By
PTE John Wellfare
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LAC
Matthew Kemp dives for the ball during the Anzac weekend
clash between Defence and National Emergency Services.
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Photo
by Bill Cunneen
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DEFENCE
Aussie rules players came back from trailing by 30 points in the
first half of the Anzac weekend game against National Emergency
Services to win by four points.
The closely-fought match was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground
as the curtain raiser to the Sydney Swans vs Melbourne Demons
game.
The ADF team earned all its first-half points in the first quarter
of the game and the two teams seemed fairly evenly matched at
the beginning. Then in the early stages of the second quarter
things started to go downhill for the Defence team, while Emergency
Services picked up the pace to reach a five-goal lead by half
time.
ADF Assistant Coach Sergeant William Armstrong attributed the
slow start to the Defence team members having not played together
before and needing time to develop into a cohesive side.
“We only came together in the last two days after the [ADF]
national carnival,” he said.
“We were pretty slow out of the blocks, the boys hadn’t
worked together ... but as the game slowly progressed in the second
[quarter] we started to adapt and that started to roll on. By
the third everyone was committed.
“In the last couple of minutes of the second quarter you
could see the ballmanship and the workmanship start to come out
and it started to develop from there.
Some timely changes to the team structure at half time gave the
ADF side the rejuvenation it needed to close the opposition’s
considerable lead. Captain Shaun Dwyer and Seaman Matthew Cavedon
played a crucial part in swinging the game back in the ADF’s
favour during the second half, while Leading Aircraftman Michael
Kemp was named as the consistently high performing player of the
match.
“Obviously by the end of the game the boys pushed forward
and took control of the game and won it by four points.
“[But] the emergency services guys put on a really good side
this year and gave us a run for our money.”
SGT Armstrong said all members of the team “gave it everything”.
The ADF team will go on to represent Defence throughout the Aussie
rules season.
