Category Archives: Football

Angus Monfries

Posted on June 6, 2011 by cintaduapuluh

Introduction

Angus Monfries is a professional Australian Rules footballer in the Australian Football League (AFL). He presently plays for Essendon Bombers football club. He was born on January 19, 1987 and weighs about 83kg presently and is 1.84 meters tall. He plays in the forward position and he made his AFL debut in 2005 after he was drafted in the national AFL draft of 2004. He adorns the jersey number 6 for his club – Essendon Bombers.

Professional AFL Football Carrier

Angus Monfries was selected by Essendon in the AFL draft of 2004 with selection number 14. He made his first appearance in the colours of his club in the first round of 2005 season against the Melbourne side. He also made history in that game by becoming the 200th player to have been coached and played under the Bomber’s coach Kevin Sheedy. He kept up his initial impressive performance and maintained his place in the senior team till the season got to the fourth round. In the fifth round, he was dropped for an all important ANZAC Day encounter with Collingwood. He found it difficult to make an appearance in the team’s engagements at the senior level until when the season got to round 12.

Angus experienced a great turn around in his play during this season in the thirteenth round. During this match against St Kilda, Angus kicked a total of two goals and helped the club to win the game by a 15 point difference. Thereafter, Monfries continued to the end of the season without missing any other match till the season came to a close. Indeed, he had a good season especially when considering the fact that he was a new player into the team and AFL at large. The following season was also a very good one for him although he did not win any award during this time. He was able to play almost all the games of the season except for one game in round fifteen. He missed this game due to a calf strain injury. The injury was however, considered to be minor without any serious consequences to the player.

The season of 2007 was also a similarly good season. Monfries was able to play a total of twenty games out of twenty-two games for the whole season. The team’s abysmal performance against Port Adelaide was responsible for the Bombers losing the game by a whopping 31 points after winning only four matches previously. Angus along with another team mate was sidelined for the next club games that followed. He lost about two rounds of playing time as a result of this. He was however named emergency player and was able to return to the team successfully after about four players were critically injured and had to stay out of play. The season of 2009 was also a good one for Angus; he became a very vital part of the team such that he was a dominant and stabilizing factor in the Essendon Bombers team. He also learned and improved tremendously his goal kicking skills.

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Liam Jurrah

Posted on May 10, 2011 by cintaduapuluh

Introduction and Early Life

Liam Jurrah is a young and upcoming professional Australian Rules footballer who is currently playing with the Melbourne Football Club. He was born on September 22, 1988 and he is from a small remote indigenous Australian community known as Yuendumu in Northern Territory. He has been able to make history as the first indigenous person from this community to play professional football at the senior level in Australian Football League (AFL). He is about 1.88 metres tall and weighs about 83kg. He plays in the forward position with the jersey number 24. He was drafted during the pre-season draft of 2008 and was the number one (1) pick by the Melbourne Demons Football Club.

Early Football Career

Jurrah began playing football as a small boy growing up in the remote location of Yuendumu and various other locations around Central Australia especially during football carnivals. His father was a traditional Yuendumu football player so it was not so difficult for the young Liam to learn this game. Liam continued learning from his father and his enthusiasm for the game grew tremendously as he continued playing. His efforts started yielding dividends when in 2005 he was invited to be part of the under seventeen (U-17) team. He was also able to make Grade A in the premiership seasons of 2007 and 2008 with the Yuendumu Magpies.

He later had the opportunity in 2008 to feature for Collingwood Football Club in the Victoria Football League for four games displaying great skill and talent. He also had the opportunity to play for Victoria Football League in the game against South Australia Football League. During this same year in 2008, Liam also won the highly coveted Everingham Medal as the best player in the inaugural Central Australia Football League (CAFL) Grand Final, where he kicked four goals during the first quarter. Thus the Yuendumu Magpies were able to win the first and newly combined competition of town including country sides that previously were playing in Alice Springs. After this victory, he went on to play for Nightcliff in the Northern Territory Football League where he became the cynosure of AFL talent scouts after kicking five goals in his last game. One of these scouts was first to identify his potential and introduced him to the Melbourne Demons football club. He was later chased by many AFL clubs to accept their offers and consequently nominated to take part in the pre-season national AFL draft of 2009 where he was picked by the Melbourne Demons.

Professional Career Achievements

Liam Jurrah finally made his debut appearance in the AFL during the twelfth round of the 2009 AFL season in the match against Essendon. He displayed spectacular performances in his games and also scored goals during his first season in the AFL. He was later nominated to the AFL Rising Star Award nomination. He continued improving his game as the season went by till he became the toast of the Melbourne fans. He became a star and celebrity of some sort in his local town when he travelled with his club’s president to his local community where he grew up. The visit was aired on television.

This is a preview of Liam Jurrah. Read the full post (603 words, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)
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Youth Football Canadian Style – Yes They Do Love American Football in Canada

Posted on April 14, 2011 by cintaduapuluh

Canadian Football – Hands On

While the Canadians love their Hockey, in many areas of Canada, football is very popular. I had the pleasure of conducting a coaches clinic near Vancouver last week and then had the privilege of running a practice for a group of 5-6th graders the following evening.

