The Flight of the Bald Eagle

What a pre-season it has been! It all started with the September boot camp in Tasmania. The grueling trek from Melbourne to Hobart over four days across some of the most treacherous waters in the world and the most difficult terrain imaginable (particularly if you were in Gab’s bus) tested the stamina of La Trobes finest. Okay we’ll overlook the minor detail that much of it was done by boat and bus but it was far from a picnic. The sight of Matt (Slater) Carmichael falling to his knees and throwing up after the Mount VB Endurance Climb brought a tear to my eye (from laughter of course!) An exorbitant series of practice games capped off the pre-season that will see the Bald Eagles aim to defend their 2008 title.

The Bald Eagle team appears to get stronger (and older) every year. After fending of lucrative offers from rival clubs, the playing group looks very similar to the team that played in 2008. The notable exceptions are super-striker Wilko who has joined a Youth Academy in London and Super Coach Luca who is focusing on his playing career in the slower paced State League. Don’t be surprised if we get an occasional transfer during the year. The Bald Eagle Recruiting Team has done a fantastic job over the summer with some big dollar signings in Bruno, Johnny A and new goalkeeper Ilias. Ilias is quite aware that, under the keeper rotation policy, he may be expected to play up forward at times during the season.

Round 1 saw the Bald Eagles pitted against one of the better clubs from Melbourne Uni. The conditions were more conducive to kite flying or tornado chasing rather than a game of world class soccer. With what was arguably a 3:0 wind against them in the first half, the team battled hard but with few results. In fact, it was Melbourne Uni that went in with a 1:0 lead at half time thanks to a lucky deflected cross from outside the box. However, the guys were pretty buoyant at the break, realizing that the game was there for the taking. Melbourne Uni showed very little fight during the game and rarely troubled General Frank, the Flying Dutchman Gerry and the Zapman. Great to see Sava overcome pre-season injury to get some runs down the wing as well. Paul Cif and Robbie Slater were providing plenty of headaches up front and the midfield of Tek “Thunder”, Bruno, Gabmeister, Boz, Mat U and Johnny A worked hard all day.

The second half started well with Gab getting the equalizer early on. A lovely cross from Cif found the tall timber of Gab at the back post to head in a well worked goal. Cif was rewarded shortly after with a nice chip over the keeper and Gab put his second away for the day with a beautiful one-two maneuver involving the Melbourne keeper. The opposition scored a late goal to put the Bald Eagles under some pressure in the final moments. Generally, the standard was well below what the Bald Eagles can produce which is only the more encouraging as they can only get better as they start to gel (and get a little fitter).

Oh, by the way Jimmy, we won 3:2!