Round 9 – August 6th – VS Saints
Pre Game
It was the inaugural Whistler Cup. Were the boys were playing the Saints for a trophy that Joyboy hadn’t placed his genitals in. So the stakes were very high. I believe it is the only clean cup in BC footy. The Eagles and the Bayhawks kicked off the first game, with some of the Eagles filling in for the Hawks. It was a game that favoured one end, and with the run of the Hawks, they ran over the Eagles for their first loss of the year. The stage was set, the weather was beautiful and the ground was square for the Cup match.
The Cougars only had 16 players make the trip to the magical land of Whistler, where bears roam, and people from N.Z. pee blood (ask KEWI). Boz had the boys warmed up well before the start of the match, and it would pay dividends in the first quarter.
1st Quarter
The Coug’s knew it would be a tough first quarter, as they were kicking into the wind. But the boys raced out of the block like, well, Cougars I suppose. Ryan was dominating the ruck and Brod, Hoppy and Boz were making the most of every clearance. Boz Popped up to Kick 2 for the quarter, one magical shot from around 65 out, at a 60 degree angle. Rocket must have thought he was a tall forward, leading marking and kicking true. Colgate and Gave chipped in the other two for the quarter. The boys in the backline were doing well, with Macca doing a stella job, holding Joyboy and the saints to only one for the quarter.
2nd Quarter
The Cougars started the 2nd with the wind and a four goal lead. But the Saints were the ones who came out of the block, led by Locky, Vards and Mike, they took control of the center bounces and put the Cougs backline under a lot of pressure. With the small ground it was only ever one kick from the forward line. Joyboy was still being a pest, but was being self extremely well by Macca. Simo basically gave him the easiest goal of his career with a poor dropped mark, and as everyone know you cant tackle a giant, Joycee kicked a nice snapping goal. But the cougars responded with some well driven plays from the half back line, and Will dominating the switches and pushed the ball deep into the forward line. Rocket popped up on a nice lead to kick another as did Gav. Will kicked a great goal for 50 out, after taking a nice mark. The Cougs went into the half up by 19pt, with the Saints had all the momentum.
3rd Quarter
The Third quarter belonged 100% to the Saints. They kicked 4 goals 3 and dominated most of the play, using the wind to their advantage. Vards and Mike were everywhere, and it stated to show that the Cougs had no bench vs theSaints 5. The quarter ended with teh Saints up by 8 points. Boz really focused the boys on the fact we hadn`t won the Whistler cup in 3 years, and we had to run into some momentum for the finals. It was great to see everyone listening and the senior players imputing.
4th Quarter
The 4th quarter was very topsy turvy (see turfs I got you in there). Rocket again popped up to kick the 1st of the quarter, with an awesome snap that went under the defender, and the Cougs were within 2 pts. But then Vards pushed forward and set up a goal for Sutho, the Saints answered pushing back to 8pts. That was followed by another goal and it was pushed out to 14PTs. The Saints Coaching staff then ran out the message to go man on man, lockdown mode. It was an arm wrestle for the next 10 minutes,. Colgate pushed himself to the center and locked down Vards, it was the tightest tag since the Gay pride parade dominatrix float. Then Ryan pulled deep (mind you 12 hours later he was apparently pulling a train!) and begun winning the Ruck contests, Brod capitalized and started getting clearances. He then pushed deep to kick and goal and reduce the deficit to 8PTs. Will was dominating across the half back line, and Gav was moved forward again. There was a few points kicked by the Cougs, then when it was down to 6PTS Gav missed slight but scored an ever important point. From this point forward it was the Hop show. He took what could only be called a Warrior mark (no relation to what he had done 4 hrs earlier) in the pocket. He was on an 88 degree angle, used his footy brain and the wind to sail the ball through. Ryan won the next ruck tap and the ball was pushed forward again, Hop jumped on it and kicked another. The Cougs won by 9 PTS.
Post Game
The boys had pulled off the best win, best 4th quarter, for the year. Boz was extremely impressed, the boys have set themselves up for next week with the first final vs top of the ladder eagles. The Saints had preformed extremely admirably after a quiet start overcoming a 19PT deficit late in the first to be ahead at the start of the 4th. They were also missing their best 2 defenders, coach Frosty, who can’t seem to climb ladders and Bono, who had a sore toe, but could still ride his motorbike! It will be a great match should they play again this year.
Goal Scores: Rocket 3, Gav, Boz, Hop -2, Colgate, Will, Brod-1
Best: Rocket, Brod, Macca, Will, Boz, Ryan #1