Hawks go 1-2 in San Diego Tourney

San Diego, California - The Arizona Hawks made their 2009 debut this past Saturday by participating in a 10-a-side metro footy tournament hosted by the San Diego Lions. The Hawks travelled with a big roster of 20 players for the three match tournament. While missing some meat in the middle with Troy and Chad out of action the team was still strong and were looking to build their 2009 campaign with some wins. San Diego has arguably been one of the top 2 teams in the country the past decade so it would be a big test for the Hawks.

ARIZONA HAWKS VS. SAN DIEGO TIGERS
In the first game the Hawks came out strong and matched up well with the San Diego Tigers. Big Mike Spielman was impressive and he took many marks; constantly out jumping his opponents keeping the Arizona fans well entertained. He also added 3 goals as well to show he has the finesse to go along with the brute force. The Tigers were moving the ball around the field in a quick and organized manner and the Hawks were chasing shadows for a period of time and this allowed the Tigers to score 4 goals and keep the lead at half-time. In the second half the Hawks came out screeching and Robbie "The Wrestler" Luto got 2 goals in a good display up front. Adam Smark also scored 2 as the big target up front and Wyatt and Moose added one each. Matt Sovereign was playing well in the middle until a clean hit left him leaving the field with a broken collar bone.

The Hawks defense was lead by Toohey and Touph who did a good job of shutting down their opponents and playing some tough footy. That was until Toohey went down in a tackle and despite wearing his space age knee brace still managed to screw up his knee even more than last year and it looks like he will have surgery in the near future. The Hawks played on and gave it their best. Tim Montagna was running around like a pig in mud and was making life hard for the Tigers who were trying unsuccessfully to slow him down and while he set up many team mates for goals he was unlucky in scoring 3 behinds. At the end of the day the Hawks put up a good fight and hit the front with 5 minutes to go but let in a few late goals and went down to the Tigers 8-3-51 to 10-6-66.

Best on ground for the Arizona Hawks: Spielman, Montagna, and Robbie Luto

Game Notes: This game saw Joseph "Crusher" Butler make his first appearance for the Arizona Hawks and was probably the most accurate kicking game the team has had in recent years. In a well contested game number 6 (the Ruck) for the Tigers gets the "wanker" of the match award for his repeated cheap plays and crappy attitude.
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ARIZONA HAWKS VS. LAS VEGAS GAMBLERS
The second game of the day was played without rest and the Hawks were taking on the Las Vegas Gamblers. Vegas had a depleted squad missing more than half of their team from last year but as usual they put up a gutsy game and gave it their all. In this match the Hawks led from start to finish. Fitzy led the team with a remarkable display scoring 4 good goals and looking like he was a man amongst boys. Donger did well up front and was gifted 3 goals by his team mates and Tim added an additional 2 more goals. Big Mike scored a goal as did Ryan Luto and Rojan. Chops and Daniel Rogan showed their usual level of consistency and both do all the little things right that make them valuable footballers. The worst part of the game came when Adam ran full speed into Robbie Luto and it looked like a Bull Elephant charging into a warthog and after a loud crunching noise Scrubs was down for the count and was carried from the field. Luckily the muscular scrubs was free from any long term injury due to his portly muscular frame. Anyone else on the team would have most likely died from the hit. Adam appeared to have nothing more than a few hairs out of place for his effort.

Hollywood Luto also dusted off the cobwebs and was on the field for the Hawks for the first time in 2 years. He helped out on the field and when he regains match fitness he will definitely make an impact on the field.

At the end of the game the Hawks easily beat the under strength Gamblers 12-5-77 to 2-3-15.

Best on ground for the Arizona Hawks: Fitzy, Montagna, Swierpuski.

