The July trip to Melbourne for Series 3 of the F-League was always going to be a challenge for the Boomerangs Men’s squad of 2013.
In this Series they were drawn to play three of the toughest opponents they would encounter this season in Dural Warriors, Sydney Scorpions and the Vic Vipers – the three teams occupying the first three positions on the competition ladder.
The Boomerangs men have met these three teams already this season, but not all on the same weekend! Series 1 saw a match up with Dural Warriors for a 4-1 victory to last year’s F-League Champions. This first game of the 2013 season saw the Boomerangs still a little tentative and coming to grips with some major line up changes from 2012. Also in Series 1, the Boomerangs met Vic Vipers and as a result of a massive defensive effort from the team – led by ‘keeper Keiran Stroh – the Boomerangs pulled off a sensational 5-2 victory. The first square off against the Scorpions was during Series 2, where the newest of Sydney clubs outplayed the Boomerangs to win 4-2 — the only defeat of Series 2 in Melbourne.
So it was with some trepidation that the coach and players headed down to Melbourne for Series 3 – and a crucial mid season examination of where the Boomerangs stood in the 2013 competition. In 2012, the two Series’ in Melbourne were a disappointment for the Boomerangs and three straight losses in Series 4 of 2012 consigned the Boomerangs to no higher than 4th place on the final competition ladder that year.
The first game of the weekend for the Boomerangs was against Dural Warriors on Saturday afternoon. Daniel Fulton got the Boomerangs off to the best possible start with a goal inside two minutes. This lead however, was only to be short-lived as Dural kicked back with two quick goals before the ten minute mark. With Dural leading 2-1 at half time, the Boomerangs came out determined to take it to last year’s premiers, and the resultant goal by Jake Wilsener was due reward. 2-2 with 12 minutes remaining, and despite intense effort (from both teams), that’s the way the scoreline remained. A great effort by the boys to take away a point – but they would rue missed opportunities that could have resulted in a full return of 3 competition points.
The second game – an early 8am kick off on Sunday – was against Vic Vipers. The Boomerangs were full of confidence for this game – knowing that they had beaten the Vipers in an earlier clash in Sydney. The Vipers on the other hand, were keen to atone for that earlier loss – their only one to date – and put in a huge effort to nullify the the Boomerangs in the first half. Three early goals saw the Vipers sit on a three goal advantage into the half time break. Coach Aitchison fired the boys up at half time and they came out like a team on a mission. Three goals in eight minutes (Reeves, Ciminelli, Wilsener) brought the Boomerangs right back into the game. Vic Vipers though, spoiled the fairy tale ‘come from behind win’ and scored a fourth with eight minutes remaining. Several good chances for both teams were not capitalised on in that last eight minute stanza and the final score remained an honourable 4-3 loss. So close…..
The final game of the weekend saw the Boomerangs up against a depleted Sydney Scorpions – and it was a must win game for the Boomerangs to salvage competition points from the weekend. The Scorpions seemed somewhat ‘out of sorts’ during this Series and only just managed to defeat East Coast Heat 4-3, before being soundly outplayed by Dural 6-2 on Saturday evening – their second only defeat of the season (after going down to Vic Vipers in Round 2). They also lost valuable leader Lachlan Wright to a red card during the Dural match; he was resultantly unable to play against the Boomerangs. This left them with a squad of only eight players, and after ‘keeper Maiorana was red carded just prior to half time, seven only players able to be fielded. Regardless of personnel issues (and the Boomerangs had their own with Sean Byrne also red carded in the first half), the boys smelled blood early and went hard for a big win. Three nil at half time (with goals to Reeves and Cal Smith (2)) brought thoughts of sitting back and defending the lead, however the Boomerangs went even harder in the second half and in a five minute period they slotted home four goals (including an own goal). Jake Wilsener polished off the match with a fine hat trick for the Boomerangs to dominate in an 8-2 victory.
So the return of a win, a draw and a loss, was probably within expectations, although the Boomerangs know that they can easily match it with the best teams in the competition, and with a little bit of luck, and more hard work, they can certainly defeat any team in the competition on their day.
The remaining series’, Series 4 at the AIS Canberra, and Series 5 in Sydney, sees the Boomerangs matched against four teams currently below them on the competition table. With a maximum of 12 points available from four wins, the Boomerangs could end up on 28 competition points (and only four season losses). This will likely see them finish in third position on the table – however this does depend on other teams’ results and possibly goal difference.
The Finals of the competition are to be held on the weekend of Series 5 in Sydney and sees 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 in the semi finals followed by the Grand Final play off between the semi winners.