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Loyal supporters,
The Auckland Buccaneers fell far short of their best football when they
took on Wellington in the inaugural NPC decider. The weather was wet,
without wind and the ground was a small, circular field which suited the
bigger, stronger Wellingtonians. This was no excuse for the
aimless kicking and general lack of attack on the ball from the usually
more skilful Aucklanders.
The Bucks were
not helped when our own Steve Froggatt (then playing as second-change
ruck-man) cartwheeled over the back of his opposite
sufferring a minor concussion and tearing two right-shoulder ligaments
in the process of popping his "AC-joint". Jarad Evans worked
without reward in various positions: centre-half forward (ably marked
there by ex-pat Tim Stevens), and first-change ruckman. Dave Goddall
laboured under a hamstring strain which he brought with him from his
Victorian football competition and had to be replaced after Richard
Pidgeon slid into his knee while trying to recover possession in the
forward-line. Chris Taylor was given no favours by the weather as
he could not use his sheer pace and straight-line running to his usual
effect and the coach saw fit to use him only in the opening quarter.
Pidgeon revelled in the wet conditions but failed to link to good
effect as the Wellington centreman used their experience to dominate the
centre-square. Our Aussie guns from Uni, Karl Martin and Tim Burdeu were
under-utilised on the flanks as few Bucks saw the wisdom of switching
play from the leeward side to the windward side of the field - from
where attacks on goal were possible.
The Wellington team won all quarters with a modest revival shown by the
Bucks in the second quarter when we had use of the zephyr. We left
Wellington with our tails between our legs ruing what might have been.
The only consolation was the naming of Steve Froggatt into the New
Zealand team (as was Tim Stevens with a late run), with Richard Pidgeon
named as on of 5 emergencies to the 30 man squad to play in the
International Cup in Melbourne in the second-half of August 2002.
Club training continues every Saturday at 9.30am at Vellenoweth Green
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