Sunday, March 17, 2013
By BEN HARRIS
Touch Football legend Mark Boland rates Saturday’s win in the Elite Eight Men’s final as one of his best of his career.
After a horrid preparation for the 2013 X-Blades National Touch League, the Mavericks did not have the best start to the tournament.
They had one win, two draws and a loss from their first four matches.
To add further headaches, they lost Australian Men’s Opens top gun Dylan Hennessey for the tournament due to a shoulder injury.
But they regrouped and stormed home to take out the men’s opens Elite Eight title 5-4 over the New South Wales Mets.
“I’ve achieved a lot of things as a player. As a coach that was fantastic. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so elated as I do right now. I’m so proud of the boys,” Boland said.
“We’ve come from far and wide. We didn’t have a lot of chances to train. We had one weekend together and it was pouring rain. We got kicked off the fields, we ended up getting a tin of paint and putting a line down on a park, so that was our training.”
It was the third year in a row the Mets had fallen one win short of a title.
Their pain and disappointment of losing were evident on their faces.
Mavericks’ skipper Joel Willoughby said the win was one of the best he has been involved with.
“I had a kid six months ago and that was the top, this is right behind it. I’m just speechless,” Willoughby said.
“We lost our best players in Dyl [Hennessey] in round two, we were shocked because we weren’t playing too good but I haven’t been in a team that has dug so deep. I haven’t been involved in a team like that.
“We have only got one middle that has ever played middle before, the rest were just making up the numbers.
“They are a great bunch of blokes and we fought for one another.”
It was a brilliant start to the match with the first three sets of six producing touchdowns.
NSW Country had the better part of the opening stages as they went on to take a 4-1 lead thanks to touchdowns to Paddy Coelho and Matthew Prowse.
But back-to-back replies from Mets’ Tim Good and Dean Springfield within a minute of each other made the score 4-3 at half-time.
The second half was like a heavyweight boxing bout. One side would throw their best punches then the other would reply with the same.
It wasn’t until 10 minutes into the second stanza before another touchdown was scored.
Mavericks’ Alyd Owen slipped through some lazy defence to score and make it 5-3.
But from the next set, the Mets’ Ben Moylan scored to make it 5-4.
Both sides had their opportunities to add to their totals but the defensive lines were strong.
The Mets had one last chance to level the scores when they were piggybacked up the field through back-to-back penalties but their attack was foiled when Coelho made an intercept.
It was the final nail in the coffin as the full-time siren sounded.
The crowd showed their appreciation of the match by standing up and applauding.
NSW COUNTRY MAVERICKS 5 (Paddy Coelho 2, Dylan Thompson, Matthew Prowse, Alyd Owen touchdowns) def NSW METS 4 (Steve Roberts, Tim Good, Dean Springfield, Ben Moylan touchdowns).
For all the news, results and information from the 2013 X-Blades National Touch League, you can get it through the following ways:
Websites
Social Media
Facebook – www.facebook.com/touchfootballaustralia
Twitter – www.twitter.com/touchfootyaus (be sure to use the hashtag #NTL2013)
Instagram – search for ‘Touch Football Australia’
YouTube - www.youtube.com/touchfootballaus
Touch Football Australia will be streaming matches live on their YouTube page.
- Links:
Men's opens final
