Shawfactor

After recruiting N.Z. underage player Wayne Nicora and having a strong showing over summer at Royal Park a lot was expected of the 2003 winter team.And whilst the team looked a bit shaky at times it ultimately won the premiership in a thriller.

The team was sitting pretty half way through the season with 7 straight wins.However the second half was not so good a few losses including a spanking by Lone Rangers.But we won the semi final and went straight into the final, a rematch against Lone Rangers.

At half time we trailed 4-3 but were not panicking. The second half was a shootout as defense seemed to go out the window. But being down 8-7 with less than 2 minutes left it was looking like we would fall short. Thankfully we got it back to even terms as Pete Shaw dived across to even it up.

From the ensuing kick-off Lone rangers attacked our line.In desperation they threw a wild pass that Wayne intercepted running the length of the field leaving his cap behind and scoring on full time.Pity about the defense on the day but if you can score 9 tries you deserve to be champs.

A Gallery of team shots and the post match celebration can be found by clicking here:
https://shawfactor.com/2001/09/10/dunneworthy-2001-gallery/.

At the beginnging of the 2001 Winter season it was a toss up whether touch over winter was a goer. Albert Park was a At the beginnging of the 2001 Winter season it was a toss up whether touch over winter was a goer. Albert Park was a long way from North Carlton and it get’s cold at 9.00 PM in the middle of Winter.But we decided to go for it. As close to half the Summer team no longer lived in Melbourne we needed some new recruits.Christine Williams recruited Alex Farani and I solidified the Kiwi connection by getting Andrew and Ursula Davis onboard.

After some close wins in the grading matches we were drawn in B Grade where some pundits claimed “as touch players we play rugby well” and will “struggle to cut it”. Read it and weep Kelly-Ann!Despite this we won our first 6 games over some sides with some very stupid names.We then drew with Superfreaks before our team undermanned by a breakdown on the Westgate Bridge suffered our first loss to the Cool Cucumbers 6-5.In what was also the game of the now infamous “tackle”.Can I just say now it was an attempted intercept and I feel two weeks was unduly harsh. It was time to step and and we did going on a winning sequence leading us to the grand final.

Its fair to say everyone played their best game in the big one. Brigid stepped into the breach for Debs and despite the Cool Cucumbers bombing some tries our defence was excellent and our attack as always great. But close to full time the score was 6-4 with the Cool Cucumbers attacking our line and potentially only one score from tieing it (girl tries were double points). But Andrew Davis intercepted and managed to waste at least a minute standing in the in goal, he touchdowned as the hooter went and the crowd (of about twenty0 went wild.Deserved winners 7-4.

Throughout the season all the girls improved incredibly, especially Shelley (more a return to form), Maya, and Becs. Chris and Ivan’s experience was invaluable, and Cusack as usual you are a star. Alex was also a very deserved winner of the Best and Fairest and also now top try scorer for the Auckland and Melbourne rugby leagues as well as Wednesday Mixed B touch.

A gallery of photos taken on the day and in the celebration afterwards can be viewed here: