6th October 2008
The 2009 VTL campaign kicked off in earnest on Saturday, now in its second year the competition has expanded out to six teams and while question marks hung over the viability of the new franchises, with a number of new faces, there were still a number of questions still to be answered in regards to the 2009 Vipers outfit.
With the presentation of the new playing kits the Bayside Vipers Men’s team lined up to take on the new franchise, the Falcons. Within a short period of time, the question over the competitive nature of the Falcons was answered, while still missing some of their star imports the Falcons were certainly capable of putting on some touchdowns.
Vipers player coach Stew Dracup knew the boys were likely to be a bit rusty on their first hitout, but the first half would have given him plenty to be happy with, as the Vipers boys executed their plays and generally stuck to a fairly tight gameplan. When Dal scooted from half early on and threw a short ball to Robbie to dive over for the first touchdown of the game, the Vipers confidence was sky high.
It was short lived however, as the Falcons responded with a try of their own to Andrew Scardino, a player who had made the last minute switch from the Lions to the Falcons in a move that must have left Melbourne City Lions fans scratching their heads at the coaches decision to let Andy make the switch.
Unperturbed by the early notch in the ‘against’ column, the Vipers boys got back to the task of putting the touchdowns on the board. Newly appointed Captain Chris Casey was doing a fine job of leading the boys around the park and as the Vipers ship steadied, the touchdowns started to flow. Vipers enforcer and resident hard-man on the wing, Chuckles, was having a field day and had notched up a double before half time. On the other wing Josh was having an equally good time showing that the combination of good speed and good hands to finish off some good work in the middle by MC with a spectacular dive for the corner.
The second half saw the Vipers drop off in their short side defence, but fortunately they kept putting the touchdowns on the board. Jonny Whitehead put his recently torn hamstring to the test when he put on a big step on his left foot to beat his defender, not satisfied with this test he stepped off the right and then threw in another step with the left to finally stroll in for the touchdown, clapped on by Chuckles, who had been unmarked the entire time.
Not that Chuckles was complaining, not long after that he had bagged his hatrick to kick off the Vipers first win of the campaign. It was a win that showed that the boys had the foundations right, but had plenty of work to do in order to reach the level of touch they all aspired to.
The second game was against the other new franchise the Western Dodgers. The Dodgers had already put the knife to last years champions the Casey Cougars, a result that signalled that they were certainly going to be a sterner test than the Falcons.
The Vipers boys knew they had to step up for this game – and did exactly that. In a game that went end to end with the Vipers always maintaining a narrow lead. The spirit of the team wasn’t demonstrated by their attack though it was defence that showed that this team were playing for each other. In once case the boys endured a period during which they had to repel five consecutive sets of six against the steppy Western boys. The talk was loud and the actions were even louder as the Vipers turned the Western boys away time after time. The frustrations were getting the better of the Western boys, who responded with aggressive pushing, dropping shoulders and generally testing the patience of the referees, who proved more forgiving than Mother Theresa by not putting more of the Dodgers into the sin bin.
In attack MC was creating havoc amongst the Western line in attack, laying on several touchdowns for his team mates, as well as being awarded one of the more bizarre touchdowns of the day, when he scooted from half, passed the ball off and had it deflected back to him. While the Dodgers were complaining and the refs were scratching their heads, MC strolled over to the line and scored the touchdown. The Vipers driving was also having the desired effect, highlighted by when Robbie (figuratively) punched his way through an offside Dodgers player to cruise in for a touchdown. Jonny in another test of his much maligned hammy, launched himself from just beyond the five meter line to the score line to maintain the Vipers lead.
Some soft touchdowns gifted to the Western boys proved to be the thorn in the Vipers side though, as they never truly put the game to bed, and when the boys from Western put on two quick touchdowns in the second half, the scores were locked and the boys walked on to shake hands, not realising that this years VTL featured drop offs in round games.
In one of the least attractive drop offs in living memory, the sides traded dropped balls and slow driving in a stare off to see who would crack first and string together a decent play. Down to four on four Robbie scooted through but couldn’t find Matty Dent who despite his best efforts couldn’t shake off the defenders that had surrounded him. A penalty shortly after and one more attacking raid on the Vipers line saw the Western boys overjoyed as they snatched a win with a quickie on the line that caught the Vipers napping.
The disappointed looks on the boys faces showed that the Vipers knew they had let this one slip against one of the obvious frontrunners on the 2008 competition. With a lot of positive signs though, the boys knew that their best games were most certainly ahead of them in the new season.
The Vipers Women’s team started the season in much they same way as last year with 2 convincing wins over the Falcons and Dodgers to the delight of new coach Shauna Hammond.
The ladies showed no mercy on a Falcons team that turned up to play the star studded Vipers with seven players and posted VT league record of ninteen touchdowns to one and a warm welcome to VT League for the Falcon women. Lead by Co-Captains Brooke James and Suzy Barrett the ladies used some of the old favourites they have learnt together over the past five years of playing touch together, with plenty of puma’s and great line running into holes to score on nearly every set. The only blemish on the ladies score sheet was a sore point for some and demostrates the passion and pride the ladies show in their defence. The Falcons although very tired displayed a never die attitude which will surely esnure they continue to improve in 2008.
The second match of the day was against the other unknown team in the Western Dodgers and as the game unfolded early it appeared that another high score was on the cards from the ladies from the Bay. The score keepers were again kept busy as Brooke and Carmen laid on some terrific touchdowns through great S Down’s and scoot inside for touchdown after touchdown. Another highlight as view by the crowd was one Melissa “Cracka” Woodward 40 metre dash to the line after a missed touch in the ruck by a Dodgers defender. The second half proved tougher as both teams reduced the pace as the legs became weiry from the time gap between games, as the intensity dropped off so did the commuciation and the soft touchdowns that really hurt teams started, the ladies though had built a solid lead and were rewarded with a solid 11-5 win and a perfect start to 2008.
After the first weekend Vipers again see themselves in very good shape but with another thirteen rounds to go this competition is wide open.
Rounds three and four will be hosted at Albert Park on Firday 10th October from 6pm with the last games scheduled for 9pm so come along and watch the VT league in 2008 and support the Bayside Vipers.
