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ADFA
Officer Cadet Sarah Tallis gets up close and personal with
a Combined ADF opponent. Photo by
Ben Caddaye
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By Ben
Caddaye
RAAF
Base Wagga was unlucky to miss out on a finals berth in the annual
Kapooka 12s Australian rules tournament, played in steamy conditions
at Wagga on March 8.
The
only Air Force side entered in the carnival, RAAF Base Wagga was
eliminated in the early stages of the carnival after winning one
of its preliminary games and falling six spots shy of a finals
berth.
But
it could have been a totally different story for the Air Force
side.
One
of its losses was at the hands of eventual grand finalists ARTC
(Army Recruit Training Centre), and the other was a one-point
nail-biter against ALTC (Army Logistics Training Centre).
It
wasn’t all gloom and doom for RAAF Base Wagga, however, with
one of its players, Aircraftsman Tim Fricker, winning the Best
and Fairest Award with 15 votes.
Sixteen
sides from across all three services competed in the 2003 Kapooka
12s – an annual carnival where teams of 12 players fight
it out in a modified Australian rules format.
Preliminary
games, elimination finals and semi-finals were played over two
10-minute halves, which were extended to 15 minutes for the final.
In
the end, three teams from Army, two from Navy and one from ADFA
made the top six, earning them the right to contest the finals.
For
the second consecutive year, a Navy team took the title, with
HMAS Albatross blitzing the opposition in the finals.
Last
year HMAS Cerberus swept all before them, but in 2003 it was the
boys from Nowra’s turn to soar to great heights.
In
a result that augers well for Navy’s chances in this month’s
ADF national championships in Canberra, Albatross cruised through
the tournament without losing a game, eventually beating home
side ARTC in the grand final.
ARTC
was handed an extraordinary lifeline in the decider when Albatross
had all its points taken away at half-time for fielding an extra
player in the opening stanza.
Despite
the setback, Albatross coasted to a 4.1 (25) to 0.0 (3) victory.
Earlier
on, ADFA 1, a side featuring a number of Air Force Officer Cadets,
narrowly missed a place in the final thanks to two tight losses
to ARTC.
Meeting
in the second semi-final, ADFA 1 and ARTC were left tied at 5.1
(31) apiece at the full-time siren.
Instead
of playing extra time in the oppressive conditions, ARTC was crowned
the winner after it kicked the first goal of the game.
The
two sides met again in the preliminary final and it proved to
be another close contest.
Buoyed
by its home ground advantage and a parochial Kapooka crowd, ARTC
eventually kicked clear of a tiring ADFA to scrape home by two
points.
