SYDNEY AFL REPRESENTATIVE FOOTY 2012
Article and Photos by Michael Shillito

The long weekend saw plenty of footy played in Sydney. Saturday at Blacktown saw the NSW Rep Footy Carnival take place, with five games of top inter-league action.

The main rep game saw Sydney AFL take on the Victorian Amateur Football Association. When the two leagues played off in Melbourne two years ago, the Victorian Amateurs handed the Sydney team a footballing lesson. This time, for much of the game, it was considerably closer; but the Victorian Amateurs would take out the win again.
The Sydney team started strongly, with Lewis Broome grabbing the crumbs from a marking contest and shaking off a tackle before slamming the ball through for a goal in the opening minute. But the Sydneysiders would soon find themselves on the back foot after the Victorians added the next five goals. Broome again was instrumental in breaking the game open as he took a run and two bounces before finding Ryan Price, who snapped from the 50 metre line next to the boundary line to put the ball through. Leigh Conway crumbed a marking contest to snap truly with just seconds remaining on the clock to cut the margin to 13 points at quarter time.
The Ammos scored an early goal in the second term, but the Sydney side then put in their best period of play for the game to keep themselves in the contest. At first they wasted some chances, with Matt Carey having the sit for an unopposed mark within scoring range only to put the ball down; and then Lewis Broome turned from hero to villain as he laid a great tackle to earn a holding-the-ball free, played on to Ben Taggart and got the ball back only to turn it over with a badly-timed pass.

But eventually the scoreboard would tick over again, with Matt Carey snapping from the pocket, and a minute later a mark and goal gave Carey a double. And when Kieran Wright played on to a running Ryan Price who slammed the ball through, suddenly the Sydney AFL side was back within a kick and with a hope of stealing the contest.
But time-on was unkind to the Sydney side, with the Ammos adding three goals to extend the margin to 19 points. Another goal in the opening minute of the third term would make it tough for the Sydney AFL side.
But they weren?t giving up just yet; and a couple of moments of indiscipline from the Victorians would keep the Sydney side in the contest. A 50 metre penalty put Craig White into scoring range, and a few minutes later Kieran Wright received a free kick and 50 metre penalty in the centre and his kick found Dane Rampe.
But the Victorians were 21 points clear at the last change, and first goal of the final quarter was all-important if the Sydneysiders were to have any hope of getting back into the contest. And that became even more so as the clock continued to tick for 12 goal-less minutes; with both sides trading behinds. But when the goal finally came, it went the Ammos? way, and the dream of a Sydney win was over.
The floodgates opened in the final minutes of the game to blow the final margin out to 47 points, from a game that for much of the day looked set to be considerably closer. Ryan Plant, Craig White and Jason Coulloupas were among the Sydney side?s best; while the VAFA were well served by the efforts of Peter Summers, Jack Bull and James Rimington.
Despite many of the Sydney AFL?s top players from previous seasons moving up into the NEAFL this year, which left our rep team without any of the big names from Sydney Hills Eagles and Sydney Uni that have featured prominently in the rep teams of recent years, the Sydney side fought out the contest for much of the day. And even with the Sydney AFL putting a rep side on the park that didn?t have any of the NEAFL players, they showed considerable improvement on their last start against the Victorian Amateurs.

The first game on the main oval saw the Sydney AFL Development side, an Under 23s team, take on the Farrer Football Netball League, a league based in southern NSW. The first and second quarters saw similar themes, with Farrer getting on top and threatening to run away before the Sydney team got back in the contest to be back within a kick at the end of the quarter.
David Kovacevic, one of several players from Div 1 clubs, showed himself just as capable on the forward line as his Premier Division counterparts as time and again he showed himself to be a handy target to spearhead the attack.
The premiership quarter saw the Sydney development side get on top, a run of six goals to one for the quarter giving them the lead for the first time and blowing the margin out to 35 points at the last change. From there, victory was assured; but the match ended on a disappointing note as captain Lachy Pryor copped a head knock in the closing stages and was stretchered off with concussion as the final siren sounded.
The final winning margin was 28 points. Kovacevic finished with six goals for the Sydney side, while Josh Zoppo contributed five; Kovacevic and Zoppo, along with midfielder Sam Carruthers, being among the Sydneysiders? best. For the Farrer league, Mitch Ward finished with six to be their best, while Sam Fisher and Andrew Saddler also played strong games.


At the Number 2 Oval, the Sydney Womens AFL side took on the AFL Canberra Women. The Canberrans got the early jump and then shut the Sydney side down; with Sydney held to two goals for the game and the ACT side winning by 38 points. Jennifer Lew, Jenna Miller and Melissa Freckleton were among the best for Sydney, while the Canberrans had Danielle Raimet, Susan Cadman and Casey Byrne among their best.