Game Notes: This game saw Pun and Sean make their first ever appearances for the Arizona Hawks. Good work guys! Also Simon Daniels as runner worked harder on the day bringing water to the boys than he ever did during on the field during the AZAFL metro season! While the Vegas lads were playing well they were let down by "Greenie" on their team who made cheap shot after cheap shot on the day. You have two types of footballers, those who are good blokes and those who are just plain wankers and Greenie proved that he was a wanker by his actions. A note to Aussies who play football in the US; you are ambassadors for the game here, set the bar high and lead by example and leave your attitude at home when you come to play. In order to grow the game people don't want to participate or watch late hits and dirty play, leave your egos at home and play tough but fair and help others on your team and the opposition enjoy the game (and if I were you I would be very careful about taking a late shot on Crusher, you were lucky he didn't lose his temper!).
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ARIZONA HAWKS VS. SAN DIEGO CATS
In the third and final game of the day for the Hawks they were coming up against the undefeated San Diego Cats. If the Hawks won the game they had a shot at winning the tournament so the boys were fired up to play tough. Although missing 4 players through injury they recruited Callum from his duties as scorekeeper to get on the field. Despite having the swine flu he suited up and gave it his all. That and the effort by the Hawks was not enough as they watched the Cats score 4 straight unanswered goals. Some teams might have hung their heads low by the boys from AZ kept on fighting and began to claw back the score. Big Mike Spielman got his first of the game to get the ball rolling. Tall Timber Wyatt took a great mark with his face and then kicked the ball to Fitzy who marked strong and converted for a goal. Some great hustle then ensued by Adam Smark who was having his best effort in a Hawks jersey in his 3 year tenure with the team! After contesting for the ball Adam chased his opponent and knocked him to the ground freeing the ball for the elusive Timmy who picked it up and from the corner with no angle whatsoever managed to kick it along the ground in a arcing motion that would make Shane Warne look on in disbelief as it worked its way through the uprights for another goal. Please note that this passage of play might be seen on ESPN's "plays of the week." The score could have been closer but the Hawks kicked 4 behinds lead by Rojan's 2. This is the last game Ronan will play for the Hawks as he is leaving the US and the club wishes both him and Callum well in their future gold and poker activities. At the half the Hawks were down 3-4-22 to 5-1-31.

In the second half the guys came out tougher than a steak on Laki's BBQ and some quick play by Tim got the ball to an unmarked Fitzy and before assessing the angle Fitzy put pressure on himself by dedicating the goal; to Chelsea, fortunately for the Fitz he did kick true and Chelsea is still proud to wear the ‘Got Fitz" shirt! In defense Touph and Moose held strong. Moose seemed to enjoy the freedom of running around more and not just having to play in the backline, hopefully he can get everyone else as fit as himself! In the Ruck the Prototype Wyatt was working hard with little relief and helped fire up the team. One ball was kicked long to Adam who picked it up facing away from the goal and in a wide and slow turn sort of like an oil tanker coming out of a harbor he turned on his man and in a smooth motion kicked for goal from 40 yards out and notched another major for the Hawks.

Just when things looked good for the Hawks Mike Spielman took a hit which appeared to be a cracked rib and then the bad luck continued with the Hawks kicking 5 behinds. But the Hawks kept battling and Tim picked up a loose ball and left his defender in his wake as he dummied a handball and then kicked true to Adam who kicked his second goal of the game. In a similar fashion Skinny Joe also hustled hard to win a ball in the midfield and getting an assist after Callum caught his kick and booted a goal. One of the plays of the day was Tim jumping over the Cats rather large and tall ruckman to win the ball despite giving up 7 inches and about 80 pounds of weight. The Cats were trying various tactics to slow Tim down but they were as effective as trying to catch a fly with a pair of chopsticks.

At this stage the Hawks were up and were looking good for the upset. San Diego scored a goal and a behind to keep it close. Then against play Fitzy won the ball and made a dashing run up the sideline and kicked long to Adam. Knowing he wouldn't get a clean grab he smartly tapped the ball to a nearby Spielman who despite having a broken rib caught the ball and kicked a goal. This had the Hawks up by 13 points. With only several minutes to play the Cats kicked one goal and then scored another on the siren for what looked to be too little too late and a Hawks victory by one point. The victory was however short lived as after the goal umpires conferred they had the game going to the Cats by 5 points.

All in all it was a good weekend for the Hawks. Being able to play competitively with a great club like San Diego is a boost for the team and was a great weekend away for the boys after finishing up the metro season the weekend before. Off the field Mangas received the MVP far ahead of a distant Si Daniels. The team will now take a break before beginning training again in July in order to prepare for Nationals.

A big thanks to coach Greg Everett for flying in from Toronto to yell at the team on the day and to Steve Rogan for his help on the field as well. Club President Laki did a fine job holding the team board and moving all the magnets around and a special thanks to the WAGs who made the trip out.

Best on ground for the Arizona Hawks: Montgana, Smark, Fitzpatrick, Swierupski, Glaze.

Mr Watty Update: Without Jack being here for the tournament there is unfortunately no update for you and we have replaced this section with the new one below.

Tim's Mum Update: Was great to have Tim's Mum fly all the way from Australia to cheer on the Hawks in San Diego and she gets the award for traveling the furthest to watch the Hawks play in 2009. Rumor has it that she enjoyed the skill and atmosphere much more than those boring games at the MCG or at Docklands.
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