways. The hornets had a 8 goal to 4 first quarter and squandered it. The coach just din't want to do anything about the labrador charge and they hornets got over rin in the last quarter and again the tactics were questioned. 1 week later they faced redlands at redlands and had a handy lead at half time and looking good. than it all fell apart and the bombers won by 10 goals and the heat was back on the coach. The coach needed his chargers to put in another massive effort to knock off the champs and his tactics and his thinking that having 150 inetrchanges per game were left to be desired and the writing was on the wall after another heavy defeat. the coach resigned or was told if he doesn't quit he will booted and that was the end of the saga

New coach and some life back into the grouo was needed and they faced another daunting task against the lions. They went with with the for 3 and a half qwuarters and just couldn't keep in touch and lost the game by 4 goals, but there was plenty of improvement in them. The reat of the season brought some great results for the squad. 3 wins in a row against broadbeach, thunder and the lions showed they can match it with anyone and they could have won 3 or 4 other games to go with the 5 they won in their last 9 games. But things are looking good for the future and next year they have to be looking at playing finals or the season will be a bust

Maybe it's time to revaluate the lions reserves

Once again the lions reservers were a non factor in the qafl. Injuries and in fighting didn't help their cause just like with the seniors. They won their first game by 17 goals and that's the way they start every year and always fall off the pace about half way through the year. Once the injuries hit the senior list everything went pear shape for the reserves, the players that did play for the ressies were only their to pad up their stats and when they did get their opportunity in the afl they looked very ordinary. Player like selwood and Jihnstone played in and out of the seniors for most of the year and they looked alright in the 2s but never took it with them to the seniors and that's indicitive of the competition and the team they they play in. Maybe it's time they give up on the 2s and i am hearing they would rather go back to the old ways than have a 2s team have to make it on their own in the new cpmp. The lions reserves team hasn't been a good inclusion into this league, it has been a bad one and it hasn't helped anyone. If they do have a 2s team next year they will have some top up players every week to choose from, from the western magpies

A promissing start mounts to nothing

Thats the best way to some up the broad beach cats season. They started off the season with an upset win over a very ordinary Aspley outfit. That day they had a game plan and stuck to it and the Aspley coaching staff didn't have any answers for it or just didn't want to do anything about players like Derrick and Zorko. They cats gradually started fall aprt in the end. Their best player was clearly Zorko and he won their best and fairest again and He played a pivitol part in Queensland massive win over the appl islanders at southport in the stae game. He kicked a lazy 12 goaqls against the western magpies and more than likely had 40 touches to go with those 12 goals. Sadly for Zorko he didn't have many mates to go with him into war every week and they struggled to win many games after the mid way point of the season. The game against Aspley showed why they were struggling. After getting flogged all day they started to snipe and cheap shot behind the ball. By the end of the season they had lost their last 7 games to finish 9th. Their are a few questions marks over this side. who will coach and how many players will stay on for next year

2 years and out for the magpies

It was another struggle for the western magpies again this year and by the end of the season they were back in the pineapple hotel cup. For most of the season the maggies showed plenty of potential and for a lot of the season they were clearly out of their depth and just looked like they shouldn't be playing at this level. They lost every game again this year and there was a couple of heavy losses in those games. They lost their long time coach Paul grentel and their was some in fighting that made that happen and it didn't look good from the outside. They developed some good players, but weren't consistant enough to make any head way for the senior side to win any games or challenge many teams. Next year they should domminate the pineapple hotel cup like they did before they left to joing the state league competition. A few of their guns might move on Val pope wiould be a sort after recruit by many teams in the top level and with Ed Macdonnald as well. but i doubt either of those 2 will leave and will stay with the club for the future and beyond. The other queation can they survive without pokies in the club and will they merge with neighbours Kenmore. There are plenty of questions for the club

