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On a beautiful day for footy in Atlanta, the Cincinnati Dockers were to face the Atlanta Kookaburras -- but unfortunately, the Dockers had informed the Kookas earlier in the week that they would probably only be able to bring eight or nine players, and under the rules of the Mid-American Australian Football League regarding minimum player numbers, would have to forfeit the game. They were told that since the ground was already booked and everything was already arranged, to come on down, and there would still be an unofficial practice match played. Two or three of them must have decided it was not worth the trouble to travel all that way just for a forfeit, as in the end, they only managed to turn up with six players.
With Atlanta Coach Wayne Kraska vacationing back in Australia, Assistant Coach/Captain Brent Bacon was in charge of the team, and made the decision to fill out the Dockers' side with Atlanta's Australian players, leaving the Kookaburras' jumpers to be filled out almost entirely by the club's American players. It was certainly going to be interesting to see how the Americans would fare against the Aussies!
As it turned out, the Americans held up pretty well, at least for three quarters. The "Cincinnati" side came out of the gate strong, with goals to Justin Biggs, Bjorn Farrugia, and another to Biggs, to "Atlanta's" one behind. Then Thad Sheffield slotted one through for "Atlanta", and it was back-and-forth for the remainder of the quarter, with Biggs all over the forward line all day and kicking two more for the quarter for "Cincy", and Ricky Challen and Paul Cargal adding one each for the "Kookas", to end the first quarter: "Cincinnati" 5.4.34 to "Atlanta" 3.2.20.
The second quarter was more of a defensive affair, as the two sides slugged it out in the middle of the ground. At one point, two Kookaburras teammates, wearing opposite jumpers on the day, were even sent off for having a bit of a blue! This may have just been a meaningless exhibition game, but no one out there on the field was treating it as such. Newcomer Joel Thickins took the mark of the season so far in last week's Metro game, leaping for a beautiful "spekkie" in the dying seconds to preserve his side's six-point win -- and he showed that he's going to be a future Kookaburras star by taking another nice grab late in this quarter of his first full-scale footy game. Damien Lee kicked two goals for the quarter, along with another from Biggs, for "Cincy", while "Atlanta" got one more from Challen. Half time scores: "Cincinnati" 8.6.54 to "Atlanta" 4.4.28.
By half time, it was looking like the Aussies had started to pull away, but in the third quarter the Americans showed they weren't going to lay down just yet. Alan Mobley continued to show just why he's the Kooka's fitness coach, and US Revolution national team representatives BJ Gambaro and Ben Crist were getting lots of touches, as well. Jason Barnes, Thickins, and first-year player Paul Cargal were looking impressive. Cincinnati players Aaron Leitze and Kyle Strenski were hard at it all day for the "Dockers". "Atlanta" actually had more scoring chances this quarter, but their (in)accuracy at goalkicking let them down, as they kicked 3.4 to "Cincy's" 4.1. Mike Frost, Barnes, and Justin Diamond kicked the goals for the "Kookas", while "Cincy" got two more from Biggs, and one each from Bacon and Farrugia, to end the quarter at: "Cincinnati" 12.7.79 to "Atlanta" 7.8.50.
After Bacon had warned the "Cincy" squad during the three quarter time huddle that there were less than five goals in it, and not to get overconfident, as they certainly didn't have the game in the bag yet -- he looked to be prophetic, as "Atlanta" came out for the final quarter and scored first. Tony Broughton's 17-year old son Rakim, playing in his first-ever game, took a nice mark in the forward line, and then put the ball right between the big sticks to cut the "Cincy" lead to 23 points. Was it the start of the "big comeback"? Unfortunately, no -- that was to be the last scoring for the "Kookas", as the legs ran out and the wheels fell off from that point. The "Dockers" slammed in the final 6.3, with two goals each to Farrugia, Dan Heffernan, and Biggs, to run away 62 point winners. Final scores: "Cincinnati" 18.10.118 to "Atlanta" 8.8.56.
The OFFICIAL score of the game, as per the MAAFL rules regarding forfeited games, was recorded as: Atlanta Kookaburras 72, Cincinnati Dockers 51 -- the average winning and losing scores from the other MAAFL games on the weekend.
A big thanks go out to the Dockers players who made the trip down anyway, knowing that they had already forfeited the game before they had even set foot on the field, and allowing us to still put on an entertaining game for the supporters, and also be able to get some of our new recruits some game time in a real, non-Metro game that they might not have otherwise been selected into the side for. And based on their first efforts, Joel Thickins, Rakim Hall, and Scott Rogers looked like they might could have long careers ahead of them as Kookas.
Also, thanks to all the officials, volunteers and other support staff, sponsors, and supporters, as well as Nigel Packer on the microphone, for making it a great day out at the footy. Atlanta Americans 3.2 4.4 7.8 8.8.56 Cinci/Atlanta Aus 5.4 8.6 12.7 18.10.118 Best Players: ATL: Mobley, Thickins, Barnes, Cargal, Hall CNI: Leitze, Farrugia, Strenski, Scholtman, Diamond Goalkickers: ATL: Challen 2, Cargal, T Sheffield, Barnes, Diamond, Frost, Hall 1 each CNI : Biggs 9, Farrugia 4, Heffernan 2, Lee 2, Bacon 1.
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