WA Over 65's - 2015 Match Reports

WA vs WAC - Sunday, September 27, 2015

Cairns in Queensland's Far North, sugar cane country, the Atherton tablelands with its arabica coffee over yonder, the warmth of springtime, temporary home for Australian Masters Hockey.  
Seventy-two teams competing - our sport is alive and well.  
The Western Australian players arrive in haphazard fashion - Coach Banksie and Team Manager Brownie via the road trip of 5256km, others on sundry plane flights on Saturday, with Graham "Chip" Challenor ahead of the field on Friday evening.  
Next day the Tap Doctor checks out the Cairns hockey stadium, which appears to be a magnanimous gesture on behalf of the team until it transpires that the Chip-star is surreptitiously visiting the hockey shop because he has arrived without his hockey shoes ...... but at least he remembered Irene!  
As the team gathers in tropical Cairns on a balmy evening in late September, there's an inspirational lift to the Western Australians as The West Coast Eagles run over the Roos in the second half, and we too can sense a victory on the coming day.  
As he ponders over the tactics for the coming encounter with our Country cousins, Captain Simon "Thommo" Thomson takes a little tonic water for medicinal purposes, while ensuring complete disguise of the tonic water from the AntiDoping Committee by diluting it with a generous quantity of gin. Thus fortified, he imparts his game plan on the following morning to the assembled players and we head to the ground for game 1.  

For the first time since selection, we have almost a full squad available, some with miraculous recovery times following injury - all ready to play excepting Alan "Stewie" Stewart who is still languishing back in Perth and who has some feeble excuse about a special Birthday and not being able to arrive until next week.  
Simon "Lunger" Williams leads the warm-up and we are out on the ground doing the practice drills on goal while a incessant deluge of water from the overhead sprinklers gives us a drenching as if we are in a tropical downpour.  

We switch on from the start and the first quarter is played in the attacking part of the field. Hud, the General at the back, is marshalling his defence, and Chip is pulling the opposition up on the left as well as pulling the opposition's clothing down on the right.  
Terry "Boris" Parker and Alan "the Ledgend" Ledger are winning a lot of the early ball and setting up the play. 
Peter "Morgs" Morgan, in the middle, is mesmerising his hockey shoes by his ability to change the direction of the ball round his feet at a rate of fifteen times per second as he sets up the play, while Col up front takes fifteen seconds to make his turn but still manages to come away with the ball and lay the pass.  
We dominate the first term but WAC come back in the second as Brownie and Ron, both returning from injury, help repel the Country invaders.  
The Judge is overlapping down the right close to the half-time whistle, the ball comes across to the circle, and Country infringe. The strike on goal hits the outrunning defender as the siren goes, but the ref disallows a repeat penalty corner and we head for the bench wondering whether a book called the rules of hockey has ever been a part of his library.  

Coach Banksy imparts his pearls of wisdom at the half-time break finishing with an impassioned call to win the game. The fact that he can't find the list of player rotations and instead pulls out a list of player mobile phone numbers is clearly intuitive as most of the players are deaf but might hear their phone ringing to tell them when it's time to rotate off the ground.  

Within minutes of the re-start, Morgs is taking on the opposition, beats one player, takes on another and the ball is crossed outside the left post where the fast-closing Peter "Arch" Andrews sweeps the ball home for the opening goal.  
At the other end of the ground Bill "the Cougar" Campbell is repelling the attacks with Ian "Keallsey" Kealley who represents the archetypal brick-wall defender, stick low to the turf, and as impenetrable and impassable as ever. 

Arch "scores" a second goal at the left hand post but Lunger has forgotten we are not playing soccer, and the goal is disallowed.  
For a few minutes it's end to end stuff until a lone Country forward makes a breakaway run down the left to the goalline with our defence out for afternoon tea somewhere up the ground but goalie Harps, sensing the danger, sprints ten metres laterally ........... but will he get there?  
It's a neck and neck call as Harps, with ruthless execution, eliminates the ball and the man, and the game is held up for minutes as both recover.  
W.A. Country are running out of legs and out of bench players as Lunger picks up the loose ball around the spot and goes left to Arch who "scores" for the third time, but the ref "imagines " that there must be another invisible foot and we are still only the one goal in front.  

It's a tight game as we head out for the last quarter with Captain Thommo making some inspirational tackles and Chip, with a full length dive to sweep the ball out of danger, clearly hoping to obtain admission to the lungeing club.  
We're back in attack and there's the Captain again receiving the square pass and attacking right of centre - his diagonal pass to the left ricochets past central striker Col and there is Heath "the Irish" Tyrrell, with a flash of individualism, to bunt the bouncing ball high into the net.  

