News — USAFL

One week is a long time in football when you are champing at the bit to have another go! The boys were pretty psyched up for the challenge of playing against a previous Div 1 Premiership team in the New York Magpies. It wasn’t since the halcyon days of Bergmann had the Big Apple Pies come into town, and what an epic encounter that was.

The scene was set for a great afternoon with a 3 goal breeze headin down south on Lakeshore Drive at the home of the Swans, Waveland Park. Chicago had a couple of injuries from the week before and some were unavailable to play, saw 10 blokes out of the squad that headed down to Louisville last week.

The new Australian Consul General Roger Price, a big fan of Aussie Rules came down to spectate and got roped into tossing the official double headed coin; incidentally the opposition captain called correctly and they kicked with the breeze in the first.

All we could ask for was an honest effort from the lads and see where we stood against a New York side that boasted 5 top Aussie midfielders, led from the front by Jordan McIntyre. His form didn’t disappoint the few New York faithful, and a tagging role was given to one of the new fellas to the game, Keith Campion.

The Swans team really played well in the first quarter. Our backline under a barrage of pressure held NYC to three goals and we managed one into the breeze which was pleasing. Our tackling was most likely the best I have seen from the club and if it wasn’t for a bit of polish on the finish scores at the end of the first quarter may have been closer.

Strsaight kicking in the second quarter and a direct attack on the ball saw us win the quarter and go into half time 14 points in arrears. With no respite from the breeze, we felt all we needed to do was hold in the third quarter. Another great effort from the backline in the premiership quarter to keep New York to only two goals.

With the scoreboard showing the Swans behind by 19 points, there was an air of confidence from the boys at three quarter time that we could really win this game. As history tells us this early in the season, the lads ran out of puff and were unable to utilse the breeze and apply scoreboard pressure. In the end, New York ran out winners by 34 points.

Aside from the fadeout in the last quarter the Swans played some really good footy in patches. There were some really pleasing signs, a solid backline that fought all day, under duress, to Nolan McKeegan up forward finding the goals on four occasions. Lot’s of positives to work on in the next few weeks, before we come up against Milwaukee on 23rd June.

Thee opening weekend of our football season saw us set sail South down the picturesque 65 to Louisville for Kings of Louisville tournament between Nashville Kangaroos, Columbus Jackaroos, Ohio Valley River Rats & a mix up of the spares and a new team from Cleveland.

Some of the boys loitered overnight in Indianapolis; a few others couldn’t drive past the birthplace of John Cougar Mellancamp and set up camp in Seymour, IN. On paper the squad of 22 heading down looked really solid; which also included a number of star recruits donning the Chicago jersey for the first time. Congrats to those boys, Russ, Dennis, Xavier & Toby.

The scene was set on a sunny 70 odd degree day, with three quarter size grounds and 14 a side format proposed. Upon our arrival, we were informed that only 4 teams would play, with the lads from Cleveland not having enough players to make the trip.

So the schedule was set, Chicago Swans V Columbus Jackaroos and the Nashville Kangaroos V Ohio Valley River Rats. We ended up playing a full game against the Jackaroos, a game they were desperate to win, having never beaten Chicago previously. Chicago knew the Jacks would come out firing, and really took the game up to us. In a game where Chicago never really threatened saw Columbus ultimately run out winners by 5 points.

A good tough hit out first up, from a team that had been nipping at our heels for a while now. Led well by a solid defense and an excellent game from one if the best center half forwards in the game.

That said, considering it was our first game of the season, and with blokes like Ponyboy sunning himself in WA, regular full back Hoyty plucking a few notes at some dive bar in Chi-town and ‘Big Bad’ Al McGlashan preserving his last hurrah for a home game, the boys needed to pick up the slack and fill the holes.

There were indeed some promising signs of good things to come from new recruit Russ, working his way around the ground in a tireless performance. Since defecting from Milwaukee a couple back, Pat Defors has become a rock solid defender for Chicago. And a big improver, who could make a push for this year’s MVP award, Jayson Schmelzer was in and under everything on Saturday. There were signs shown yesterday that Jays might be useful as a pinch hit midfielder in the future.

The second game was played in Nationals format, with 20 minute halves. Once again we battled hard in tough conditions; We really let ourselves down in the second quarter kicking 6 behinds. While the work rate was pleasing, we can’t allow teams to get four goals ahead and expect to peg them back later in the game. We did eventually run out of legs in the last few minutes of the game, however were still a chance to take the win with 90 seconds to go.

Solid efforts by newcomer’s Russ Adams and Toby Patterson, and regulars, Dave Fitzpatrick, Frank Bradley, Josh Edwards & Mike Panek gave us a lot of drive from their respective positions on the field.

United head down to the USAFL Nationals this weekend in Austin, TX. Chicago will be competing in division 2 and have pool games against Boston, Austin and Portland.

Game 1 – vs Austin, Final result:  Austin 5.6.36 def Chicago 2.0.12
Goals:  Steve Cassity, Josh Edwards
Best: Hoyt, Deutz, Josh Edwards

Game 2 – vs Portland, Final result: A draw!! Chicago 4.2 26. Portland 4.2 26!
Goals: Hayes, Deutz, Fitzy and Sainty.
Best: Al, Crackers, Saint, Leibo and Fitzy.

Game 3 – vs Boston , Final result:  Boston 6.2.38 def Chicago 3.5.23
Goals:  Leibo, Jules, Steve

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:

Good signs ahead boys! In a year through injury, travel schedules all affecting training and attendance at games I saw progression last weekend, we managed to put our first W up on the board, and losing to MN & C’bus. Yes you could argue a loss is a loss, and while no one likes losing, we have to take positives from each game.

Way back in Louisville, we were underdone but can honestly say we gave it our all, yes we didn’t end up on top, but were gallant. The following week against a strong New York outfit, my main interests were with our structure and movement. And for periods of the game we were able to match it with a Div 1 team.

Columbus really cut us up, I could see after the game the disappointment in your faces that these guys had beaten us for just the second time. In all seriousness we should remain confident that will beat these guys at Nationals should we come up against them. The heat, lush grass and the dying wind in the last quarter, worked against us, but even under duress we were able to instill panic into them after winning the third quarter. Another one that possibly got away.

Last weekend was a tough weekend, we took 18 blokes up to Madison for three games: Minnesota, Columbus & Kansas City. Once again some really good individual efforts, EZ, Wolfy, Xavier, Pedro, Hayesey, Sars & Pat ‘no more study’ Defors showing us the way in determination and skill to keep us in every game and keep going when there was literally nothing left in the tank! We should be very proud of our effort.