Posted on 01/15/2006 8:21:52 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
The Kangaroos have thumped reigning AFL premiers the Swans by 48 points in a sold-out exhibition game in Los Angeles.
Kangaroos ruckman Hamish McIntosh was voted best-on-ground and dominated the youthful Sydney lineup, kicking an equal game-high two goals.
The Kangaroos won 13.8 (86) to 6.2 (38).
Both teams were without senior stars, with Kangaroos coach Dean Laidley and Sydney's Paul Roos opting to blood younger players.
Roos said he was not disappointed with the score because both teams did not play their full squads and it was still more than two months away from the opening of the AFL season.
"The loss is completely irrelevant today," Roos said.
Laidley also downplayed the result, although he singled out 21-year-old McIntosh's performance.
"I've been waiting to see a game from him like that," Laidley said.
"He's 202cm. When he got to us four years ago he couldn't bench press 40kg.
"Now, four years later he's bench pressing 135kg and put on 20kg.
"Big kids like that take three, four or five years so hopefully this is the start of something for him."
Laidley also said the Kangaroos' new recruits Cameron Thurley and Kasey Green performed strongly as well as new draftees Andrew Swallow and Matt Riggio.
"Andrew Swallow had the ball on a string and Matt Riggio across halfback was pretty good," Laidley said.
The Kangaroos were never tested during the game and had a 7.5 (47) to 3.1 (19) lead at halftime.
The game was played at the University of California Los Angeles to a sold-out crowd of 3,000 people, which included Hollywood star John Travolta as well as Australian celebrities Hugh Jackman and Olivia Newton-john.
The event was part of the G'Day LA Festival being held in Los Angeles which is designed to promote Australian sport, business, art, film, fashion, food and wine.
Played to a sold out crowd of 3,000. Ha-ha-ha, he-he-he. In a city where 3,000 people stop & listen to street musicians.
Sorry, but soccer is a girly sport and Americans find it boring.
If 3,000 capacity is the biggest stadium LA can offer, I daresay that's what we have to settle for.
I'm betting you've never seen Australian football. Soccer it ain't. It makes American football look like a game played by padded shielas!
Please, do yourself a favour and visit:
www.afl.com.au
"ruckman"
What does a ruckman do?
Sell tickets? Mix the Gatorade? What
He jumps at the centre bounce and belts the ball as far as he can toward his team's goal. Alternatively he palms the footy to a nearby team-mate who proceeds to kick it that way.
Always over six feet - some closer to seven - these guys are not to be messed with.
Is this different from Victoria league footy? We used to get VFL (?) on ESPN and it was a huge hit in Buffalo. Essendon vs Footscray were some great matches. What a great game. This is NOT SOCCER !!!
You got it! AFL is VFL gone national.
We now have ten teams from Victoria, two each from Western Australia and South Australia, and one each from Sydney and Brisbane.
Australian Rules Football is NOT soccer. It's really hard to describe...the best way I can do it is to say imagine the hitting and tackling of a rugby game, with the running of soccer. The ball and some of the rules are similar to rugby, but there's much less scrumming and much more open-field action--and kicking goals, like field goals, is the only way to score. It seems pretty fast-paced, and you get some absolutely VICIOUS full-speed hitting, without pads. It's not a game for girlymen, in fact I imagine a lot of NFL players couldn't hack it.
ESPN used to show Australian Football League highlights at ungodly hours on weekends. I never really did figure out what was going on (and trying to understand excited announcers with Aussie accents is NOT easy) but it was always fun to watch. Those guys are serious athletes, because they have to be able to run like soccer players, jump for balls like basketball players or volleyballers, AND hit like safeties. And they do.
}:-)4
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