Vipers have kicked off the 2009 VT League season in style with both their Men’s and Women’s teams recording strong wins over the weekend. During the off season many of the players rested for what would be a hard long season of touch as the VT League format requires the teams to play 2 games and in one case 3 games over the course of the day, something which the Vipers teams train for and look to use to their advantage.
The day started with the Presentation of last years Premiers medallions to the Victorious Vipers Women’s team who had been eagerly awaiting the medals. Once the formal presentations were over it was off to the fields for a warm up, peep talk and game 1. The ladies showed determination as they only had 9 players for the day due to unavailability’s but proved to strong in a tight fought win over Casey Cougars 6 -2. The second game of the day was against last years green machine the Falcons who had recruited well in the off season to snare Bec Howard and Kiwi Stalwart Sharon Lai both under the watchful eye of Australian Women’s Assistant Coach Mick Lovett. The game was a battle of fitness as many players had not played for some time it was always going to be a tight tussle but with some experience players in the Vipers line up they ground out a hard fought 6 – 0 win. Vipers fresh faces in Sarah Ray and Emma Crawford showed they have what it takes to play in the elite comp and proved worthy of their selections.
The Men’s division was always going to be a wait and see with new faces in the Vipers line up in 2009 with JK & Cal the most recognisable but with Seb and Zac also pulling on the strip it was always going to take time for this line up to gel and to see how this team was going to play due to varying styles of play. The game was against Falcons and the team really looked sluggish as they looked to move down the park against last years wooden spooners. Falcons however proved to be a thorn and delivered some quick TD’s to lead the game 2-1. Although as the game wore on and the Falcons players begun to tire the light feet and long ball of JK delivered a much relieve win for the team 6 -4. Game two was against last years Men’s Premiers in Western and with the absence of JK and Cal due to illness the match was going to be one of basic hard fought defence from the old experienced heads, this proved to be exactly the way the game played out with hard rucking, good ball movement and hard defence the key to the win. The game started at 100 miles an hour with both teams testing the others staying power and with 1 carton already in the bank for the end of year party from MC in game 1, Dal decided to add to the haul and threw one for a length of the field TD to Western. This though started the resurgence of the men’s team with some solid line attacking plays to have the wingers crossing untouched almost at will. The score could have been a lot higher if all their attacking raids had come off but they were not to be and the scored ended up 7 – 4 in favour of Vipers. This result is something special for the Men’s team as they have never put together back to back wins.
Vipers will head to this weekend round in Traralgon full of confidence knowing they can extend their leads as they head to glory in November.
The Roving reporter will be in Traralgon this weekend to report on all the action.
