Rivals a touch too good

Defence civilian Michael Hardgrave evades an opponent during the National Touch League Championships. Photo by MAJ Michelle Breen

By WOFF Terry Connor

DESPITE battling bravely, the ADF Touch Association (ADFTA) Warriors couldn’t make a lasting impression on Australia’s premier touch event – the National Touch League Championships, played in Coffs Harbour in March.

The ADFTA took four Defence Warrior teams (a men’s over 30s, 35s, 40s and 50s) to the world-class event, where they took on teams from all over Australia, including the very strong franchises from NSW and Queensland.

Prior to the competition, all players met at RAAF Base Williamtown for a limited two-day training camp, where teams had the opportunity to gel before heading to Coffs Harbour.

All three services, as well as the Defence public service, were represented in the squads, although numbers were down on last year.

ADFTA had approximately 65 members on the tour, including a dedicated tour manager and two medical support staff.

Although none of the four teams made it close to getting into the finals, all performed admirably given limited overall fitness, training and skills in comparison to the big guns from Queensland and NSW.

Although outplayed during the early part of the tournament, Warriors teams improved noticeably as the competition wore on.

The Gold Coast Sharks had easily the best performing sides at the event, making four of the five grand finals and winning two championships.

Former Australian and Northern Eagles rugby league player Cliff Lyons showed he had lost none of his silky ball skills with a dominant display in the men’s over 40 division.

This was fairly typical of the standard of touch throughout all the divisions.

Opposition coaches agreed that given the right balance in retaining a core of experienced players, regular exposure to top level touch and the blooding of a number of rookies, the Warriors would be one of the big improvers at next year’s National Touch League championships.

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