SUMMARY
The last time De La played the Blacks was in about 1989 and the cockroach reliably informs me that he had some wispy follicles on his scone. Never let it be said that I think he is a liar, but can you ever imagine the coach with hair? To be honest in the 4 years he’s been doing the job, his scone has served as a beacon of shining emptiness to me as I have made my way to the ground each week.

In terms of the game the stage was set for a fairly intense game as the ladder positions were Blacks 3rd, and the good guys 5th, so it could well be that at the conclusion of hostilities 1 team would go into the break in the four, and the other not, and their season being set up or being one of playing constant catch up for the remaining 10 games. This was unusual as in previous years the ressies has been pretty predictable, but this year it has been anything but.

To the game we were playing the Blacks at the Uni oval in the midst of the leafy surrounds of the University of Melbourne, with all its imposing features along with a wooden shed that serves as a pavilion all overlooking a picturesque playing surface surrounded by the faded white painted fence pickets. The uni oval perfect in every way: except for parking and a playground for the kids. It reminds me of the film “The Life of Brian,” where the People’s Front of Judea hold a meeting and the leader Reg rants about the injustices of the Roman Occupation when he explodes with indignation “what have the Romans ever done for us?” to be greeted by a series of things that the Romans have done. What has the Uni ever done for us? Nothing really, except for serving up a great playing surface, great surroundings, a warm day and the clocks chiming every hour to remind us of the need to fill the parking meter, and for Pickle a step class in the Sports Block which allowed him to leer in the windows for quite a long period of time and made him late for the start, but he said he felt great!!

Let me say this was a game where in many ways De La Ressies got out of jail, the Blacks were pretty good and their form in the 3rd was pretty scary as they ran hard, established a lead and until the last 2 minutes of the 3rd it looked like being enough, and given what had transpired in the 3rd there was nothing to say they would not just carry that on into the last and win pretty handsomely.

Both sides were pretty evenly matched and the ball was criss-crossing the ground at speed, and with a fair amount of precision, the taller Blacks forwards were causing some headaches for the vertically challenged defenders, but the smaller running players of De La were also challenging the Blacks. Overall it was a game of challenges and it was making the game a very even contest.

The 1st Q was highlighted by the Blacks on-ballers working harder to push back and flood our half forward area, which was making life for Nath Roberts and Tom Molan hard, but it was also crowding the area where the ball spilled so our front-and-square players were unable to fully capitalise. Still I thought at the break we were well worth the slim 7 point margin.

In the 2nd it was Blacks who were in the ascendancy and through their harder working on-ballers who were able to feed the tall Full forward with an open forward line and some well weighted kicks were able to claw back our slim advantage, so we retreated to the sheds where we had started – all square.

As stated the 3rd saw the pace of the game stay quite high and it looked like Blacks were starting to get on top and as such it looked like being a bleak day for De La, however the cockroach moved the late call up Yappa to CHF and he started to jump and run into spaces and the extra run he brought to the forward line was instrumental in allowing the on-ballers to run the pill and then deliver the ball deeper into our attacking zone. It could be said that the game turned when a Blacks player went down with what looked like a knee and the stretcher was called, but this happened at the time that Al Roberts took a great pluck about 40 out and after the delay to take off the injured player Al went back and calmly sent the ball over the goalie’s head. From the resultant bounce we cleared and Yappa marked a long way out and on the siren sent the ball deep and it looked like a goal, was called a goal, was then disputed hotly by the Blacks and then finally not a goal, but it appeared from all the body language and the noise that the momentum had swung and it set the stage for an interesting last quarter. Pickle had a few words, the cockroach had a few words, the players reacted and ran out waiting for the Blacks and the stage was set for what would be an intriguing last Q.

In many ways the last was possibly not a true reflection of the game as De La ran away with the result by holding the home side scoreless and kicking 5 goals 3 to record a 24 point win. In the last the on-ballers who had broken even for most of the day, were able to really exert some influence over their opponent and with Nath Roberts having switched into the ruck after the Bus was injured he started to get into the contests getting some valuable hands on the ball to feed Georgie who was instrumental in his efforts and leadership through his willingness to win the ball and feed the runners, Tim Kovess, Tow Ball, Ding and Al Dwyer who then got the ball forward enough to kick away.

Highlights included:

Tom Molan going to CHB Trent Anderson going to FB and both slowing down the taller key forwards of Blacks and also generating some run for us,
Chopper, Roaster, Pitch and Jarvy linking the ball well out of our defensive area, and Roaster employing the fist of justice to great effect including cleaning up Jarvy
Al Roberts being a bit too slippery for his opponent at FF and kicking 3, but also getting involved in holding the ball in,
Georgie, Doooowie, Tint Professor, Tow Ball and Ding working well at stoppages and around the ground,
Lachie Bull and Sauce providing plenty of run and carry,
Lamb Chop, Jez, Jack Jarvis and Tillsy working well providing run forward, but also in making life difficult when we did not have possession by applying pressure on their opponents.

In summary a really satisfying win, given the consequences at stake, as we have now leapfrogged into 3rd, and head into the break with our season opening up and providing some recognition of what needs to be done to be part of late season action.

On a personal note the only dissatisfying thing was not being able to write “Luke Jarvis passes to Jack Jarvis who is no relation, who passes it back to Luke Jarvis who is still no relation,” but I’m sure that given time we will have the opportunity.

Our next home game is at Dairy Bell against Old Trinity, so we need to be aware of the need to keep up our efforts as they will be keen to upset us and provide a springboard for the seniors whose game takes on huge significance for both clubs in season 2008 and beyond. See you at the Dairy Bell 2 weeks on Saturday June 14th when it is De La V Old Trinity – this is gunna be big!