WA Over 60's - 2004 Match Reports

WA vs QLD - Tuesday 28th September

The match started briskly. Queensland scored their first and only goal within the first five minutes. WA was unlucky not to score from 6 penalty corners and their attack from almost the last 3 quarters. QLD won by the solitary goal. It was a close game with a terrific effort from the WA players Derek Hoad from WA was declared best WA player on ground by the QLD players at the after game hospitality celebrations.

WA vs WA Country - Thursday 30th September 11:30am

Two teams of Western Australian Grey Nomads – the WA State Team and WA Country faced each other under glorious spring conditions in Launceston. Country started the fray zealously, putting immediate pressure on State, until Max Stewart cleared the ball to the far end of the field. After that the excitement moved to the State’s attacking circle and a cunning reverse hit by Phil Thunder saw the State a goal up after 7 minutes. 
From then on for the full game State maintained pressure but to no avail in relation to the getting of goals. We had shots and we had “shorts” but no nets; but then neither did Country. The latter gave the State, and the vocal audience of mainly female supporters – after all at 60 and physically fit you are attractive to the opposite sex – a real scare by getting a short corner with a minute to go. In fact Country had two shots, the first was saved but resulted in a second short corner for Country. Their push out this time was adventurous to say the least, the ball being pushed well wide of the receiver: and the siren sounded. The WA State Team won 1 nil. It was a fast game played strongly by both teams. 
Ivan Wilson from WA State was declared best WA player on ground by the Country players at the after game hospitality celebrations.

WA vs NSW - Saturday 2nd October

This match saw the good, the bad and the ugly for WA, but in the reverse order. Again WA started slowly and within 5 minutes NSW goaled following a regrettable defensive error – the ugly. 
Shortly after, following some murky play, NSW slotted home another goal – the bad. Such an episode triggered a revival and WA started to play dominantly, which lasted much of the remainder of the game. WA goaled splendidly shortly after half time, but lacked the finesse to finish off at other times – ‘good’ but not great. As one player commented “WA won a 50 minute game 1 nil, but unfortunately the game administration credited NSW with 2 nil in the first 10 minutes”.  
The final result WA 1 NSW 2. 
Max Stewart from WA was declared best WA player on ground by the NSW players at the after game hospitality celebrations.

WA vs TAS - Monday 4th October 2:30pm

WA took on TAS at Devenport on Monday with the need to win to secure a place in Thursday’s semi-finals. In the pre-match meeting there was a recognition that this had to be a do or die effort. There were numerous suggestions as to how to ensure cohesion among the players, and the means to achieve goals – which had so far been few and far between over 3 matches. 
One suggestion, - actually from the scribe of this paramountly dull account, was that WA had to attack TAS with tactics described as ‘shock and awe’. 
It came to pass that soon after the start of the match, the scribe (Colin Sanders) mis-passed a ball backward to the full back, the intention being to rotate the play to the other side of the field. The result of course was the opposite. The mis-passed ball was intercepted and moved quickly by TAS to an unmarked player at the top of the circle. Thence across the circle to another player and within moments into the WA goal. 
The ‘shock’ was felt throughout the WA contingent and the ‘awe’ was with the Tasmanian players and spectators, who acclaimed the feat with loud laughter and hearty applause. 
Well of course that episode caused dismay all round in WA’s quarters but did stimulate a revival. WA started to show our form. Within 15 minutes the equaliser was gained, and as the game progressed another goal to WA, and so on. 
Moreover, the ‘scribe’ if he has to say so himself, didn’t play too bad after the goal gift to TAS. 
The upshot was that while at one stage WA took the road to perdition, redemption was granted through a harvest of goals.  
WA won 4 – 1. 
Peter Gason from WA was declared best WA player on ground by the TAS players at the after game hospitality celebrations.

WA vs VIC - Wednesday, 6th October

WA reigned over VIC in this match despite the final score line of only 1 – nil. WA dominated in all quarters other than actually getting field goals. 
There were, as in all games, some hiccups when an umpire decision or player mishap caused dismay. In two such cases within the first 16 minutes – a mishap nearly resulted in a stolen goal for VIC, and shortly afterwards a short corner granted to VIC following a reverse tackle at the WA 25 metre line again nearly resulted in a goal. Good defence prevailed however. 
After those incidents WA totally dominated and finally goaled from a short corner in the latter stage of the game. VIC tried to equalise within the last 5 minutes but was held at bay by excellent goal keeping. 
It was a well-earned win for WA and as noted above the score line didn’t acknowledge the strength of WA over VIC. 
Max Stewart was adjudged the best player for WA by the VICs at the after game hospitality celebrations.

WA vs QLD Semi-Final - Thursday, 7th October

This was a torrid game with neither team showing ascendancy for quite some time. 
Late in the first half WA gradually became dominant and peppered the circle but hardly penetrating close in toward the Queensland goal. At half time the score remained zero each. 
Similarly, the second half was robust but with few attacks by either side into the respective circle. In this context the back lines of both teams were dominant. WA had the better of field possession but could not finish off, until late in the game when two chances went amiss of the QLD goal by a smidgin. At the siren the score remained zero each. This was dismaying for WA as QLD had a higher placing from the ‘rounds’ and hence was deemed the winner on count back. 
It was a good game – but WA’s lack of scoring ability prevented our talented side from moving to the grand final, which will be played between NSW and QLD.