So it’s been ten days since The G.A National Championships concluded in Melbourne where after 4 rounds of explosive gridiron action the NSW Wolfpack emerged winners for the 5th consecutive time. The Wolfpack started their campaign with a convincing 46 v 0 win over South Australia before being taken right to the final second against the W.A Raiders hanging on to win 31 v 27 and securing their place in the Championship game.
The road for W.A also started with a win v South Australia 20 v 18. Had the call gone their way on the last second play v NSW the Championship would have featured the W.A Raiders and their tournament MVP QB Ben Gastarov. The third team in this Pool, South Australia were unable to muscle in on a win during the tournament having to settle for a last chance in the 5th v 6th game.
Victoria like NSW also enjoyed an undefeated run into the Championship game with convincing wins against both ACT 40-0 and QLD 33-6. The home team’s run came to an end against a well prepared NSW Wolfpack determined to retain bragging rights for another 2years.
ACT showed all in attendance on the opening day what their intentions where on this trip. Introduce Australia to the new ACT Monarchs. Although being over run by Victoria 40-0 in round 1 ACT backed up on Monday against the QLD Sundevils. After trailing 9-6 with under 2 minutes to go the Monarchs scored the winning TD on the final second of play 12-9 to keep their eyes on the 3rd v 4th game.
The QLD Sundevils after losing to the Monarchs had a massive task in front of them needing to beat the Vic Eagles by 22 points to earn a place v NSW. However the Eagles came out firing and got away to a 33-6 half time score. The second half was a defensive affair with no further points added. Qld not being able to secure a win either was now set to clash with South Australia to avoid the wooden spoon.
The final day of the Championship went like this.
Qld Sundevils 37 def South Australia Swarm 13.
WA Raiders 49 def ACT Monarchs 6
NSW Wolfpack 28 def Vic Eagles 7
The next Gridiron Australia National Championships will be held in Raider Country Perth W.A and if the past national championship week is anything to go by the 2012 Championships should be something special.
All eyes return to the local state competitions around Australia now as each state prepares for their own seasons to begin. Meanwhile Australian representative selectors will have their hands full sorting through hours of footage from the 9 championship games and over 250 athletes in search of the next Outback team to represent Australia in the 2011 World Cup in Austria.
I will be checking in with the other states in the coming weeks and bring you updates from across the country on player movement, season kick off dates and any other Australian Gridiron news.
Mooney.
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