The Flight of the Bald Eagle

The clash between the undefeated Bald Eagles and cellar dwellers Clifton Hill was being promoted early in the week by the bookies as a potential massacre. The form shown by the opposition during their 8:1 lost to La Trobe in pre-season practice didn’t do them any favours. However, the odds dropped dramatically as the week progressed when the pre-game injury toll began to mount for La Trobe. With Slater and Johnny AAAA still out for another week and the shock late withdrawals of the Thai Super Freak and Tranner, the interchange bench was down to one. The Super Freak informed medical staff it was a severe case of Thai Swine Flu although it has since been diagnosed by the Doc as Collingwoodgameitus. His medical treatment on Sunday afternoon was quite successful and it is highly unlikely he will have a re-occurrence of this in the near future thanks to the tireless work of Dr Chris Judd and Dr Eddie Betts. Tranner’s condition was not so rare, a mild form of Alfitus, which, although one never really recovers from it, can be somewhat controlled by limiting mobile phone use. Although both players are expected back in the line-up for the next round, the CEO and the Board were not too impressed that no attempt was made by the Freak to make phone contact with any players during the week about their un-availability for the game. Some form of disciplinary action may be necessary such as making them play 90 minutes of the next game.

To make matters worse, the Oztrian was a late withdrawal after he dropped his hot apple strudel in his lap, sending a shock wave into the hamstring. Bruno did ring around looking for a spare hammy but there has been a severe shortage in recent weeks, possibly due to the Global Financial Crisis. In fact it was only just revealed on the weekend that Sava and the G-Train are both sharing one hammy between them. Insider information reveals a different story, with the Oztrian apparently needing the extra week of mental preparation to face his nemesis, the Zapman. Whatever the truth, his absence was a big loss with no bench at all to work with.

The Clifton Hill line up looked nothing like the one that played La Trobe during the pre-season, and this was evident as they piled on the pressure early whilst the Bald Eagles tried to get into the groove. As per standard procedure, the boys were adequately warmed up by around the 15 minute mark and started to control the game. There were a number of good opportunities created as the Gabmeister, Thunder, Matt U, the G-train and Ronaldo (Cif) pressured the Clifton Hill defence. Ronanldo was finally rewarded with a fantastic strike in the 37 minute mark to give the Eagles a 1:0 lead at the main break. However, the news wasn’t all good with the rampaging Thunder (didn’t he look good in that skin tight yellow bib) breaking down and unable to go on. Another hammy problem! In the off-season Thunder had worked hard on his fitness and in fact had developed a number of spare hamstrings as a back-up but he has slowly been working through them each round and by Sunday was down to his last two. With Sava and the G-train on their last legs and the Gabmeister looking sore it would take a full team effort to try to defend this narrow lead with only 9 men and the Zapman.

With a more defensive structure in place, the La Trobe defence did a fantastic job. The General, the Zapman and the Flying Dutchman won every contest in the air and on the ground. With Boz and Matt U taking out the two dangerous midfielders and Sava sitting as a spare defensive midfielder the structure looked impenetrable. Clifton Hill didn’t take advantage of the situation and instead insisted on playing two spare defenders across the back. It says something about the respect they have for the speed of the G-train. Even though a man down, the Bald Eagles still created a number of opportunities and Ronaldo was duly rewarded for his tireless effort with a second goal at the 58 minute mark. The two goal buffer was all that was required for La Trobe to slog the rest of the game out as a defensive unit. Every player gave their all and when the final whistle blew there was a resounding sigh of relief echoing around the ground. Well done on a great team effort!