Round 4 Rewound

The Love Sparkles (1750) vs Puttanesca Chiefs (1803)

After a loss last week, the Puttanesca Chiefs were up for the fight. With dogged determination, they managed to put away the Love Sparkles in what turned out to be the closest match of the round with a margin of 53 points.

Six hundreds for the Chiefs, led ably by Jack Macrae (128) and Rory Laird (115) who have scored tons every week for four weeks. Fair effort! That was Rory’s lowest score of the year. As coaches, we are incredibly bad at pre-season predictions, but those that called Laird as top dog in defence can at least say that they got something right.

Those that said Tom Rockliff would be top midfielder…I’m just not going to finish that sentence. Tom Rockliff scored 43 – which is below average. And Rockliff’s average is now 51.5. Mercifully, he has been put on the injury list. I think the injury is listed under “Coach’s Headache”.

I’m not letting another former R lion off the hook either. Jack Redden (47) was pitiful. In a game where eagles could roam free against the hapless suns – and Chris Masten could get 138 – J.R. could only get ten touches, one mark and five tackles. A serious form reversal is needed to get this team back on track. Thankfully, three of the 2018 draftees saluted with triple figures for the Sparkles to make the game more competitive. Well done Billy Hartung (100), Rory Atkins (103) and Matt Suckling (115).

The Bailout Plan (1573) vs Shire Scourers (1699)

1699 is not a very good score. Yet there were still three teams lower than that this round and one of them was Nelson’s opponent. Wet conditions contributed to a low scoring affair. Noticeable was the tight battle in defence, highlighted by Blake Hardwick (29) vs Steven May (29). That shows you where the standard was.

In fairness to the Shire Scourers, they had two late outs (and it’s even later in New Zealand time) in the midfield and only a 68 as emergency cover. And they still sit 3-1, and would be 4-0 if they could’ve laid one more tackle in round 2. Sam Menegola (118) and Elliott Yeo (138) were the stand-outs, which was most pleasing for Nelson because they have both been prone to shockers. Sidebottom (137) and Franklin (100) continue to show form that should have them All Australian. The Scourers are in a good position and just need to determine if that Josh Kennedy 43 was a misprint or a scary trend.

Not good news for the Bailout Plan. They had five players score less than 40. But I found some positives:

·       They fielded more players than the opposition

·       There is no relegation system in the league

·       They have an eventual match-up against Solomon’s Soldiers

Rico’s Roughnecks (1834) vs Defenestrators (1968)

The highly anticipated match of the round was very good. It was an excellent spectacle; the Roughnecks got off to a fast start with Adam Treloar (135) and Tim Taranto (120) doing the early damage. But then Paul’s team started to get going and pulled away from them.

Adam’s team is not short of stars. He had eight centurions, six in the midfield. But with six scores below sixty, the spuds weighed him down too much. A top score of 73 in defence was too much to overcome against this quality opponent.

Paul’s team had “only” six centurions, but only one player scored below fifty – and that was Tom Lynch in the wet. I say this every year, but Paul should win the comp in a canter. Paul’s list is so well crafted, it could be framed and viewed at the Adelaide Art Gallery. Other years have seen awesome performances from opponents in finals, but no one is getting close to the Defenestrators this year. They own the four highest scores that the league has seen to date.

That is just scary. Paul could’ve had any opponent in any week and won. There have been five scores in the 1900s and Paul has four – the other was Nelson who eked out a 1901 in round 1. The Defenestrators are very well positioned…

Matt Crouch and Josh Kelly are soon to return from injury.

Solomon’s Soldiers (1561) vs Redshins (1781)