Queensland has finished fifth at the 2012 Australian Country Football Championships
The 2012 Australian Country Football Championships were played out last weekend at Wagga Wagga featuring teams from Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and a combined New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory team.
All teams played each other once before a finals series on Sunday with Queensland finishing fifth overall.
Game 1
NSW/ACT v Qld
A fast and furious start to the carnival in slippery conditions caused both teams to waste goal scoring opportunities.
Queensland was well served in defence by Angus Munro, Daniel Dzufer and Caleb Brown while Walsh and MacQueen were lively in the forward area.
The first half ended with NSW leading by five points, 3 goals 3 behinds to 2 goals 4 behinds.
The second half began with Queensland on top but unable to convert on the scoreboard due to inaccurate kicking. I’Anson was creating opportunities with heavy work in the ruck while Brad Hards, Daniel Dzufer and Brenton Powell maintained constant pressure around the ground.
Final score – NSW/ACT 8.3.51 def. Qld 2.6.18
Game 2
Vic (2) v Qld
Victoria (2) began the game with successive goals through their tall high marking forwards. Queensland responded with superb long goals from Brown, Powell and Brewster and Lewis were outstanding for Queensland with his lively attack on the ball across half forward.
Players from both sides were relentless in their attack on the ball and the Vic (2) 3 goals 3 behinds to Qld 3 goals 2 behinds scoreline was a true reflection of the relative merits of the two teams.
The second half was all Victoria (2). Queensland had few opportunities to score. However a ‘never say die’ attitude maintained pressure on the opposition which had to work hard to penetrate into the 50m area. An uncompromising five minutes by the Victorians created the biggest margin of the game and a 39 point win.
Final Score – Vic (2) 10.5.65 def Qld 4.2.26
Game 3
Vic (1) v Qld
This was a game played, almost entirely in the Victorian forward half. Queensland was outplayed in all facets of the game by a bigger, stronger and very skilful Victorian team.
Final Score – Vic (1) 7.6.48 def Qld 0.0.0
Game 4
SA v Qld
Queensland needed to win against SA to have any hope of playing off for a podium finish of third in the competition. Form suggested that the teams were evenly matched.
South Australia came out of the gates hard from the first bounce and threw everything at a Queensland side that was slow to get going.
SA pushed the ball forward well and opened the scoring with a goal after three minutes of intense football. But Queensland hit back soon after and the teams were only separated by 8 points at the break.
Both teams had their chances in the second half but blew some easy scoring opportunities, the worst when SA gave away a penalty while his teammate was lining up for a shot on goal.
Queensland looked the better side in the second half but could not capitalise on chances.
Best for Queensland were – I ‘Anson, Holman, Dzufer, Tomlinson, Lewis and Hards.
Final Score – SA 4.5.29 def Qld 3.4.22
Game 5
WA v Qld
Queensland kicked with the wind in the opening half and a goal on the half time siren gave them five for the quarter and a 27 point lead at the break.
WA was expected to fight back strongly with the breeze but Queensland surprised its opponents with the first two goals of the quarter to stretch the lead to 39 points.
WA was able to get a couple of goals back but Queensland continued to score too easily and enjoyed its first win of the carnival with a 32 point victory.
Best players for Queensland were Upton, Holman, Lewis, Dzufer, I ‘Anson and Clarke.
Final score – Qld 9.5.59 def WA 4.3.27
Consolation Final
Qld vs WA
Queensland took a fifteen point lead at the first break, but the WA team fought back to bring the deficit to four points at half time.
Accurate goal-kicking from both sides in the third quarter added six goals apiece but Queensland prevailed in the final quarter, adding three goals to Western Australia’s one.
A buoyant Queensland coach Stephen Daniel said the team had improved from its rough start on Thursday.
“We were really happy with the whole team performance today, we’ve got a lot better as the carnival went along,” he said.
“It just took us a little while to gel, and we were a bit stiff at times, but it was just good to get something now out of the carnival.”
QLD 9.10.64 defeated WA 7.8.50
QLD Best Players: R. Holman, D. Dzufer, M. Walsh, T. Upton, B. Hards, M. Anson
Victoria (1) and Victoria (2) played off for the overall Championship with Vic (1) taking the game 14.13-97 to Vic (2)’s 4.5-29
NSW/ACT finished third after defeating SA in their final NSW/ACT 11.9-75 to SA 10.7-67.
Queensland players Daniel Dzufer and Ryan Holman were also named in the All-Australian team based on their performance at the carnival.
For full match reports from the carnival click here http://www.acfc.com.au/
