BOX HILL NORTH 13.15. 93 def. CAULFIELD  5.2. 32

Goal Kickers: I. Chaplin 3, S. Cunliffe 2
Best Players: I. Chaplin, T. Hammond, J. Pitts, S. Cunliffe, D. Loetje, S. Cossart-Walsh

Sunny Box Hill and the clubbies gathered and once again introduced themselves to the new faces with the playing stocks again plundered by the ressies who themselves ended up short.  More blokes out than a collegians 5 year reunion.

Our opposition were 45 minutes into their full ground warmup when we filed out for a stretch before play with the instruction to not get injured with a thin bench.  Laden with Nguyen’s and a couple of token Mediterranean’s, the opposition were not overly tall but they sure could run and jump.

The mini railway was in full swing at the southern end and was definitely confusing one umpire in his third consecutive week of umpiring Box Hill. Whenever the train whistle sounded he gave a free thinking he had accidentally blown his own. 

Stocky started one out deep in the forward line and soon built a bit of a cult following amongst the reserves and crowd from Box Hill. They may be learning football but they appeared to have mastered sledging early. 

It was a great tackling effort across the board. Unfortunately there was a game long difference in interpretation between dropping the ball and having it jarred loose in a tackle. You required a second blind turn for a prior opportunity. It often reminded me of Bartlett  throwing the ball out in front of him. Furthermore there was a difference in interpretation between the two umpires on several rules, in particular,  the practice of sitting on blokes heads but not touching the ball in attempted marking contests. When I asked if one umpire could yellow card the other, I was told no but I could tell he thought it was a good idea.

Gardie was backing himself to take a few more pack marks and is really growing in confidence as the season progresses. Hammo continues to win the hard nut in the middle and also quarterbacked with the kickins. Sort of like Luke Hodge without the corkies.  Conly was enjoying the chance to fly against blokes his own size and was equally determined at ground level. Pittsy, Simon and Nick all gave hard contests through the middle whilst Fraze and Farrel continue to shrink in girth but grow in stature on the field.  We might have a couple of Nick Steven’s here ,couple of cash cows for your dream team.

Half time and Colin’s absence was immediately noticed with no agent orange. Bystander Rhino, fresh from the twos, was talked into helping out and his 5^th and 6^th quarters were very good with solid leading and marking on the wing. Johnny Whitmee was smarter and kept his distance until after the game. 

We decided on a new forward structure for the second half. Looking like our most potent avenue to goal, the Ice Cube came into play and we managed to sneak a couple via “Icezac”  with some smart leads into space followed by some accurate conversion. Simon Cunliffe also nabbed a couple, the best a raking drop punt into the wind in the last. Note for the new blokes if Simon has the ball anywhere forward of the centre, don’t bother leading, his hearing deteriorates close to goal.

A little bit of short man syndrome led to a post siren scuffle at the ¾ break and it it looked like so much fun, Box Hill cleared the bench ice hockey style and the coaches, runners, physios all joined  in. Keen not to miss out on the fun, Stocky’s cheer squad also ran on to take the opportunity to get close to the great man.  Unable to spot him in the mosh, they were content to grab any blue jumper. So we were outnumbered roughly 2 to 1 and feeling a little like General Custer. 

The older umpire eyes bulging and close on hyperventilation, reached for the yellow and ordered the number 41 and number 39 to be delivered to the bench for 15 minutes. The little bloke who started it all got off scot free whilst the the two blokes given their marching orders had nothing to do with it. I went across to the Box Hill huddle and appealed for calm and we managed to play a fairly sedate last quarter with their extra numbers off the bench allowing them to run out the game well.  Luckily they were about as accurate as the Collingwood number 4 and couldn’t hit a factory wall with a semi automatic.

I understand the need to encourage new sides in the competition but ignoring minor issues like supporter pitch invasions and then yellow carding our bloke for language after a shanked kick are not going to help Box Hill in the longer term. They were deserved winners on the day but like Monash, should probably enter their team against other first 18 sides via D4.

Next week sees us look toward a resurgent Scotch with some degree of optimism or at the very least blind faith that if Melbourne can do it, so can we, as we move Fish off the long term injury list and maybe Butch from the long term under the thumb list.  Hopefully they have finished the change rooms so there is not the nude run over gravel  from the portable to the showers like last year.