Story by Stewart Wilson

It was a very good day for our club on Saturday with the Mudchooks and
Mudchicks taking on ADFA teams and emerging victorious in both cases
at a wet and soggy Mick Sherd Oval.

The Chooks’ win turned out to be emphatic in the end, 29-7 and
scoring five tries to one courtesy five-pointers to Kalib Maksimovic,
Joe Nagauna, Jone Waqa, Uraia Rabici and Finlay Rowston.

The game started in what seems to be standard procedure for the
Mudchooks this year – the opposition dominating possession and
launching attack after attack from close range in the early stages and
the defence holding firm.

After surviving that initial onslaught the tide began to turn in
favour of the Mudchooks, helped considerably by the dominance of their
scrum which repeatedly and strongly pushed the ADFA pack into reverse.
A couple of scrums went against the ADFA feed as a result, something
that always makes the forwards (and coach) very happy indeed!

The backs also did their jobs when called upon and a couple of their
moves which resulted in tries were good to watch.

The team still has several key players out through injury with the
result that some experimentation with playing positions continues, but
these generally worked pretty well against ADFA. For example, Harry
Baker did a great job playing halfback for the first time, his efforts
reflected in the match awards noted below.

A good result for the Chooks!

The team’s next game is against the Hall Bushrangers at the Mick
Sherd Oval next Saturday but note the starting time is 3.30pm, an hour
later than usual due to sharing the day with the Tigers.

The player awards and their sponsors for the ADFA match were:
Best and Fairest: Royal Hotel – Harry Baker (3 points), Jye Russell
(2 points), Joe Nagauna (1 point).
Players’ Player: Mint Air Conditioning and Refrigeration – Harry
Baker.
Coach’s Player: Bungendore Community Bank – Harry Baker.
Chicks’ Pick: MV Panel and Paint – Maloni Tubekitu.