League leaders

By Andrew Stackpool

CPL Michael Green (right) gets ahead of the competition with LAC Luke Kirk (left) and CPL Aaron Power in support in Air Force’s match against Army.

Photo by FSGT Dave Pang

CPL Michael Green, Best and Fairest.

CPL Chris Kluft, Best Back.

AC Grant Reibel, Best Forward.

AIR Marshal Geoff Shepherd will wear many hats during his tenure as CAF.

One of the more enjoyable will be that of patron of Air Force Rugby League.

“We are delighted that he will remain our patron,” said Flight Sergeant Aaron Smith, the coach of Air Force Rugby League. “He is a fan of the game and has already been a great support to us.”

While Air Marshal Shepherd subscribes to the theory of following the local team, he is looking forward to his more official links with AFRL.

“Sport is a vital part of Service life and the personal qualities it develops are congruent with the qualities we expect in our people,” he said.

“I am delighted to continue as patron of the AFRL, especially after its recent successes in the inter-Service competition and the combined games and we look forward to more success in the future.”

Air Force convincingly won the inter-Service competition, which was played in crisp autumn conditions in Brisbane from April 12-17, defeating Army 52-20 and then Navy 24-22 in a heart-stopping game.

“This was a great win for us,” said Flight Sergeant Smith. “Army won the inaugural match in Canberra in 2003 and Navy took it last year in Newcastle.

“They were very hard, competitive games over all three series.”

Air Force and Army opened the competition on April 13 and Air Force quickly set the pace with tight attacking and solid defence. But Army put the first points up when, from right on their try line, a single player won a fumbled ball and ran the full length of the paddock to score.

Air Force came back, attacking hard and began piling the points up.

Then, things came unglued as Air Force got away from the game plan and began to make errors. Army seized the advantage. At the half-time siren Air Force was in trouble with Army only six points behind.

“We made some silly mistakes and weren’t able to recover until the back of the second half,” he said. “But then we piled on the points.

“Once we settled back to the game plan we set up a strong defence and good solid attacking. Army started making errors and that worked well for us.”

A confident Air Force faced their dark-blue shirted opponents two days later and two quick tries, taking them to 12-0, looked promising.

“We were in control, but again, in the middle of the game we invited Navy in by getting away from the plan. Navy were playing well and strongly, and we couldn’t afford the errors.”

Navy quickly went to the lead 22-12 and while Air Force rallied and stopped any more tries, they couldn’t make the score board either.

With 15 minutes to go Air Force was looking as if they were on the way out when the team finally found its groove.
“It was great to see the way the guys dug deep and gave it everything they had,” Flight Sergeant Smith said.

“They fought back hard and we got in two more tries to even the scores 22-22. Then, with just two minutes to go, we won a penalty 40 metres out and right in front.”

Corporal Mick Green from RAAF Base Williams stepped up and booted the ball home. Air Force left the paddock 24-22 with the match and the competition.

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