Earlier at Number 2, the AFL Canberra side took on a side from the NAIAFA, an Indigenous footballing association. The NAIAFA side contained several players from the Sydney AFL, including Chris Bolt from Balmain and Rod and Andrew Craig from Southern Power. But it was the Canberrans who took control, with six goals apiece in the second and third term, to set up a 28-point win.
Adam Heading kicked five goals for AFL Canberra; while Tony Fenyvesi, Casey Walsh and Chase Grintell were prominent ball-winners around the ground. For the NAIAFA, Chris Gordon kicked six goals to be their best; while Adam Jennings and Andrew Craig were also among their best.

The other game to be played was at the main oval, with the Riverina FNL taking on the Black Diamond AFL, a league based in Newcastle and the Central Coast. The Riverina team led throughout, but had to withstand a spirited fightback from the Black Diamond league during the third quarter that saw a 31 point half time lead reduced to just 13 points at the last change.
But the break killed the Black Diamond momentum, and the Riverina side took control in the final quarter, seven unanswered goals pushing the final margin out to 57 points. Guy Orton, James Rice and John Anstee were among Riverina?s best; while Bryce Singleton, Chris Bishop and Mat Bailey worked hard all day for the Black Diamond team.

Representative Results:

Victorian Amateur FA 5.5 9.6 11.11 15.18 (108)
AFL Sydney 3.4 6.5 8.8 8.13 (61)
Goals : VAFA - L Ferguson 3, J Watts 3, J Eade 2, J Bull, M Handley, L Hill, J Madden, T O?Sullivan, N Roberts, P Summers. AFL Sydney - R Price 2, D Rampe 2, C White, L Conway, M Carey, L Broome.
Best : VAFA - P Summers, J Bull, J Rimington, C Purss, P Wintle, L Ferguson. AFL Sydney - R Plant, C White, J Coulloupas, D Rampe, K Pearson, R Wason.

Sydney AFL Development 4.1 10.3 17.6 19.9 (123)
Farrer FNL 4.3 10.4 11.7 14.11 (95)
Goals : Sydney ? D Kovacevic 6, J Zoppo 5, D Chivas 2, N Ryan 2, D Turner, M Rawlinson, D Linsen, P Sain. Farrer ? M Ward 6, K O?Malley, B Moye, D Hore-Smith, S Smith, A Ridley, S Mackie, B Roberts, J Barrett.
Best : Sydney - D Kovacevic, S Carruthers, J Zoppo, M Rawlinson, D Chivas, D Linsen. Farrer ? M Ward, S Fisher, A Saddler, C Block, S Williams, J Barrett.

ACT Women 9.5 (59) d NSW Women 2.9 (21)
Best:ACT Womens - D Raimet, S Cadman, C Byrne, L Marzotto, L Winter, H Cogle. NSW Womens - J Lew, J Miller, M Freckleton, K Boyd.

AFL Canberra 17.12 (124) d NAIAFA 14.12 (96)
Goals : AFL Canberra - A Heading 5, C Squires 3, J Pearson 2, M Ghirardello 2, T Fenyvesi, J McNeill, S Playfair, C Walsh, T Yeates. NAIAFA - C Gordon 6, C Bolt 3, J Burgess 2, D Wright 2, L Penrith.
Best - AFL Canberra - T Fenyvesi, C Walsh, C Grintell, S Playfair, A Heading, P Blake. NAIAFA - C Gordon, A Jennings, A Craig, R Craig, J Saunders, E Moody.

AFL Riverina 17.11 (113) d Black Diamond AFL 7.14 (56)
Best : AFL Riverina - G Orton, J Rice, J Anstee, G Ward, M Duncan, J Maddox. Black Diamond AFL - B Singleton, C Bishop, M Bailey, A Stewart, L Rawnsley, B Erickson.


Division Two (Postponed game played):
Sydney Uni 11.8 (74) d Manly-Warringah 7.6 (48)
Ladder (Match Ratio) ? UNSW-ES (88.89, 187.56%), Sydney Uni (88.89, 140.19%), Balmain (77.78, 113.03%), Manly-Warringah (55.56, 135.03%), Moorebank (44.44, 110.92%), St George (44.44, 109.98%), NorWest (44.44, 85.64%), Camden (33.33, 88.57%), Illawarra (22.22, 87.78%), Auburn (0, 27.61%).


