Submitted by Jo on March 22, 2010 - 1:51pm
Posted in
The South Australian Men’s 30s team competing at 2010 NTL this year consisted predominantly of AUTC players and finished in win/loss 7th out of 14th nationally. Based on for and against, the final team position slid to 9th spot but notably 50% of the round games were won this year in comparison with only one round win in 2009. This is a significant improvement, particularly as many of the teams had former Australian Opens players in the M30 division for the first time, which made the competition much stronger than last year.
The reflective mood in the M30 team is a mix between satisfaction and disappointment. Satisfied with the team improvement, but disappointed from the knowledge that the team had the ability but not the experience that some other teams had. It has certainly left a bitter sweet taste in the playing group who will be all the more hungrier next time to make the semi-finals and beyond.
What the final result doesn’t reflect is the hard work that every player undertook. Training twice a week from October to December and then three sessions a week from January to NTL on top of playing in State League, Colley Reserve, and both City and AUTC competitions; these guys were very fit and played very hard. The wet, muddy conditions of the ‘Sunshine Coast’ were not something that you can train for and those teams that had prior experience in playing in these conditions got off to early defendable leads. In the dry the team was highly competitive and in all conditions showed great resolve to continue fighting to the wire.
We all have certainly returned much wiser for the experience and have all been discussing strategies and areas that we can improve on which is a very encouraging sign. So when you see them next on the field, tip your hat to these guys before they run past or dive under you, and if you get time to catch them, ask them just how good they are, because they are!
Mick Gray
SA Men's 30s coach
In trying conditions for the first time in over a decade the South Australian Women’s Open team participated in the National Touch League.
We can take many positives from the tournament including blooding 3 players still eligible for under 18s and under 20s. It was extremely heartening to see us be competitive in every match. Despite some of the scores against the eventual finalists, we pushed teams, holding them out for long periods of time. We went in with the attitude to try and win every game and push our more experienced opponents. We definitely achieved this.
Throughout the tournament we progressed and improved. After the first day we juggled around player positions and roles, this really seemed to help us utilise our strengths. It is a credit to the girls and their attitude that they were able to react to this in such a positive manner. This malleability illustrates the teamwork we had built in the months prior to the tournament.
You can look at statistics in many ways, however given we won two games, were definitely within striking distance of our last two games and lost by the same margin to Suns (semi-finalist) as the Eagles, who finished third in the other Women’s Open pool, we can definitely say we are not as far off the mark as perhaps some of our eastern state counterparts think.
Our most memorable moments were our victory against ACT, which saw an awesome second half defensive effort in sludge. Our captain, Nicole Mitchell set the tone of the game with her dive to save a score in the first five minutes. It was one of those games that was always close, however I always felt we had control of the match.
Personally my most memorable moment was our first half against Southern Suns. Suns are always making the semis so I knew this game would be extremely tough. We learnt our most valuable lesson of the tournament in this half, ball control, completing your sets of six and getting the ball out of your own half at all costs. I would estimate our percentage of completed sets of six was 80 %, which is why with a mammoth defensive effort the score was only 2-0 at half time. This 80 % figure of completed sets of six tends to be the benchmark for the best NTL teams. It was a truly inspirational half and proved SA can match it with the best.
There is still a lot of work to be done for us to be consistently competitive against the top half NTL sides. We showed we can compete in patches, however keeping the intensity and consistency for the full 40 minutes required is a big thing separating us from the all of the finalists.
I am extremely positive towards South Australia's future prospects in Women’s Open touch. I look at our competitions and there are some fantastically talented prospects coming through our ranks at all ages. We have debuted 4 very young players, who I see as being the backbone of our side for years to come.
As I said to our team, it is the journey which is most important and it was a hell of a journey for all of us. We created a spirited, hard working and encouraging team, all aspects I like to see as a coach. I was extremely proud with how they performed.
I would like to thank Mick Gray, Adam Johnson and the entire team for the journey over the last 5 months. This is the start of a journey for SA into Opens NTL and I look forward to seeing where that journey takes us in the future.
Mark Jones
SA Women’s Open Coach
