The Snake Pit

The Cardinals had a big win over Ely Park who appear to be this seasons easy beats going down by more than 20 goals for the 4th week in a row.  Unfortunately the Snakes were beaten by over 14 goals by a stong Therry Penola, apparently their number 9 carved it up again.  Masnfield (Snakes player) said that there were a few outs and that the boys need a moral boost after playing two strong sides and getting easily beaten.

I think we have to re look at some strategy in terms of mixing up the Cardinals and Snakes teams to match the opponents. We still have round 8 before the sides need to be decided.

For the Cardinals, acting captain Dan Buckthorp played well off the backline and looks to be getting better every game.  Big Andrew Bowan was back in the ruck and did a good job giving our mids the first ball.  We really should have beaten them by 30 goals as we didn’t put much on the scoreboard in the 2nd and 3rd quaters.  At one stage we had kicked 7 points in a row until Chugga kicked one from 50 out with an opportunistic grab out of a big pack (yes, he loved it).

Next week ill get one of the Snakes boys to do a write-up.

Get pumped for Binh Minh. The invite will be out soon, its limited to 80 places.

The seniors moved to 4th on the division 3 ladder with an impressive upset of the more fancied Aquinas OC. In horrible conditions, our boys were relentless in the contests, moving the ball forward at times in rugby packs. Aquinas had no answer for big woody, who roved all day alongside big ben. Benny Z was great around the packs, laying tackles and making clearances. When the ball cleared out, dyl and splinter made use of the open spaces pushing the ball down to modra and Seb.

This was never going to be a high scoring game, so when the score was 6 goals to 1 mid way though the second term, the game looked to be in the bag. Unfortunately, Seb was then sent off the field with a red card, and subsequently Aquinas kicked 4 of the next 5 goals to get back into the game with us playing a man down. Once Seb came back on in the third, RC stabilized and kicked away to seal the win. The last quarter was mud bath.

Congrats to the seniors, in what was one of our more memorable wins. Next week see’s the rematch of last years grand final, at kb v St Francis Xavier.

None of us really enjoy the trek out to Oak Park.  Its a long drive towards the airport, the ground is in a valley with plenty of wind, and you basically have to drive through tolls to get there.  We lost be a few goals last year and unfortunately this game was no different.

We lost the toss and and kicked against the wind in the first. We had it in our half for most of the quarter but again couldn’t put the score on the board and went into quarter time a couple down.  From there we never got the margin back.  Kicking with a decent wind in the first 5 minutes of the last we put on three quick goals to be just 1 goal down.  I was sitting in the back line thinking we’ve got it but a few tired players and some injuries caught up with us in the last 5 minutes and Therry Penola ran away with the game.

Our captain and club vice president Rowan Pizzy copped a corky in the first 5 minutes which sucked and Collins twisted his ankle in the first quarter after just setting up a goal and looking dangerous.  With Bowdog out and Dakis overseas, Trent rucked all day against 2 opponents and doing a great job wining the tapouts.  Bazz Dufour nailed a few guys with some crunching hits and tackles, a couple late, and was hard at it all day.  Bazz’s bro Sedric, Charlie Logan, jacko and lachy were hard at it as always putting there head over the ball and getting the clearances.  The main problem was manning up.  They always had players sitting 30m off the packs and we just weren’t marking them.

We have Eily Park this week and a bog win should give us some undeserved confidence, but confidence never less.

Good luck to the Snakes this week who are heading out to Oak Park in a bit on rendezvous. They’ve had a tough draw but just lost to Bulleen last week who pummeled some team by 30 goals the week before.  Manis (MID) said they were about a goal down at halftime but with 4 on the bench they just ran out of legs.  The cardinals had emergencies so we’ll ensure this never happens again going forward.

COME ON THE CENTRALS!!!!

Hey Everyone,

We have a new sponsor – BJS Insurance.  Every sponsor we get helps the club grow and subsidise the members.. the players.

Rob Nolan, B&F in 2011 for the Cardinals, works for BJS Insurance and has kindly got his employee to put in a much needed $1000 for the club.

