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The 2011 Metro season comes to an end with the Metro Grand Final between the Lincoln Park Piranhas and the Wrigleyville Rhinos.  The Rhinos were undefeated all season until the final round where the Piranhas powered home for the win.  Could there be a case of the Wrigley-wobbles?? Can the Piranhas repeat last rounds victory?? Will the Rhino’s charter a Qantas flight to get all their Aussies to the field on Saturday??  Who will hold the Rich Noty Cup aloft after the final whistle??

Score:

Goals:
LP: Dougie, Jason S, Jason W, Steve Cassity, Saint
WV: Ortiz 2, Nolan, Knopp, Leibo

Milwaukee and Chicago had a strong hit-out in what hopefully will be the warmest weekend of the season. Milwaukee made the drive with only 10 players, Chicago grateful that no-one had to come through O’Hare had a full squad to select from. The result was two strong teams were selected and a competitive game of 18s was on the cards.

Right from the get-go there was no thoughts of Chicago vs Chicago or Milwaukee vs Milwaukee with both sides going in hard regardless of who their opponent was. Good, hard, MAAFL footy played at its warmest.

The combined side wearing the United jumpers outlasted the guys wearing the Bombers jerseys with the only loser of the day being whoever gets to wash the jumpers.

Congrats to those of you that actually made the trip up to Minnesota this past weekend. The challenge began way before the first bounce, however full credit to the 15 of us that took the field against Des Moines and Minnesota in the afternoon. Their ability to focus on the task at hand knowing full well that we were behind the eightball in terms of being undermanned from the outset.

Our first game against a determined and constantly improving Des Moines outfit turned out to be an inspiring win with a number of players stepping up to cover the losses to mother nature. Jayson Schmelzer, Mark ‘Gunner’ Gzynski and Graham ‘Crackers’ Brennan led the way up forward consistently finding a lot of ball and more importantly rewarding themselves and the hard work up the field to work Des Moines into the ground.

Slow starts have plagued us this year, the lads stepped up against a full strength Freeze outfit and restricted their scoring in the first half. The back line must have thought the Freeze had 22 players on the ground, but to their credit withstood the avalanche, however we were unable to apply any scoreboard pressure at the other end, however opportunities were few and far between. At half time: CAFA 0.0.0 and MN 1.6.12 With some of our key position players preparing to endure a night with the package back in Chi-town, our makeshift team with 5 Des Moines players stepping into help us out, held their heads high. But in the end, with little rotations available to us in the middle, saw their midfield shift gear, increasing their inside fifty forays, and the scoreboard began to tick over for them. Eventually running out winners 5.9.39 to 0.1.1. The scoreboard really didn’t tell the true story, i have no doubt CAFA can avenge this game at Nationals, something to look forward to! MN have set the bar pretty high, they will field 2 solid teams this year, we need to continue to build on our fitness and make sure that MN don’t have a chance at Nationals this year.

That said we now switch into overdrive, and set ourselves for the Milwaukee Bombers who will no doubt come into Chi-town full of confidence after beating us recently in Madison on a postage stamp!

In picture perfect conditions down at the lakefront and with the DirecTV blimp circling above, the Columbus Jackaroo’s and Chicago United played out a great contest of Aussie Rules footy. Columbus took care of Nashville easily at home a few weeks ago and were keen to sink their teeth into United. With relentless pressure on the ball from both sides, Chicago kicked away and won by a scoreline that didn’t reflect the quality of the contest on the field.

The Chicago backline did not give an inch all day and was highlighted by best on ground David Deutz on the Columbus holding the Columbus spearhead Ward to a single goal. Although the ball found its way into the Jackaroo’s fifty regularly it was quickly returned back up the field to Chicago’s advantage. With the Chicago full forward Oscar being tied up by the big full-back and Chet earning 20+ marks and rebounds the Chicago midfield and pockets excelled to put the goals on the board.

So a great win for Chicago and a great showing at Brownstone Tavern by both teams passionate about the game and who both look forward every year to playing against each other and celebrating after together.

Final Scores: