By
Andrew Stackpool
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The
ADF team celebrates their 111-33 win over the Combined Emergency
Services team at Telstra Stadium. Main
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Photo
by ABPH Nina Nikolin.
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The
Navy women were valiant in defeat against the more experienced
Army team, who played tough and disciplined football.
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Photo:
Jason Silsby
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Precision
skills as a Navy player lines up a kick.
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Photos:
Jason Silsby
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Navy
and Army contest the mark.
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Photo:
Jason Silsby
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Taking
a beautiful mark against Army
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photo
by Jason Silsby
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The women’s Army and Navy teams battle for possession of
the ball.
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Photos:
Jason Silsby
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A
combination of poor team discipline, lack of experience and sheer
bad luck combined to put Navy out of the Interservice Australian
Football competition played at Canberra’s Manuka Oval last month.
Although neither the men’s or women’s team won a game at the carnival,
both teams gained plenty of respect with their performances on
the paddock.
The men’s team came close to ending Army’s 17-year domination
of the event, while the women’s team battled valiantly with a
limited number of players available.
Air Force beat Navy men 12.11 (83) to 5.5 (35) and Army triumphed
6.12 (48) to 5.5 (35), while the women lost to Air Force 7.11
(53) to 4.2 (26) and Army 13.17 (95) to 0.2 (2).
According to Team Manager CPO John Thiele there was little between
the Navy and Air Force men and both opposition teams agreed they
were a fit and determined team to beat.
“Some of our smaller players played well but it wasn’t until the
second half that the team started playing to the plan,” CPO Thiele
said.
“The guys weren’t manning up or getting body against body. That
showed on the scoreboard as we actually out-scored them in the
second half.
However, we had given them a six-and-a-half goal start and we
couldn’t drag that back.”
It was a fit and focused Navy team that hit the paddock on Sunday
to face off against Army.
Whatever coach Jamie McGinley had to say after the previous outing
obviously worked, as Navy dominated the game for the first-half.
“We had them all over the paddock, particularly our ruckman LS
Craig Cruickshank,” CPO Thiele said.
“We played to the plan, played more of a negative game and flooded
the back line. “We only had four players forward and stopped Army’s
running play.
We had winners like LSPT Robert Tarjani all over the paddock and
really got into their psyche.” Army came back swinging in the
second-half and picked up two quick goals.
Despite their best efforts Navy was unable to peg them back and
went on to lose by 13 points. “It was a really good game of football,”
he said.
For the women, the final outcome was a case of experience outgunning
youth and enthusiasm.
It was an historic occasion as it was the first time the services
had fielded women’s teams in the carnival Unlike Army and Air
Force, who fielded full 25 to 30 player squads, Navy had problems
getting the numbers and in the end could muster just 19.
As
a result team experience ranged from very high to fairly low “The
game against Air Force was a close game,” CPO Thiele said.
“Although the girl’s team is in the developmental stage they got
out there and in the end only went down by about three goals.
That was unfortunate but they are learning from that.”
Following the Air Force game several of the Navy team who came
from Canberra fronted up on Saturday to play in their ADFA preseason
comps before facing off to Army on the Sunday.
“While they could have kicked a few more goals they were up against
the favourite side. The Army females are a very good unit.
They are very tough, very experienced and very disciplined; most
of them have been playing together since 1998.”
The Navy side played a very strong game and showed plenty of ticker
but in the end Army experience put the goals on the board. “They’re
strong but not unbeatable.
With a couple more years development we can get them.” Assistant
Coach MIDN Natalie Harbert agrees. “We struggled to get the numbers
and some of our better ADF players couldn’t be spared,” she said.
“We came away with quite a strong team and we trained really well
together.” At the end of the day the lack of players available,
hard game program and lack of experience were the main factors
against the Navy women.
However, they are not despondent.
“It was a full week and our future is looking pretty bright,”
said MIDN Harbert. “Once we get the word out among the girls we’ll
get a bigger base.
The more we can get on our books the more we can get down to training,
which will give us much better chances in the future competitions.”
“It’s all going to go up from here.”
