Hey all.


Here is an update I procrastinated on for quite sometime.  After a month or so of procrastination i decided to wait for something interesting to happen.

Footy was my primary reason for coming to Australia.  My goal was to make the Claremont Tigers squad which is a pretty good squad in a pretty good league...  

From Nov and into Febuary i was training with the squad 3 to 4 days a week depending on what the schedule called for.  I was prudent for everything and worked hard on the field.  There were several stages of cuts made.  I made it through the first few and thought I was good to go.  I received a call a few hours before our second "scratch match" (scrimmage) asking me to come in and see the coach.  The news I received in the coaches office is what i expected after receiving the call.  I was cut from the team.  I was upset at the timing and also surprised at being cut at that stage.  The reason given was due to my kicking.  I pleaded a bit with the coach and thought i was being screwed over a bit because of my age, the timing, and being a visitor.  I also felt that on the field I would have been an asset to the team. Most of the guys on the team are in there early 20's.  I was one of a handful over 25.  Two of the guys over 25 played AFL, two were cut, and one was a veteran on the team.  The wrong side of 25 and an amateur kick were legitimate reasons looking back on it now.

So I was cut from Claremont but thinking it may be a blessing in disguise as are things like this are quite often.  It was nice not to have to go to training anymore.  It was stressful wondering if i was going to make the team, working my ass off on the field, and not really enjoying the months of training without competing on the field.  Claremont is 3 and 0 as of last weekend smashing the defending champions and the other two teams they have played.  It looks like they may win the flag this year.  They also have 16 AFL guys on their list which is high number compared to other teams and recent years.  This does not mean that 16 play each week, but it is where guys play if they don't get a go with the pro teams similar to minor league baseball, but different????  I may have had a better shot with other teams in the WAFL.

Shortly after being cut another coach from a country club came to see me to talk about playing for his club.  I wasn't to keen on it because it is a town called Boddington about two hours outside of Perth.  I would have been set up with a job and a place to live, but instead opted to travel down for games along with one day a week of training while being subsidized for traveling.  It is a risky drive down to Boddington considering the high chance of hitting a Kangaroo. The road to Boddington runs about 100km through untouched habitat which means many kangaroos.

Week 1 finally happened last Sunday (April 11).  I started at Half back flank.  The guys are fast, big, and strong with good skills.  I got the ball a fair amount of times but struggled to dispose of it efficiently.  The game is rough as well.  I was involved in several scuffles.  Punches were thrown in a few other scuffles.  Should be an interesting season.  It was the first game I've played in quite a while so I think i can do quite a bit better, but i fell short of my expectations by a mile as well as my coaches i believe.  So we will see what happens with all of that.  I will send off another update after a few more games.  We won the game by a goal and a few points.  The other team cut our lead to 4 points with a few minutes left but we closed the deal.  Good comp though.

I will continue the footy journey.  I will keep you guys in the loop.  Hope all is well for everybody.  I look forward to hearing how the Griz go this season.  Work hard boys.  I can't wait for Nationals!