HISTORIC: Navy snatched victory from an unbeaten Army side in the ADF Australian Rules competition.

Photo: ABPH Kade Rogers

By Andrew Stackpool

Navy has broken Army’s 18-year stranglehold on the ADF Australian Football championship.

The closely fought game, which was played at Canberra’s Manuka Oval, was a fitting climax to the 2005 Interservice ADF Australian Rules carnival held from April 15 19.

The final score saw Navy triumph 9-12-66 to Army 9-6-60. It was a game where raw tenacity and brilliant ball-handling was matched to a see-sawing score.

The nail-biting last quarter had spectators on their feet point after point.

“This is a fantastic result,” Navy coach PO Michael Oleksyn from HMAS Sydney said.

“I’ve been playing since 1987 and was there [in the Navy team] when Army first won it.

It was a very emotional moment. There were a lot of tears from the older guys and the younger blokes felt they were part of the history.” Team captain SBLT Ken Meredith said the team worked hard for this victory.

“It’s highly emotional and great result,” he said. “This has been a great premiership to win.”

Navy halts high flyers from Army

 

BATTLEFIELD : Navy snatched victory from an unbeaten Army side in the ADF Australian Rules competition.

DETERMINATION (left): The Navy women’s side had its first win ever defeating Air Force by 20 points.

Photos: ABPH Kade Rogers

Navy won the right to challenge the ADF giants after reversing their 2004 loss against Air Force the previous Friday 10-11-71 to Air Force 5-4-34.

Navy also looked to be the favourites as Air Force had almost prised the championship away from Army on the Sunday, losing by only a goal in the dying moments of the game.

The pundits felt Navy was stronger than Air Force and the crowd sensed this would be no ordinary battle.

They would not be disappointed. The hooter for the first quarter sounded at exactly 2.15pm.

Four minutes later Army leather found its mark but Navy was not to be outdone and within a minute was back with a behind, followed at the eighth minute with its first goal. Navy quickly found its form and dominated the paddock.

The tenor for the whole game was set up early, with fast, free play, strong ball control and no quarter given. At the end of the first half, the scores were Navy 4-7- 31 to Army 4-3-27.

The second half was anybody’s as the scores and fortunes see sawed.

Navy was struggling in the third quarter until the 17th minute when fast footwork gave the team another goal and put them only two points behind the champions. Just a minute later and Navy surged to the lead with another goal, followed by a behind.

At the siren the scores were Navy 6-10-46, Army 6-4-40. Army seized the initiative and six minutes into the final quarter had surged to a five-point lead.

Then at the 11-minute mark Navy was back one point behind at 7- 11-53 to 8-4-52. Just before the final hooter Navy went ahead 9-12-66 and broke the Army’s long running tradition. PO Oleksyn said Navy had nine of their players from last year available with 18 new ones. However, they included some young players who, while playing their first ADF comp, brought considerable wealth of experience with them from club competitions.

“We put together a team which was better balanced and far more qualified than in past years,” PO Oleksyn said. “Also, we insisted that the guys must be at top fitness, better than in the past.

Luckily, many of them had just completed their recent club fitness checks. Also, many of the younger guys were already playing club competitions and had ‘football brain’.”

Navy had a simple game plan. Cover the opposition and use the main centre as corridor of play.

PO Oleksyn said the plan worked well. “Air Force and Army tried to pay the ball wide, so we decided to do something different and it worked. We effectively broke their back.

We faltered in the middle but regained the initiative and that took us through.”

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