ITS A GRAND OLD DLAG

What a game of footy and what a way to end the season. Yesterdays grand final was probably the best grand final in the qafl for 20 odd years. It was a titanic battle and it was anyones flag to win all day long. The first quarter was the usual scappy tough and sorting out period with no having a clear edge. Morningside kicked the first goal and we were on our way. The quarter showed that everett and knoebal will be hard to stop and knoebal was starting domminate in the ruck and they 2 of the next 3 and were just in front when they kicked another one just before quarter time and it was labrador 7 points in fron at quarter time. The second quarter was domminated by the panthers, With Mark kymbal running ramoant and Kent Abey marking strongly arond the ground. 6 goals but 5 behinds and only a 14 point lead didn't show how the panthers were really starting get on top of the tigers. Ryan holman, Mark Kymbal and AAron rogers were winning their positions clearly and thing were looking good at half time for the panthers. The premiership quarter beckoned as one of the most intriguing quarters i have seen in qafl football for the last 11 years. Trent Knoebal went off and absolutely r4an riot in the third quarter and the panther4s couldn't. Tim Notting started to get his hands on the footy and they couldn't stop his marking prowess and Todd featherstone was having a day out they could stop him and the panther had a heap of opportunities to put the game away but by the end of the third quater, labrador piled on 7 goals and had point lead and things were going just dandy for them and the panther with their missed opportunities had kicked 1 goal and the haunting of grand finals past where inacurate kicking had cost them dearly was starting to come back to bite them on the arse. The fourth quarter was an epic quarter and it just still amazes me what happened. The first 5 to 10 minutes were a bit of a struggle the tired legs were starting to set in and Labrador put themselves 4 goals in front and things were going sour quickly. Blair threw young tom hickey into the ruck and with a tiring Trent Knoebal, it was a god sent and things got cracking. 2 quick goals and they boys from esplin oval got a sniff and another goal and another behinds and they were within a point. Hickey kept dommianting the ruck and 4 unanwered goals later and undiciplined acts the premiership cup was heading back to esplin oval where the boys clebrated hard and long into the night. Kent Abey was named Joe Grant medal and well deserved. just another great grand final to cap off a great year

JOE GRANT MEDALISTS OF PAST

The Joe grant medal is awarded to the player that was best on ground in the qafl grand final for the past 27 years and there has been some good ones and some really bad decisions by the voters in my honest opinion. One of the best was Tony Lynns effort in the 2002 grand final against the raging hot favourites in southport. He had and absolute day out that day and led his side so well to their first flag in their history. I think he something like 34 touches and kicked a couple of goals and kept running all day.



The worst in my opinion



2000. The best on ground medal was given to Maclucky from southport. But everyone at the ground that watched that game that day all thought Nick Reiwoldt was clearly best on ground by some way. Jason Cotter threw Reiwoldt into the ruck after half time and rooy did his thing and he turned the game on it's head. He started to domminate the ruck which Charman had won all day and never looked like he was going to get beaten either. He won the game for southport but he still didn't get the medal

2006. Dane Carmody won the mexdal and everyone again that watched that game were pretty much shocked at the decision. Clint watts was clearly the best player on the ground that day and for some reason he wasn't even given many votes to be named the best on ground. Once crowley threw him in the middle the game changed and he was the one that got the sharks going and he was by far a better player than carmordy was on that day

The voting pannel probably consists of people that are just ass lickers that don't have a clue about the game all the time

DESTINY BECKONS FOR THE SIDERS AND LABRADOR

The grand final is fianlly here and the 2 best sides in the qafl are in it. Labrador and the Morningside panthers have made it through to the big day in conrasting circumstances. Labrador made it through to the grand final with a thrilling second semi final win over this same team in the Morningside panthers, they were down by 4 goals at 3qtr time and came storming home to be the first team into the grand final. The panthers had to get through the grand final the hard way. They had a thrilling win over arch rivals southport and again they nearly blew it. After being 5 goals up 5 minutes into the fourth, Southport put on 4 quick goals and were with in a goal before the siders steadied the ship and locked down and came out 7 point winners to put themselves into the grand final against the tigers. These 2 sides have met 3 times this year and all 3 encounters have been crackers with labrador leading the ledger at the moment. Labrador look like they don't have any injury worries and will probably at their best come sunday afternoon. The siders on the other hand have 1 concerne and it has to do with their former captain and champion club man. Word last sunday was, he doesn't want to take the place of a young players that has been there and some how i don't think Blairy will take much notice of that and i do believe he will pick and play him in this grand final.

5 key players for both sides

Labrador

Knobel. can ruck all day and has been good this year again and it might be his last game

Shattock. Abrilliant player and he stopped everything that was thrown forward in the latter stages of the second semi final

Notting. if he has a day out, the tigers could win this game of footy

Everitt. Just a crucial player and the work he does around the ground important, he can kick a bag and ruck a whole quarter when needed

Featherstone. the leader of the team and is a match winner and will be keen for a big game

Morningside

Price. was just about best on ground last week and might get everitt

Rogers. his work across half back last week was brilliant and the tigers will need to keep him quiet

Gough. is right now with his rib and din't have any problems late in the game last week. he is a proven match winner and will be someone that can win a game off his own back

Shelton. Mr. ball magnet.. will give the siders plenty of drive out of the kiddle and can run all day

Abey. was great last week with plenty of strong marks and will need to back it up again this week.

This will be a great grand final and i can't wait for the big one. Even though the tigers have had the week of, that doesn't always help the team that earns it. I think the match hardened panthers side will get up by at least 4 goals and i think Jarrod Price will be named Joe Grant medalist. It should be a great day of footy