AFL games

Well, Cardiff was good. Took about 3.5 hours to get there by car,
which wasn't actually that bad. And by going there we missed the snow
that seemed to hit the rest of England....driving back was fantastic
with all the snow on the hills. And a few cars...every now and then
we'd overtake a car and bits of snow were falling off it. The scariest
bit was driving over the bridge to get out of Wales and there were
bits of ice falling off the bridge on to the road. Could have done
some serious damage if it had hit us.

Anyway, on to AFL. There were 3 games to be played, Chippenham, Wales
(their national team) and Bristol (in that order). Chippenham had
played one game before, while the other two were going to be much
harder as they'd both played before. We were playing 10 a side on a
rugby pitch that had had an oval marked out using markers.

I was playing in the Ruck and then being rested at full forward, so I
got the chance to win the first ball. Which I didn't. Their guy won
it, but then our midfield took over and we started attacking into a
quite vicious wind. A couple of things I was happy with in that game
was when the ball came out of a pack of players, I dived on it, got up
with the ball in my hands and shot a hand pass out the side to one of
our players. Beautiful skills by the big man :) Then there was my
first goal. The ball bounced around up front, and I'd been moved to
full forward by this stage. Our half forward had led at the ball and
it had been spilled across the face of goal. I sprinted to the ball
and did a sliding soccer kick (left footed!) right through the middle
of the goal from 10 yards out. Great feeling. We ended up winning that
game 65-1. They got a point with the last kick of the game.

Next up was Wales. Once again a giant ruckman, where I didn't win
much. Much harder team as well, and my lack of marking up ability was
shown up a few times. I did a few good things, a couple of good use of
skills to put us down the field (pick up, handball, run on and get it
back, then a kick to the half forward who marked it) but my favourite
was when the ball was kicked out from a point, their ruckmen didn't
quite get to it, and the ball bounced out of his path straight into
mine. I grabbed it, sprinted away from him and then kicked a point.
Didn't steady myself, but I now know better then to kick at full
sprint. Another time the ball came out their again, and ran past him.
So I barged him over, almost got the ball but their midfielder got
there and took it away. We won by 7 points I think, was a fun game,
nice and competitive.

Last was Bristol, who like us had won both games that day. I got run
ragged by their ruckmen, but I had two shining moments. One was after
we had been under a bit of pressure, and I was at full forward. We'd
finally got the ball with time, so I've sprinted down the pitch and
called for the ball. Ted has kicked it about 40 yards, and I've
sprinted it, dived and taken the mark on the wing. I've kicked it on
to the midfielder running through (bad kick) and we've ended up
getting a goal out of it. Yay us! The second was when I was playing in
the ruck again, from a throw in I've tried to just get the ball (as it
fell short) and snap it towards goal. The other ruckman arrived late
and I think whacked me over the head. I didn't notice to be honest,
but I got the free kick in the pocket at about a 70 degree angle. So
I've gone back, thought about it, and with the breeze still blowing a
gale I knew I had to start it left and let it come back. Perfect
pocket to kick it from. I didn't connect cleanly, and the ball has
started out near the behind post. Because it wasn't kicked well
though, the breeze has got hold of it and it's done a sharp right. The
defender got mixed up with the wind, and it ended up bouncing on the
line and through for a goal! So from set shots I'm 1.0 for the season.
The rest of the time it 1.5, but that will come with time (I hope).
Lot of fun, even when I got smashed (which happened once, my back is
still sore). Unfortunately our next game is in May, which is a bit of
a wait. Still, I thought overall I played well and I know where I need
to improve (goal kicking and marking up).

Dreamteam on the other hand, I'm up against Mick in round 1 who just
got 2000 points. I only got 1700. At least I know I'll improve my
results as the season comes round. I've only had 20 players playing,
so hopefully with a full 22 this week things go right for me and wrong
for Mick :) Of course, after Mick I then have Brad, who got 2000 last
week......
So till next time, have fun party people! And blog/email me more!