In addition, BJS Insurance is offering RCAFC 25% of any commissions on any business the club refers. Now is the time to start this ball rolling. Most businesses will renew their business insurance in June or July and Rob can provide a free comparison and also ensure a business has appropriate cover.

Here is a little about BJS

The BJS Insurance Group was formed in 1998 and is Australian owned. BJS specialize in commercial insurance broking for many diversified industries including manufacturing, engineering, wholesale, retail and professional services. Refer to our website www.bjsinsurancegroup.com.au for more details.

For all enquiries please contact Rob Nolan (Richmond Central Club Member) on;

BJS Office: 9860 4200
Direct Phone: 9860 4260
Mobile: 0458 016 078
Email: robert.nolan@bjsinsurancegroup.com.au

*Note that home and motor insurance can not be written as stand alone covers but can be included in a package with your business covers.”

“SUPPORT THOSE WHO SUPPORT US!”

Thanks to the Hawthorn Amateur Football Club, the Club XVIII Snakes side will have the opportunity to play a match on the famous Princess Park in Carlton. Our home game against the Spartans has been switched with the round 15 clash so that we can take advantage of the generous offer.

The match is in Round 8, June 16th. The game will kick off at 9:20am… Better early than never!

Our sponsor, Dr Harper from Richmond Fine Dentistry will be at training tonight to fit anyone who wants a new mouthguard.

Richmond Central was defeated by Elsternwick in the seniors by 50 points. Unfortunately for the Snakes, we lost of couple of players to injury ealry in the match, and our early momentum was stalled. We trailed by 3 goals at three quarter time, putting in a gutsy effort to narrow the lead, but the lack of fit players hurt us in the final term.

The reserves had a great first up match, winning by 9 goals. The win was set up by a huge third quarter where the Snakes piled on 7 unanswered goals.

The thirds went down to Kew after leading at half time, and the Cardinals triumphed over Old Paradians.

RC played three matches on Saturday, the first against Melburnians, an A grade clubbies side. Our boys dominated on the scoreboard from the first bounce, and it was a great debut for a bunch of new players.

The reserves match against St Mary’s was marred by an injury to brad wright, who got a knee in the back from the opposition full forward and suffered three broken ribs. The team went on to lose by a few goals, with some good performances by Johnny k, bangers and deck chair.

The seniors went in undermanned, but still came away with a narrow victory against an improved st Mary’s outfit.

The weather was great, the canteen did well, the crowd was noisy. It was nice to have footy back on kb for 2012.

The first regular season game is away to elsternwick, a ground we haven’t played on in 8 years. This is going to be a interesting season.

The week after Easter we have another three practice games at KB. We’ll be playing eley park, and there could be a little fire in that contest. Bring it on snakes!

On Saturday 17th Mar (St.Patricks Day for the Irish amongst us) we will be playing an Intra- Club practice match at the Newhaven College Oval, Phillip Island and then stay overnight at the new Island Accommodation (Hotel Suites & Flashpackers) facility just over the bridge from San Remo and walking distance to the Westernport Hotel which will have music and entertainment on that night.

The aim is to meet at 9.30am for a planning session at the ground and then we will play the intra-club at about 11.00am.
After returning to the accommodation a bus will pick us all up and take us to the Woolamai Picnic Races about mid-afternoon before returning to San Remo or the Woolamai Beach SLSC for the night’s activities.

Accommodation is fairly cheap at $30 a head for a bed in the 12 bunk room, $33 for the 6 bunk room and $38 for a 4 bed ensuite.
Some of us will head down on Friday evening but if you just want to come down on Sat morning that is OK.
Book your own accommodation by going online to www.theislandaccommodation.com.au and mention the RCAFC.
There is a café on site for breakfast in the morning.
More detailed info will come next week.

Ron Nicholson

The cricket season at Richmond City has come to a close, with no teams moving on to the semi-finals. While that’s a little dissappointing for the lovers of leather and willow, it smells sweet to the footy boys, who can return to their home ground and change back to Tuesday and Thursday nights. We’ll be keeping the boots in the bag for at least another week though!

See you at training.

Waz.