ADFA and HMAS Cerberus players clash at the opening of the second half of the Kapooka 12s men's final, where ADFA took away the champion's trophy. Photo by Pte John Wellfare, Army newspaper

ADFA underdogs clean up

By Pte John Wellfare
IT TOOK the combined might of the entire ADF to conquer the Kapooka 12s recently, with the ADFA Rams triumphing over HMAS Cerberus by seven points in the men's competition.

ADFA Rams team President OCdt Damian Stubbs said the 26-19 victory was hard earned by the team, which had a history of performing well at the Kapooka 12s.

"We won it two years ago and we were a bit unlucky last year - we got knocked out with a tough draw - but now we bounced back this year and even though we lost our first final by a sizable margin of about four goals we got the double chance and we came back through and won our last three finals and took it out," he said.

"Cerberus finished on top of the ladder after the pool stage so they got a pretty good run through the finals; they got two rounds off.

"We came into the finals having played two more games than them so we were a bit more tired in the legs.

"We knew we had to get a good start because we'd tire out, but we got that and we managed to hold on."

Despite going into the finals at a disadvantage, OCdt Stubbs said the team was confident that they had a good chance of coming out on top.

"We knew that we had the playing stocks to beat them, because we play a very running, open game and if we could find enough run in our legs we knew we'd knock them off."

Best and fairest in the men's competition went to Cpl Grant Gripske, who played for the Puckapunyal Crows.

Patron of Army AFL Maj-Gen Jim Molan said Kapooka was the ideal place to host the competition.

"It's a manifestation that the 'home of the soldier' can work on behalf of the ADF and it's the soldiers, sailors and airmen of all ranks, coming together to do what we do well, which is courageous activities," he said.

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