First I want to start by thanking Jimmy Townsend - what a star. He has done so much for this club this year - can't thank you enough, both personally and from the club.
Massive thanks to Purge for coaching the 3 Grand Finals - having a non-playing coach to call subs, be a sounding board in timeouts and someone to make subtle but vital changes is so important.
CLUB LUNCH - Is Saturday October 11. It is at the Seven Stars - it $50 per head, for the you get a meal and 3 hours of drinks. Get there at 12.30pm for 1.00pm start. We will be awarding all the team's MVPS and Best Team Man, Sean Heylen Medal (for best player in Intercol), Best Club Man and Club Champion. There are 3 Life Members being awarded this year. We will also be having the yearly NBA Auction - Big A will be sending out the standards for the Auction soon. I have Facebook'd those of you on FB and texted the others of you. Can you please respond ASAP.
Another awesome year everyone - let's have fun at the lunch. Keep the cash coming through for the Microbrewery tour on Saturday November 22.
To the reports:
A's v Gateway A - Written by Liam - We went into the GF in the easiest way yet over the 10 year run (with the exception of 06 when a technical forfeit by HUVC got us through - that year we played in a GF and lost our last three games, incredibly difficult to do!), with a controlled win over Saints and after a great year, we should have had solid confidence. But in spite of this and a fast start, and perhaps missing the presence of Orken, we snatched at too much through the first half. Throwing passes into hands and not taking some opportunities presented to us. Also, Gateway came out of the blocks just as hard and they continued to press up the floor and force the tempo. They were really good. By the end of the first half they'd opened up a gap and they held control and continued to ease away. Every time we got a good stop or finished well they'd respond. Credit to them. Corey was great inside and we didn't get it to him enough. Tauney shot like Madman from the baseline and his scoring kept us in touching distance. No one was bad, but no one was great.
When it comes to grand finals I think the passion element can be overstated at times, particularly by TV stations, but Gateway lifted for this game more than we did. Was it because we didn't want it enough? Personally, I don't think so, but what I don't think is in question is how much they lifted. From our experience, that was their best performance of the year. That wasn't our best performance of the year. Without Orken we still had enough to win, but we couldn't make it happen. They shot well and played good D. Congratulations to Gateway on the Premiership. Now we have to learn from that and come back stronger next year.
*Palky comment - not having Orken cannot be understated. I think Gateway were very lucky he didn't play - he is the team's leading scorer and the anchor to the defense. Liam doesn't want to make excuses ... I think it is a big 6'7" excuse.
D's v Unley Park A - Written by Simon - After watching the heroics of the E’s & A’s in the games before us, we knew it was our time to shine. With the full squad of 8, we watched the Unley warm-up with interest – their #32 Napoleon Dynamite lookalike wasn’t suited up – a bonus for the D’s given a recent Palk blog declaring him the best player in our grade. Still, 6 of the other 7 players were dangerous (the one that wasn’t still scored on us unfortunately). We had a game plan that worked against them – scramble to get out to every shooter and don’t allow open looks. We started with some energy, particularly Frangers with his early 3, and Dangerous driving and cutting the lanes – including one great veteran play with maximum hangtime for an and-one. Kobe was battling hard and hit a couple, and was forced to take the lion’s share for a few minutes while the Road Train donated a little more of his body to the Club – he’d already given teeth this year, this time it was blood. Josh came off the bench for some aerial assistance & Palky & Simon also came on but both of us are working out what for – we’ll settle on defense and cool heads. Ned was working hard from the top but couldn’t quite find the holes he had in previous weeks, but was dishing out to good effect. To be honest we didn’t use our inside game as much as we should have.
Our D was working ok, they certainly weren’t getting many outside looks, but were sneaking it in along the base and converting. With a foul to give, we ensured there were no cheap shots & at halftime we held a decent 24-18 lead, Frangars with 9, Stu 8 & Kobe 6.
