Wombats win Bill Niko Cup Game 1: Saturday 10th May 2008 By Ash Martin

Firstly, A huge thanks to Adam Grant and Liam King for organising another wonderfully successful day at the Australian International School. I think everyone would agree the games we have played this year have had a great atmosphere and the feedback from some non-wombats has been excellent and they want to know when the next game is on. Granty is doing a great job and putting in a lot of work to improve the conditions for the players and also earning some well deserved respect for the club. Liam is spending a great deal of time forging relationships with the Australian School Parent Community which will have obvious positive benefits for the club. There are also many other behind the scenes individuals who are being very selfless for the betterment of the club, and on behalf of the playing group I would like to extend our gratitude. The vibe around the club is outstanding at the moment. Let’s keep it up!

As I said during the game on Saturday it was time for a lot of the words that have been spoken about Bill to be put into action and the playing group definitely stood up. The boy’s involved in the early game set the standard for the day with a comprehensive victory. It was great to see all the lads enjoying a run around and improving on their fitness. The result was evidence of the depth we have in the group this year. Excluding the players who were promoted to the seniors, better players were Ian, Lowey, Lou, Josh and Boris. A special thanks to Aaron, Stefan and Guy for availing themselves for the Irish boy’s. The three of them were clearly their best players, and will play some good footy for the Wombats as the year progresses.

Congratulations to Splash, Stevey, Frawls, Phoenix and CK for getting promoted into the seniors, which gave us a strong squad of 20. It was obvious the boy’s were ready for the Bill Nikko game (especially because everyone was stripped and ready to go an hour and a half before the game). The game was a very good contest, but because all Wombats went into the game with the right attitude we held a clear advantage for the majority of the game. Even though the Australian School field is very small the ‘hybrid’ game still requires constant running and it was clear that we had a fitness edge on our opponents and the rotations were working well. The round ball is an interesting concept, but the boys managed well and converted most of our opportunities. Late in the third quarter the Gaelic lads had a crack and challenged us, but level heads prevailed and we went on to a comfortable victory. Half the job is done now; we still have another game in June to ensure we finally honour Bill in the way he would have wanted us to.

Thanks to the umpires from both clubs.

Training this week at Turf city at 4pm, then Vietnam the week after, please confirm availability with Granty and Horn.

Result: Wombats won by 33 points

Best: Hotton, Neil, Snowy, Cam, Stacey, Boaty, Wazza, Fusey, Ed.