We're two ahead, the clock runs down, and the points are in the bag. 

Result: WA 2 – WAC 0 

Best WA Player as voted by WAC: Peter Morgan 
Best WAC Player as voted by WA: Rod Sims 
Cards: None

WA vs VIC - Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The first round is done and dusted, and with a lay day on Monday and a bye on Tuesday we have time to smell the roses. Or so it seems, until the Social Secretary from Ireland has a roll call at 7a.m. for those taking a Seastar Cruise to the reef. There are enough waves out there for Ron to be looking a little green in the gills with some turbulence in his G/i tract, but after an American tourist begins dishing out the drugs to any takers, Ron never looks back. 

We are a little puzzled by the tourist information sheet on the boat, which lists a Heath warning, and wonder how they could possibly have advance knowledge that Mr Tyrrell would be on the boat today. While such a warning would be no surprise to anyone who has travelled with Heath on a hockey tour, the presence of several young females frolicking on the foredeck in their bikinis, perhaps presents a duty of care issue to Seastar Cruises.  
Or maybe there just might be a typing error and if we were to put the 'Elle' back into 'Heath' we might have something completely different. The reef close by to the beach at Michelmas Cay is the training ground for novice snorkellers who take off in their black wetsuits. Meanwhile, our Irish friend, attired in a fashionable red life jacket, is seen to be daringly paddling in ankle deep water, but then quickly turns turtle back to the shore where he happens upon a creature of the same name. We move to the outer reef where the snorkelling team play at finding Nemo and trying to avoid putting their big toe into the giant clams as they swim amidst an array of angel fish and parrot fish - not forgetting the odd groper or two, but this has nothing whatever to do with Heath who is back on the boat which is just as well for the bikini clad snorkellers.  

We return to our Cairns base camp to find that Coach Banksy has made an early morning trip to the airport to meet Stewie's incoming 8.30 flight from Perth, which is a wonderful gesture on behalf of the team - only problem was that Stewie's 8.30 flight arrives in the evening, but no-one remembered to tell the Coach.  

Tuesday passes uneventfully with a gradual reduction in the serum red levels as seventeen elite sextuagenarian athletes loosen the creaking joints and stretch the tight muscles to prepare for the 6.30 game today, .........that is p.m. !!! But 6.30 stretches out to nearer seven o'clock as a player in the previous game has gone down , apparently with a fractured clavicle. The shadows have lengthened, the floodlights are on, the heat of the day has gone and we're up and running against the Vics.  

The usual inter-state rivalry is matched by the sibling rivalry between the Challenor brothers as Chip demonstrates some feisty play against Pseudo-Victorian, brother Ashley, and is seen diving full-length to deny his brother the ball.  
To offset this feisty play, there is seen to be a charitable predisposition towards our Victorian opposition with many sorties into the circle resulting in field-goal shots and short corner strikes which narrowly miss the woodwork and make the Vics feel as if they are in the game.  
Harps's occasional involvement in the play could again be seen as dangling a carrot for the Big-V's, but Coach Banksy is verging on having an apoplexy at the break, berating us that such a large area of our attacking half of the ground is as bereft of inhabitants as The Great Sandy Desert.  

However, the charitable theme prevails as we win another short, which Morgs fires straight at the goalie allowing him a brief moment of stardom in making the save. But now it's the turn of the Vics to return the compliment and give their W.A. opponents another chance, which obligingly gives Morgs a second bite at the cherry and this time the ball lands inside the post.  

The hustling and bustling style of play that is typified by Alan "the Legend" Ledger is enough to win the plaudits of the Victorians but an otherwise unremarkable game of hockey shall otherwise go unreported and, in any case, the geriatric white matter has long since forgotten the details of those missed chances about which none of those involved wish to be reminded. 