UPCOMING FIXTURES:

Premier Division:
Monday 11th June
North Dalton Oval ? Illawarra v North Shore (12:10pm)
Bruce Purser Reserve ? Sydney Hills v Campbelltown (2:10pm)
Mike Kenny Oval ? Pennant Hills v UNSW-ES (2:10pm)
Sydney Uni No 1 Oval ? Sydney University v Balmain (2:10pm)
Waverley Oval ? UTS v Western Suburbs (2:10pm)
BYE ? St George

Saturday 16th June
Mike Kenny Oval ? Pennant Hills v Sydney Hills (2:10pm)
Sydney Uni No 1 Oval ? Sydney Uni v UTS (2:10pm)
Village Green ? UNSW-ES v Campbelltown (2:10pm)
Gore Hill Oval ? North Shore v Balmain (2:30pm)
Picken Oval ? Western Suburbs v St George (2:30pm)
BYE ? Illawarra

Division One:
Monday 11th June
Bruce Purser Reserve ? Sydney Hills v Macquarie Uni (12pm)
Mike Kenny Oval ? Pennant Hills v UNSW-ES (12pm)
Waverley Oval ? UTS v Southern Power (12pm)
Gipps Rd Oval ? Holroyd-Parramatta v Penrith (2:10pm)
Weldon Oval ? Manly-Warringah v North Shore (4pm)
BYE ? Southern Power

Saturday 16th June
Picken Oval ? Western Suburbs v Southern Power (10:30am)
Mike Kenny Oval ? Pennant Hills v Sydney Hills (12pm)
Village Green ? UNSW-ES v Macquarie Uni (12pm)
Gore Hill Oval ? North Shore v Penrith (12:30pm)
Gipps Rd Oval ? Holroyd-Parramatta v UTS (2:30pm)
BYE ? Manly-Warringah


Division Two:
Saturday 16th June
Pioneers Park ? St George v Camden (11:30am)
Sydney Uni No 1 Oval ? Sydney Uni v Balmain (12pm)
Bensons Lane ? NorWest v UNSW-ES (2:10pm)
Mona Park ? Auburn v Moorebank (2:10pm)
Sunday 17th June
North Dalton Oval ? Illawarra v Manly-Warringah (12pm)

Division Three:
Saturday 16th June
Picken Oval ? Western Suburbs v Moorebank (8:30am)
Trumper Park ?UTS v Blacktown (12:30pm)
Bruce Purser Reserve ? Sydney Hills v Campbelltown (2:10pm)
Pioneers Park ? Saints AFC v Southern Power (2:10pm)
University Oval ? Macquarie Uni v Sydney Uni (2:10pm)

Division Four:
Saturday 16th June
Gore Hill Oval ? North Shore v Penrith (10:30am)
Trumper Park ? UTS v Macquarie Uni (10:30am)
Bensons Lane ? NorWest v UNSW-ES (12pm)
Gwawley Park ? Southern Power v Gosford (12pm)
Gipps Rd Oval ? Holroyd-Parramatta v Manly-Warringah (12:30pm)


Division Five:
Saturday 16th June
Trumper Park ? UTS v Moorebank (8:30am)
Village Green ? UNSW-ES v Penrith (10am)
Gipps Rd Oval ? Holroyd-Parramatta v Sydney Uni (10:30am)
University Oval ? Macquarie Uni v Camden (12pm)
BYE ? Saints AFC.

Under 18s One:
Monday 11th June
Mike Kenny Oval ? Pennant Hills v UNSW-ES (10am)
North Dalton Oval ? Illawarra v North Shore (10am)
Riverview First Field ? St Ignatius Riverview v Western Suburbs (10am)
Sydney Uni No 1 Oval ? Sydney Uni v Penrith (11am)
BYE ? St George, Sydney Hills.

Saturday 16th June
Gore Hill Oval ? North Shore v Penrith (8:30am)
Mike Kenny Oval - Pennant Hills v Sydney Hills (10am)
Picken Oval ? Western Suburbs v St George (12:30pm)
Sydney Uni No 1 Oval ? Sydney Uni v St Ignatius Riverview (4:45pm)
BYE ? Illawarra, UNSW-ES.


Under 18s Two:
Saturday 16th June
Gipps Rd Oval ? Holroyd-Parramatta v Balmain (8:30am)
Bensons Lane ? NorWest v Saints AFC (10am)
Gwawley Oval ? Southern Power v Moorebank (10am)
Bruce Purser Reserve ? Sydney Hills v Macquarie Uni (12pm)
BYE ? Manly-Warringah.

Women:
Saturday 16th June
Mona Park ? Auburn v Western Wolves (10am)
North Dalton Oval ? Wollongong v Penrith (11am)
Gwawley Park ? Southern Power v Sydney Uni (2:10pm)
Trumper Park ? UTS Shamrocks v Newtown (2:30pm)
University Oval ? Macquarie Uni v UNSW Stingrays (4:10pm)
BYE ? Balmain.