The second half was lively, with a good spread among ours, the half blind Road Train (one contact was forced up the eyeball) throwing himself around for a solid 6. Frangers was again busy, with another 3, mid-range 2 and 2 free throws when we needed them. Stu was finishing really well, and Kobe had his hands in everything.
Unley had a bit of a surge to close the margin, one play in particular was stopped by a massive 2 handed block from Ned, who was flying through the air backwards at the time from memory. Epic.
With a minute to go, they hit a 3 to bring it back to 3 points but we would not be denied! We ran out 47-42 winners – final tally was Frangers with 16, Stu 14, Kobe 8 and Road Train 6 points and 300ml of blood.
Thanks to Purge for his work on the side coaching us, some poignant words from Jack and additional sideline support from Chad & G. nd a big thankyou to Jimmy for his stellar effort (again) on Saturday to score – buy that man a beer!
It was a great game to be part of, and well umpired too – a really good level for SACBA, allowing us to at least have a physical game without it turning into a game from the stripe. Thanks boys for an awesome season!
E's v SPOC C - Written by Max - Over the course of the season the E's had beaten SPOC C on all but one occasion, but it had never been easy. Perhaps a little out of rhthym from the week off and with lots of GF nerves the E's looked shakey. A couple of wayward passes and some confusion on defence and the E's had made the start they were hoping to avoid.
Meanwhile, Saints defence was suffocating. They were clogging up the middle but still getting to our outside shots. The refs were happy for a physical game and the Saints big men were willing to foul rather than allow us any inside shot opportunities. Our usual tactic of driving and dishing to Bubs and Brad just wasn't working.
At the other end of the court Saints seemed to have all the luck, fumbling in points from off balance jumpers, and some easy points from offensive rebounds. When Roughie was sent off the court with blood gushing from a cut to his head we were in trouble. By half time, Saints had pushed out to a 15-9 lead.
With Roughie's head duct taped back together (thanks to a quick thinking Phil), the game was there for the taking in the second half. Though with a couple of quick baskets by Saints their lead was quickly out to double figures. The 'E's stayed in touch though with some accurate outside shooting. Roughie's head injury had obviously affected his memory because he forgot that he isn't normally a 3 point threat. He put in two 3 pointers that never looked like missing, the second so spot on that it hardly looked like it touched the net. It was looking like the game might slip away from us at any moment so we changed to a zone defence. This seemed to surprise Saints who with a little more space put up a couple of rushed shots. The different spacing aided the E's transition game and got Bubs running. In the half court Dan Foo was driving hard at the basket, completing a tough 3 point play.
When Cam drew a big charging foul the momentum looked like it was swinging our way. Then Pritch hit a 3 pointer and we were within 5 points. Saints didn't flinch though and they countered with a 3 of their own on the next possession, and all of a sudden the game was back out to 12.
There is a photo of Dillon shooting a 3 pointer in the second half, and in the background the scoreboard shows us down 36-24 with only 6:51 remaining. He made the shot and it sparked a 14-0 run for the E's.
In an amazing performance Dillon hit 3 shots from the perimeter in a row. Bubs wound up and put in an inside shot and was fouled. With 1 minute remaining Dillon hit another shot from the corner to put us in the lead by 2 points. Saints attacked the basket hard and their best free throw shooter got fouled on the drive. He only made 1 of 2 from the line and the E's had possession again with 40 seconds remaining, E's ahead 38-37.
Saints were in shock and with all of the E's outside shooting had only 3 team fouls for the half. They either had to foul repeatedly in quick succession and rack up some team fouls, or allow us to run down the shot clock and hope for a rebound. In their panic they let the E's run 20 seconds off the clock and then fouled. This put 15 seconds back on the shot clock and time for neither strategy to work.
Amazing win and an unforgettable comeback to finish off a dominant season for the E's. Everyone played well and did what it took to win. Dillon had 15 and Bubs had 7.