Match Result: WA 1 - VIC 0 

Goal Scorers: Peter Morgan 
Best WA player as voted by VIC: Alan Ledger 
Best VIC player as voted by WA: Barry Collins (Good on you Baz. Ed) 
Cards : None

WA vs SA - Friday, October 2, 2015

With game three coming up today, the delusions of grandeur about how fast we think we are, for a group of 65+ year olds, is already receiving a reality check. The delusions are changing to disillusions as we view each of the younger age groups in turn. Not only is there the inevitable physical decline but the reducing capacity of the cerebral cortex makes, for example, detailed events on the hockey field increasingly difficult to recall for the purpose of cobbling together a match report. But since the world wide readership could probably be counted on one hand, and your scribe does not have to make a living as a writer, this is all of little importance. It should be said, however, that the number of readers has increased by at least one person who, on reading the match report, discovered that her partner, unbeknown to her, had scored a goal in the game that she had been avidly watching only twenty-fours earlier. Assuming that this reporting did have some credibility, one can only infer that the said goal-scorer, P. Morgan, is a very modest fellow indeed. 

We assemble at the ground in the W.A. tent with an hour to go but, given its proximity to the road, it could be mistaken for a massage parlour by the passing traffic as the usual suspects subject various parts of their anatomy to the Team Therapist's probing hands, with confidentiality going out through the tent door as one derrière has greater exposure to the world than its owner might have preferred.  

We lose the toss, a force seven gale blows down the ground, the umpire's whistle blows too and we are running up into the wind. And the wind is taken out of our sails in the opening minute when we stage a Comedy of Errors down the left defensive flank, with one missed pass after another resulting in the opening goal to South Australia. With all the importance at the pre-game meeting about placing the opposition under intense pressure in the opening quarter, this is fast evolving into a Shakespearian tragedy.  
We settle into the combat and it's Measure for Measure in the opening two quarters. As we approach the main break , Al "the Legend" demonstrates his inimitable rumbustiousness but, in decking his opponent, he incurs the umpire's displeasure and spends five minutes in the cooler. Ledge thinks it is Much Ado About Nothing. Coach Jimmy remains calm and focussed as the half-time scoreboard still shows the South Aussies ahead by a goal, but Banksy inspires his players to lift to a new level in the second half.  

With ten on the field, we repel the South Aussie attacks but when Ledge is back on the ground, we move the ball around and attack the circle. As the bouncing pass reaches the top of the 'D', it is like the cross-court shot that wrong-foots the opponent, but Morgs pivots on a sixpence, picks it up on the half-volley and whips it down the line into the top of the goal and we're back in the contest - inspirational play, the turning point in the game.  

There's a buzz of self-belief around the ground, Harps is calling the lines in defence and with Brownie, Cougar, Ron and Chip cleaning up at the back, Hud becomes the Hub in a central roving role, receiving and distributing the ball with great precision to the player's forestick, just As You Like It. Strikers Stewie, Arch, Col and Heath are playing with more aggression and the short corner comes out to Hud. He calmly traps, passes to the right - the ball comes back left through Morgs and Terry and there is the irrepressible Chip to sweep the ball goalwards from outside the post to put us one in front.  

We hardly notice that Goetzey is judged to have infringed and is sentenced to do 'time' on the bench. We're into the final term, Lunger is running all over the park, and attacks down the left into the circle. The ball falls to Terry whose skilful delicate backhand touch finds the Irishman whose shot is on the money and we're two in front.  

The clock runs down as the Reds score a freakish toma goal through Jeff Wait giving the South Aussies a last minute score to go with their opening salvo, but it's the West Aussies by three goals to two and it's All's Well That Ends Well. 

Match Result: WA 3 - SA 2 

Goal Scorers: Morgan, Challenor, Tyrrell 
Best SA player as voted by WA: Jeff Wait 
Best WA player as voted by SA: Simon Williams 
Cards :

WA vs ACT - Sunday, October 4, 2015

Some of us try to slumber on a little later this morning as we have the late game at seven o'clock tonight. The bright-eyed and bushy-tailed brigade, who are morning people, which perhaps include the likes of Keallsy, Chip and Terry, but I don't really quite know, will doubtless be up at the crack of dawn as usual, out walking or jogging along the Cairns Esplanade blending in with the Gen X and Gen Y's who are developing their Beach Body ready for summer and enticing the rest of us to sign up for The Summer Bodies Transformation Challenge. Hud has the belief that, in general, things don't change much at our age and has already remarked that, if I'm out there, I'll be the fat guy in the sunnies lounging by the pool, looking like a beached dugong. 
All of this makes you wonder how each sportsperson is inwardly feeling prior to the 'big game'. Perhaps the restless night, tossing and turning, dreaming of what's to come.......... left the shoes behind, must go back to get them, time is evaporating, back at the ground, two left hockey boots, cannot be, go again, right one this time, the shoe lace breaks, the Reef knot, come on man - no, not the Grannie knot you idiot, there's still time, out on the ground, the whistle blows, full-time.......... wake up, agitated, heart's racing, stomach churning, what's on the bedside clock ? Groan, still half-past four in the morning, still dark out there, back to sleep if you're lucky. 

