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Kangaroos Head to Mason, OH For Two Chances at National Titles
Footy Fans! The Nashville Kangaroos Footy Team heads to Mason, OH this weekend where it will set a few club records and attempt to set a few more.
After a bit of an up and down season, The Kangaroos were rewarded for their strong finish to the regular season with a bid for the USFooty Division II National Championship. The boys were given a #2 seed in Pool A and will compete in round robin games against North Carolina, Milwaukee, and San Diego. You can see all the seedings, including commentary from the seeding committee, at the USFooty website HERE and the actual match schedule for the weekend HERE.
Club Records:
1) Nashville is sending its largest team ever: 29 players. In this competition, teams will compete with an on-ground contingent of 18 and a maximum interchange bench of 6. Thus, a team can only dress 24 players for a game. And in the carnival format of 40-minute games, such a large bench is really not necessary.
2) Nashville is competing in two divisions: To enable the maximum amount of playing time for all players, Nashville has joined with the Columbus Jackaroos who also have more than the maximum players to field a 'seconds' or 'B-team' that will compete in Division IV.
This gives Nashville a shot at winning not just one, but two national
championships! Huzzah!
NASHVILLE A
The second-seeded Rooboys will open the 2009 competition with a match against the third seed and a long-time foe: the North Carolina Tigers. Nashville is 2-4 all time against the Tigers, with most of those games occurring in the early 2000s and in festival format. The teams last met in 2007 at nationals with the Tigers taking a dominating 9.4(58) to 1.4(10) win against a Roo team that featured zero Australian starters (yes, you read it right, zero). Do not be fooled by their 1-9 record this year: many of their losses were to USFooty 2008 runner-up Baltimore/Washington and another Division I squad, New York. The Tigers feature a number of skilled Aussies and are certainly looking to surprise everyone and prove their Division II bid is not a fluke. Game time is Noon Saturday.
The Round 2 match will be against another team the Roos have a losing record against: the Milwaukee Bombers. Nashville is 2-5 all time against the Bombers, but both wins were at home, and this year's win came via forfeit. The Bombers have dominated the Roos outside of Elmington Park with a perfect 4-0 record which they clearly intend on running up to five. The first time these teams clashed was in the 2003 nationals, the year the Bombers won the Division II Championship, including a 'bombing' of the Roos 6.5.(41) to 0.2(2). Milwaukee played a reduced schedule in 2009, (choosing to focus on their local Metro league), and went 2-5 with one of the wins being a combined Ohio Valley affair in Columbus, but two of the losses via forfeit from lack of traveling numbers. Still, the Bombers still have a lot of good Aussies and Americans who apparently are going to make the trip to nationals, and like North Carolina, will be looking to prove they earned their Division II bid. Rooboys beware: history is not on your side so don't you dare look past this team. Game time is 5 pm Saturday.
Round 3 (as pool play always does) pits the top two seeds against each other on the assumption that they both win their opening round matches and the winner getting the bid to the Division Grand Final. This matchup features the top seeded San Diego Lions, yet another team against which the Roos have a losing record. In fact they have never beaten the Lions, but you have to go all the way back to the 2000 USFooty Nationals to find the match. The Lions won a heart-stopper 6.4(40) to 4.4(28), kicking a very late goal to seal the deal and advance to the championship match. In fact, it was so long ago, only two Rooboys who actually played in that game remain with the team! San Diego is a perennial Division I powerhouse with a couple of National titles to their credit, due to their strong American players, and exceptional depth of Australians. The Lions had a 2-4 campaign in 2009, quite uncharacteristic for them, which is why they dropped down to Division II this year, and it means they too will be looking to prove their losing record does not reflect their true strenth. If the Rooboys stayed focused on Saturday, they will have a shot at their first Division II Grand Final bid ever. Game time is 11 am Sunday.
And how about a major milestone in Roo history? Should the Kangaroos prevail through pool play, not only will it earn them the right to play in the Division II Grand Final, their first ever, but the third win will also be the 100th win in Kangaroos history! WOW!
Division II Grand Final - Should the Kangaroos advance to the Division II Grand Final, they will take on the winner of Pool B, which is likely to be Chicago. If so, that sets up a tremendous rematch, Chicago having won the MAAFL Championship and a real bone cruncher of a match back in May as part of their 5-0 season. Another intriguing possibility is that the Calgary squad (and Pool B, #2 seed) could win. The Calgary team fared well at the 2008 Nationals, and such a match would be the first ever against a non-US club for the Roos (another milestone!). Regardless, the boys will need to earn the right to be there. Division II Grand Final is scheduled for 3:30 pm Sunday.
NASHVILLE B/COLUMBUS B
The Nashville reserves will combine with the Columbus reserves to compete in Divison IV which has six entrants vying for the Division IV Title. There will be two pools of three teams. Pool play of two games will determine Round 3 seedings, with the top four in a semi-final set up, the winners of which will play in the Grand Final.
The Columba-Ville 'Roos, or will it be the Nash-Umbus 'Roos?, open their play in Pool B against the Baltimore/DC Eagles reserves. This could be a dangerous situation as the Eagles are loaded in Division I, so who knows how much talent flows down to their reserves squad. Plus the match will put players together who have not played together before. Game time is 9 am Saturday.
In the second match, the 'Roos will take on a combined reserves squad featuring the Minnesota Freeze and the Kansas City Power. Both are MAAFL teams who used to compete for the Championship. Minnesota A competes in Division II as does Kansas City A, and in the same pool. How often does that happen? Kansas City nearly folded a few years back, but has risen Phoenix-like from the ashes, and is commended for being able to send both an A and B squad. Game time is set for 4 pm Saturday.
Based on the first two rounds, the 'Roos will be matched up against one of the Pool A, which includes yet another MAAFL combined team Ohio Valley/St. Louis (two teams we are familiar with), Golden Gate B/Las Vegas (Golden Gate A competes in Division I and the Roos edged Las Vegas in last year's nationals), and Orange County B/Des Moines (Orange County A is yet another Division I team, but Des Moines is a brand new team being formed by players moving there). Game time is 10, 11, or Noon, depending. Should the boys advance to the Division IV Grand Final, it will be played at 2:30 pm Sunday.
In a separate show of strength, Nashville is also sending the largest contingent of umpires, with five of the 30 umpires hailing from Nashville (field umpire Grant White; goal umpires Toby Persson, Alex Benjamin, and Kirby Pate; and Umpire Coach Jeff Persson). It would have been one more had not field umpire Craig Warner not been in Oz! We are not sure but we believe this to be a USFooty record as well!
So, there you have it, a quick (sort of) run down on the 2009 Nationals. If you love footy, and can make the drive, you will get plenty of action with nearly 60 matches and two Nashville teams to cheer on and plenty of milestones potentially being reached. We will get results posted as quickly as we can.
GO ROOBOYS!!!