It all started a few years ago when a coach by the name of Terry Hamilton brought the Single Wing Offense to British Columbia and the Vancouver area. Terry’s team went 16-0 that season and won the coveted Provincial Championship. Others took notice of Terry’s success and the following year there were about 25 Canadian coaches at my Seattle coaches clinic. The following seasonTerry’s team again went undefeated and won the Provincial Championship, winning the title game 72-14. The real surprise that season were the Chilliwack Giants, who shocked everyone by rolling through the playoffs to their first ever Provincial Title at 5-6th grade. Chilliwack is the team that came down to Nebraska and played us last season, Single Wing versus Single Wing.

Lawrence Smith, the Chilliwack organizer for that trip graciously invited my family up to stay with them, put on a coaches clinic and spend time with his family in the unbelievable beauty and friendliness that is British Columbia. They seem to almost take for granted the beautiful snow covered mountain views you can see from their backyard. Same goes for a huge breathtaking waterfall and state park complete with signs to watch out for the bears just 5 minutes from their home. Another 10 minutes away we spent time at a quaint mountain village with a public swimming area and great local dairy and ice cream. More on that later, let’s talk about some nuances and changes that make sense for Canadian youth football.

The Canadians play on a larger field, the Canadian field of play is 110 yards long by 65 yards wide, rather than 100 yards long by 53รข…” yards wide as in American football. The Canadian endzones are 10 yards deeper than the American ones as well. The Canadians are allowed just 3 downs to make a first down and the defense must align at least 1 yard off the line of scrimmage.

Chilliwack offensive coordinator Lawrence Smith pointed out this difference and then asked why we drop stepped when we pull. We drop step to both create space for the pulling lineman to pull, but also to open his hips in the direction he is running, while keeping the shoulders parallel to the line of scrimmage in order that the puller can spy the Linebacker he is attempting to block. Since there is a full yard between the offensive and defensive linemen, there really isn’t a need to create space and the footwork for the pull may have to be rethought. In American football, we have our linemen recessed a bit and we consistently are able to play on the defenses side of the ball due to superior technique and the painstaking work we put into getting our first 2 steps down faster than our opponents. But with a full yard of space, does a drop step still make sense? I’m still debating that one.

This is a preview of Youth Football Canadian Style – Yes They Do Love American Football in Canada. Read the full post (839 words, estimated 3:21 mins reading time)
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Lance Franklin

Posted on March 18, 2011 by cintaduapuluh

Introduction and Early Life

Lance Franklin is a professional Australian Rules football player that currently plays for the Hawthorn Hawks Football Club. He was born on January 30, 1987 in Perth, West Australia; and is of indigenous Australian descent. Lance is about 1.96 meters tall, has a large frame and weighs about 101 kilograms. He is a very versatile utility player that plays in the centre half-forward positions as well as the midfield position too. He wears the jersey number 23 and is fondly called “Buddy”. He used to play for Perth in Western Australia in his early football days from where he was drafted with the number 4 pick into the Australian Football League (AFL) by the Hawthorn Hawks F.C in the 2004 national AFL draft.

Early Professional Career

Before beginning his professional football career, Lance had played his early days representing Western Australia at the National Under 18 Carnival. Lance made his debut appearance in the first round of the 2005 season. He played extremely well that year especially considering the fact that this was his first season in the AFL. He finished the season playing 20 games out of the total 22 games and contributing 27 goals. This can be considered as a good performance for his first season. He had a serious setback to his performance the following season as a result of injuries he sustained on his ankle and hand early in the 2006 season. he made it back during the 9th round. During the 12th round, Lance displayed a great performance that saw him kick 6 goals in the match against Richmond.

Before the end of the 2006 season, Lance renewed his contract and extended his stay at Hawthorn Hawks by another two years. Prior to this, he was widely speculated to be a subject of attraction by clubs like Essendon, West Coast, and Fremantle. The 2007 season was a great one for Lance. He finished the season with 63 goals placing him third in the Coleman Medal in the entire AFL that season. He also finished the season in the number three position in the club’s Best and Fairest Awards, as well as the leading goal kicker for Hawthorn Hawks.

Professional Career Achievements

Lance Franklin kept improving consistently and in 2008 he won the Coleman Medal for kicking a total of 102 goals during the season. He also featured in the Dream Team where he kicked four goals during the AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match. He was the first Aboriginal player to reach this feat in the AFL. He won the AFL premiership this year with Hawthorn Hawks and also won the Peter Cummins Medal which is the Best and Fairest Award in the club. The 2009 season was not particularly a good one for him as he had to undergo surgery for injury on his thumb and shoulder, as a fall out of the previous season. After returning to play, his performances were not the same as that of the previous season. he lost one of his teeth during a ball contest in a match and was also suspended for two games as a result of rough play against a Richmond player in a match.

Permanent link to this post (535 words, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)
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