Wake again at seven, still twelve hours to go, short walk, don't want to do too much, save the legs. Try to hydrate, last food maybe four hours before, time to change into the playing gear, black socks today, was it?  
Put the contacts in, yep, eyes good - maybe the rock tape today for that iffy muscle twinge - well, it'll treat the brain anyway, so must be good. Arrive at the ground. Yes, remember the new game plan, Defenders to stay back and close mark the high A.C.T. forwards, Strikers and Mid-fielders to apply the press on turnover balls, close up the middle of the field and try to restrict their hard-hitting full-backs into going wide. 

We do the warm-up stretches and sceptically wonder how many we need to do to prevent just one injury and what the stats show. Statistics are said to resemble Bikinis - what they reveal is suggestive, what they conceal is, of course, vital to hide. 

Keallsey is resting on the bench today - he's off with a rib - well, he's got twelve each side like the rest of us, I suppose, but one's giving him a bit of curry, thanks to collisions in two games. While those that have had such an injury will know where he's coming from, others might just tell him to go out for food and order spare ribs. 

The rest of us are running well in the first quarter, mounting attacks, and from one of these the ball falls at the feet of Huddy who avoids the foot fault and aces the goalie to put us one in front. The pendulum swings midway through the second quarter as the Territorians drill the long ball down the line and then up the middle as the gaps begin to open. They win the short corner, strike the shot and it's all tied up at one all. We press again but A.C.T. midfielder Hingee comes away with the ball and takes off down the ground. Lunger sprints seventy metres to catch him and hold him up but they come again into the circle where the Judge is deemed to have infringed with the stick after his opponent takes an airshot at goal. Harps makes a valiant attempt to deflect the penalty stroke but we're a goal adrift at the main break with Hud doing time on the bench for a deliberate backstick when things were looking desperate. 

And who wants to remember the second half where the opposition create ten short corners to our three. But we might remember the umpire who pings Huddy for the game's second penalty stroke when the ball hits his fingers that are on the stick. And we might remember the umpire who continually penalises us when we are only four metres ninety nine from the ball when we are supposed to be five metres from where the free hit is taken. We will certainly remember the contribution from Harps who saves the second penalty stroke as well as the many short corners, to try to keep us in the game. 

Match Result: WA 1 - ACT 2 

Goal Scorers: Hud 
Best WA player as voted by ACT: John Harper 
Best ACT player as voted by WA: Gerin Hingee 

WA vs NSW - Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Sports fans are in the midst of a bonanza. All roads lead to Melbourne at the end of September and as the Eagles fly in from the West Coast, Arch, too, flies in from sunny Cairns for the big AFL game at the G just in case the team is short on players. Apparently they don't call him and they go down to the Hawks by a cricket score but I don't suppose the two are in any way connected. Presumably the Broncos and the Cowboys both had a full panel of players for the NRL grand final as Heath didn't fly off this year. A one point finish at ANZ Stadium would have had the punters on the edge of their seats for that one. But our Irish friend may try to slip out of Australia unnoticed later in the week to head for the Rugby World Cup in UK where we have just witnessed B. Foley (Australia) 28pts, England 13pts in a sell-out at Twickenham (not forgetting a last minute contribution from Giteau to make it 33 for the Wallabies). And to add to this smorgasbord of sporting excellence we have W.A. 65's playing NSW on the Reef pitch at Cairns Hockey Stadium. It's a must-win game for the gold and black team from the West in their quest for a place in the last four, as the stand is filled to capacity, another sell-out.  

The Archer and Sir 'Walter' Tyrrell are firing their arrows at the enemy down the left wing position while Hyphen and Lunger are trying to outflank them on the right, with The Legend making some blustering forays forward from the right midfield. Keallsey is back on the park today working tirelessly in defence with good assists from Mitch down the back left in his debut tournament. Today, Morgs is in his new roving central striker role and keeps us all guessing as to exactly what this means as he appears to turn up in just about every position on the ground with the exception of goalkeeper. We're into the second quarter as he lays off left to Captain Thommo, with a first time pass to Arch who runs to the baseline and wins a long corner. From the ensuing play, the ball falls to Boris, and faster than the speed of light, his Exocet missile of a shot would have finished somewhere up the coast in Port Douglas had the back of the goal not been in the way.  

