By
FLGOFF Pete Nugent
THE
ADFA Rams Football Club upheld its reputation as one of the premier
ADF Football Clubs by taking gold at the recent Eastern Conference
University Games in Coffs Harbour.
ADFA entered teams in a range of sports, but it was in AFL where
the superior fitness and strength of the Rams proved the greatest
deterrent to teams from a wide range of universities along the
Eastern seaboard.
ADFA was drawn nicely in the pool matches and on the first day
of competition fought hard to overcome a gallant University of
Canberra 79-29 and later that afternoon, ran rings around Macquarie
University with a 70-6 demolition.
On the second day, it was the combination of ruckman Rodney Davis
and midfielders Damon Stefani, Justin Taylor and Tim Spackman
that set the platform for wins against University of Technology-Sydney
(48-16) and Cumberland University (41-20).
The wins in the pool matches provided top position for the Rams
but victories in the quarter and semi-finals were required to
guarantee a position at the Australian University Games.
By this stage, other teams were beginning to gel and it turned
out to be the Rams strength on the ball that was the critical
factor in the remaining three fixtures.
ADFA survived a late scare before defeating University of New
South Wales (50-37) in the quarter final and the Australian National
University kicked the opening three goals before slowly being
overcome by ADFA (76-59) in the semis.
With a position at the nationals now confirmed, attention turned
to the gold medal match. Charles Sturt University had been strong
all week and boasted several Sydney league players. They started
strongly and it wasn’t until mid-way through the first period
that ADFA registered a point.
In the end, it was possibly the more accountable game that the
Rams played that edged them ahead of their rivals (61-30).
Best on ground in the final, Ash Wallin, sealed the win with a
monster 60m torpedo and celebrated in style with the 31-point
win.
ADFA was rewarded with several players in the all-stars team including
Joe Stockl and Luke Baker who together kicked 27 goals for the
competition between them and centre-half forward Derek Sonogan
who proved a handful for opposition backlines all week.
