Opening Round Blues for the Wildcats as Swans Fly High

Well to misquote the great Jools Holland in the title, Saturday was certainly a day to forget, at least on the pitch for the West London Wildcats.

Yes, footy is back, and with it the hits, the goals, the shock results and the camaraderie that sets this game apart from so many others. With season openers happening at four venues across the capital and beyond (Kingsmeadow, Clapham Common and Peckham Rye) I headed off to Dukes Meadows for five games with the West London Wildcats.

The London Swans flew in, took all the points on offer and flew off again, whilst the North London Lions crossed the city plains to the banks of the river and again left with the points. For once the Wildcats hosted five games in a day and amazingly left without a win.

So lets take a look at how the games panned out.

The opening game of the day, and if timings were correct, the opening game of the AFL London season saw the Ealing Emus take on the London Swans 2's in the Mens Socials. A tight first quarter saw the Swans kick the only goal, and the first goal of the entire AFL league campaign through the lively Marko Milojevic and take a narrow lead, 1.2.8 to 0.2.2 into the second quarter. Once again the second period was a tight tussle and by the end of it the Swans had extended their lead by four behinds, going into half time 1.6.12 - 0.2.2 up.

Milojevic fired his second goal early in the third quarter to stretch the Swans lead, before Jesse Rosomacki bought the Emus back into the contest, another Swans goal though took them to a comfortable lead going into the final period and despite a gallant effort by the Emus, the Swans pulled away in the last quarter, notching a further goal and seven behinds, to just three behinds for the Emus, giving them 4.7.31 - 1.6.12 victory.

Onto Game 2 and it was a historic day for the Swans as they fielded a second womens team for the first time and promptly raced into a 14 point lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to some barnstorming play across the board, and the outstanding efforts of Tara Barratt, who was nigh on unplayable. This continued in the second quarter Barratt continuing to dominate alongside some excellent play by both Genevieve Horton and Eliza Northey. They helped take the Swans to a 5.2.32 - 1.0.6 lead at the big break.

After the break it was a spirited effort by the Wildcats women, but they were unable to make any real inroads into the Swans lead, and come the final hooter it was the Swans victorious 5.5.35 to 1.6.12

Game 3 saw us up to the Mens Conference, and the Shepherd Bush Raiders against the Swans men. After a fairly close first quarter, where the Swans edged it by the odd goal in three, the visitors pulled away in the second and third quarters. So much so, that by half time they held a 5.6.36 to 1.1.7 lead, and in the third quarter having once again kept the Cats quiet, they had extended the lead to 10.10.70 to 1.1.7. On the day the Raiders were unable to cope with Swans giant ruckman Callum Batho and the ridiculously good finishing from Fergus Lappin.

To their credit the Raiders never threw in the towel and landed another goal in the fourth quarter, but the Swans were home and hosed ending up 13.16.94 to 2.2.14.

Listening in on the Raiders post-game debrief it further reinforced what is great about the game - no doom and gloom but positivity and get a beer in, support the other teams and get around your clubmates. It really is the community feel that is missing in so many other sports.

Having now broken the back of the day, it was on to the penultimate fixture and the Mens Premiership encounter between the Cats and North London Lions. Last season the Lions missed out on the grand final and looked a shadow of their former selves. This term though the Lions look a different proposition. Big powerful hits, strong running and some remarkable goalscoring from Judah Edmunds.

The Cats had no answer as the Lions leapt out to a 6.3.39 to 1.1.7 lead at the end of the first quarter, and although the Cats came back into the game in the second quarter - outscoring the Lions 2.2.14 to 1.3.9 the visitors still held a 7.6.48 to 3.3.21 at the big break. Maybe though signs of a Cats revival.

The Lions had other ideas and took the game further away from the Cats in the third quarter, with Daniel Beddison running the show and the Cats unable to cope with the power of Lachlan Treverton, they scored five goals and four behinds, to just two behinds for the hosts and an insurmountable 12.10.82 to 3.5.23 lead. The final quarter was wide open with goals flying in all over the place, the Lions added another five, whilst the Cats found the target on another three occasions, giving a final score of 17.14.116 to 6.10.46 and a perfect start to the season for the visitors.

So, four games in and the Wildcats yet to record a win, but no worries, it's the Cats Premiership Women up last and they have been unbeaten in the league for three years. As they say, all good things come to an end and so it was at the weekend. The Swans leapt out to 3.1.19 to 0.0.0 lead at the end of the first quarter, on the back of some good work in the middle of the park by Saskia Taylor-Doyle and Chelsea Fisher, plus some neat finishing Niamh Leahy and Maggie Minchin.

Sometimes all you need is a good quarter, and getting a big head start gave the Swans something to dig in for. With the truly outstanding Emma Lynch marshalling the side, for me the performance of the day, they withstood all the Cats could throw at them. Outscored 1.2 to 0.3 in the second quarter and 1.1 to 0.3 in the third quarter it would have been easy to crumble. But the Swans were fully deserving of the win and in truth they were fantastic and worthy winners. The final score saw them victorious 3.11.29 to 2.3.15

Elsewhere, over at Peckham Rye and the Wandsworth Demons gained revenge for their Grand Final loss with a thumping 13.16.94 to 1.0.6 over the South East London Giants, whilst in the Women's Conference a thriller saw the Giants overcome the Demons 3.4.22 to 3.3.21.

In Reading the reformed Wimbledon Hawks social side took to the field for the first time in a while and were involved in an epic encounter with the Hawks, with the visitors coming out on top 7.3.45 to 4.10.34

Finally just one game on the Common in the Women's

Premiership, where the Wandsworth Demons outlasted the Sussex Swans in a tremendous clash, the D's ending up 3.3.21 to 2.1.13 victors.

Huge thank you to Jonno and the Wildcats for their fantastic hospitality. Looking forward now to my next trip, which will see me at the Round 2 fixtures at Hackney Marshes, and having witnessed four fantastic performances from the Swans in Round 1, it should be a superb second week.