One in front at the main break, and Brownie steps onto the turf to show himself off to the Tech Bench, turning artistically to show the number on his shirt in a way that is reminiscent of a supermodel on the catwalk, and then disappearing again before you can blink an eye - it's the fastest Brownie has moved all week!!!  

The troop commander calls for his men to show some fire from the re-start, but a soft pass intercepted from the far sideline results in the NSW Blues penetrating our deep defence and winning the short corner. It is the first of four in succession which are valiantly defended before they finally score with a shot inside the left post.  

But with great resilience we are back in attack with some overlapping runs from the Cougar and the Judge out of the right defence. We are moving the ball more patiently round the ground and the pass comes through to Stewie who uses his skills to penetrate the circle and win the penalty corner. Hud calmly moves it out to the right where Morgs scores brilliantly from a tight angle and we're back in front.  

Lunger is busy running at high speed, mostly in triangles chasing his tail, while the roving Morgs hits a couple of cracking cross balls from the right corner which evade a touch from the strikers. Minutes later we apply the press to the Blues defender taking the sixteen metre hit-out from the back and, with nowhere to go, he elects to pass across the ground to the deep defender in front of the goal. Lunger is out of the blocks sprinting across the turf and picks the ball off the central defender's stick but is infringed. From the short corner, the ball is moved to the right, back to the top of the circle and across to the left post where the ever ready Tap Doctor is there to seal the deal.  

But the New South Welshmen are not finished yet, and are coming at us again and winning short corners. It's mayhem at the back as the Cougar runs out to the hitter and cops a blow to the ankle while Harps goes down a couple of times and gets up hobbling. The right post is momentarily exposed on the next short corner and there's only a goal difference with three minutes to go but the clock runs down, the whistle blows and we're into the Semi-final game.  

Match Result: WA 3 - NSW 2 

Goal Scorers: Boris, Morgs, Chip 
Best WA player as voted by NSW: Bill "the Cougar" Campbell 
Best NSW player as voted by WA: Kevin Joyce 
Cards :

WA vs QLD - Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Eighteen hockey players on tour need to be softened by the presence of the female gender and just why they are here one can never be quite sure when they might be sporting themselves amongst the other fashionable fillies in the Spring Racing Carnival at Caulfield and Flemimgton. Nevertheless they are here as our supporting cast, hockey groupies perhaps with Jekyll and Hyde personalities, for they are potentially both our greatest supporters and our greatest critics. We have Merilyn and Jill who have travelled by road, coast to coast, as well as doing a right turn two thousand kilometres to the north, which is no mean feat. Helen, Janet, Irene, Lisa, Mary Anne and Steph have arrived by more conventional routes across the skies.  

Our social itinerary has taken some of them to Hastings Reef, to snorkel past the multitude of colourful fish and the varieties of different coral, then to flutter with the butterflies in the sanctuary in Kuranda. On Tuesday we take the minibuses on the road to Port Douglas for a day trip, and return past the beachside communes of Palm Cove and Trinity Beach - and then Yorkey's Knob - now he must have been quite a lad, you'd think !!! In fact, he was a Yorkshireman and local beche de mer fisherman - translated, this means sea cucumber - now just what he did with these, the mind boggles !!! But, in the end, we discover that the name of the location has nothing to do with any part of his anatomy, and is named after the prominent headland where George "Yorkey" Lawson built a home in the eighteen eighties. As we drive back, past the airport, into the outskirts of Cairns we are in close proximity to the hockey stadium and we suggest to Steph that she might like to watch a further hockey game or two to enhance her understanding of the the game. Her reply to the Judge was that he could do what he liked, but if he was going to watch more hockey, she would go the bar - all of which has given us a better understanding of what lawyers go on about when they are "called to the bar".  

Now all of this has nothing whatsoever to do with providing a match report about a hockey game. The three-thirty 'race' against the Queenslanders is a pivotal game, the last of the pool matches, both teams level on 12 points, with a win to either side giving the coveted second place behind division leaders A.C.T., before going into semi-finals on Friday. 

The Coach of a Hockey team could be likened to being the Conductor of a Symphony Orchestra. Banksy is orchestrating his performing artists to work in great harmony and unison. Violinist Brownie is the Leader of the orchestra but calling the tune from the back. The opening movement gets under way with Morgs playing the Fiddle with the ball as usual, but the tempo increases. Cougar is blowing his Trumpet, calling for the ball and delivers the pass allowing Ledge to burst through with a thundering crescendo of the Cymbals as he powers the shot into the back of the net and the first score is on the board.  

The tempo changes to allow a brief scherzo from Arch before Hud, who is frequently playing the Baffoon or the Bassoon, now gives a long roll of the Drums as well as a long roll of the ball. Stewie, who is often seen trying to beat three players, today has another string to his obow, and lays the pass to Goetzey on the right wing. The cross finds Stewie back at the spot but his shot is blocked by goalie Brian 'sOboe(a). It rebounds to Terry who chips the ball over Seboa into the net, producing a Fanfare from the audience.  

We are two up at the first interval, as the Maroons come back in the second movement but second Fiddle Col is at it again and produces two shots on goal in Col Sharp Major. Lunger again is running hard, mostly on the Triangles, but never quite catching up with the ball while Heath on the Hornpipe is holding them up. Simon, the Cor Anglais player, still English to the core, is the heart of the team, and is frequently flattened in a desperate bid by the Opposition to lift their game. But Chip playing the Piccolo slips under the Queenslander's top Brass, while Keallsey on the Organ pulls out the stops and Ron, the Double Bass player, is noted to keep very low on the pitch, denying them a way through. 

But the player of the day is Big John, the Harpist at the back. He may have conceded a stroke, but to keep out sixteen short corners with his quartet of defenders produces a standing ovation from the audience at the end of the performance. 

Match Result: WA 2 - QLD 1 

Goal Scorers: Ledger, Parker 
Best WA player as voted by QLD: Ian Kealley 
Best QLD player as voted by WA: Geoff Gebhar 
Cards : 

SemiFinal: WA vs QLD - Friday, October 9, 2015

The long and winding road has taken us from Banksy's Sunday morning fitness workouts at Richo, coffee on Preston St to rehydrate, Monday night's confession at Aquinas, and Wednesday afternoons in the classroom at PHS to the pool games in Cairns. Now we're through to the business end of the tournament and the semi-final is a replay of the last game, against the star-studded Queensland team.  

Coach Banksy has master-minded the game plans for entry into the last four, Manager Brownie has made sure we didn't lose our way en route and now it's up to the players on the park. It's the opening quarter and we're attacking the opposition with some great through balls resulting in three penetrating runs down the ground by Lunger at high speed. Morgs, and Chay for the Q's, embark on a running battle that extends all afternoon, with Keith having to take a breather on the touchline later in the game as Morgan's pace and ball skills are more than a match for the tall lithe Queenslander.  

All even at quarter-time, but the Maroons put two lucky goals away in the next five minutes and it's all looking bleak for the West Aussies. But the team lifts all round the ground and comes straight back, with Boris passing forward to Lunger who pushes into the circle where The Legend finds a foot. Hud coolly moves the short corner left, as The Q team go right to close on Morgs, and Boris skilfully gets one back. There's a buzz around the ground, the team lift again, Harps is playing a blinder at the back and is impenetrable against the many opposition short corners and marshalling his defence of Keallsey, Cougar, Hud and Chip. The ball comes out to the left, back through Hud to the Cougar who has found space in the attacking right half position, fires a brilliant diagonal cross, pinpointing the striker. Stewie traps, passes left to Boris who applies the finishing touch for the second time in minutes.  

It's all tied up at the main break, an amazing comeback by the boys from the West. The third quarter is a ding dong battle with inspirational defence by the Gold and Blacks and it's still 2-2 as we go out for the last quarter. But with minutes left on the clock and a place in the final seemingly within our grasp, it is like the hundred metres hurdles and you're just in front going over the last hurdle, a slight error as you catch your toe, you stumble and miss your footing just enough for the pursuing athlete to run by you over those last few metres - and so it is, that turnover ball, Queensland back in attack, into the circle, our defence converges, leaving an unmarked striker on the blind side and in the blink of an eye we're adrift and the clock runs down. A minute to go, back in attack, into the circle, a loose bouncing ball in the air, Ron goals - but the whistle's blown a millisecond before and it's disallowed.  
It's back to the training ground for Adelaide 2016.  

P.S. Stop press: Cairns Post 10th October - quote "Graham Challenor was the man for Queensland, scoring in the 62nd minute to book their spot "...(in the final) 

Match Result: WA 2 - QLD 3

Goal Scorers: Boris (2) 

The presumption is that, since we finished the pool games in 2nd place and WAC was 4th, and we had played and beaten them in the pool game, we should have been nominally awarded 3rd place overall.