Fantasy Catchup

Sorry a combination of being out of town all last week and the film festival have halted the posting of Fantasy points. But here are points vs Marist (well, from what I can remember - tell me if I'm wrong anywhere.
 

Paul	2 (+60), 1 (+3 saves), 6 (cleansheet)	9
Tangihaere	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet), 2 bps	10
Spencer	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Jason	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet), 3 bps	11
Mike	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Corey	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Aaron	2 (+60), 2 ( MF cleansheet)	4
Lloyd	2 (+60), 2 ( MF cleansheet)	4
Paddy	2 (+60)	2
Dan	2 (+60), 2 ( MF cleansheet)	4
Robin	2 (+60), 2 ( mf cleansheet)	4
Logan	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Rauru	2 (+60), 1 bp	3
Tristin	2 (+60)	2

Leaderboard:
Paddy 82
Paul 68
Tangihaere 65
Dan 57
Logan (courtesy of a sneaky cleansheet!) 52

Fun Fact: Tangihaere is 3rd on the leaderboard but has a mammoth 15 bonus points, easily more than anyone else.

Talking about Fantasy, welcome Paul to the Stallions Fantasy EPL League - last week for any of the rest of you top join in the carnage.

Fantasy points vs Miramar to come later in the week.

I'll raise that dozen - Fantasy points vs Marist

So last week I marveled at the Dan + Paddy's 12 point haul, this week both improved on that!  Its now a clear 2 horse race at the top of the table. F**kers.

No match report, so this is how the awards panned out:
Stallion: Tangihaere - that second half header/challenge the left the bald guy on the ground for ages. Totally clean, but dominating. Stallion.
Pony: Dan missing that open goal header, and admitting afterwards that he was already thinking about how he was going to praise the teamwork that lead to the goal after the game. No dice. Another worst miss of the season contender.

MVPs:
3 - Paddy - 3 assists! 3 assists! 3 assists!
2 - Tangihaere
1 - Dan

Here be the fantasy points: Paul 2 (+60), 1 (+3 saves) 3 Tangihaere 2 (+60), 2bps 4 Jason 2 (+60) 2 Dan 2 (+60), 10 (2 mf goals), 1 bp 13 Graham 2 (+60), 3 (assist) 5 Aaron 2 (+60) 2 Lloyd 2 (+60) 2 Paddy 2 (+60), 9 (3 assists), 3 bps 14 Rauru 2 (+60), 5 (mf goal) 7 Logan 2 (+60), 5 (mf goal) 7 Tristin 2 (+60) 2 Joe 1 (-60) 1

Top of the table:

Paddy 56

Dan 50

Rauru 38

Bring on Te Whaea!

match preview

Marist inter, 2008 - including everyone's favorite goalie.

Let's face it, last year Marist had the wood over us big time. 1st game of the season, we went down 3-1, but the Stallions were in shock after losing Jamie before kickoff, seeing ben squeeze into the reserve goalie jersey, and the brightness of our new strip.

Round 2 at Anderson was a goal fest - for them. This time the Stallions were shocked to see Graham in goal with his purple 70's disco number goalie top, which looked especially nice from behind - seen lots as G-Mann picked the ball up out of the back of the net 4 or 5 times (can't really remember). This was an especially embarrassing game since the Sealords who played the early game came to watch the 2nd and 3rd teams, and saw that one was clearly better than the other.

Were marist the only team to beat us 'home' and 'away' last season? Both have won 1, lost 1 this season. With 2 teams who try to attack it always seems to make for a bit of a pingpong, action packed encounter. The same will be true on Saturday, especially as the Stallions bring the freeflowing efforts of the last 2 weeks to Cobham Park. No dislocated kneecaps , please. No breaking down at all.

Predictions?

Where shall we go end of season - Dubai?

We could almost get there with our current fine levels. Fines for the last 2 games have been extreme and the fine sessions L-O-N-G, a combination of a full squad playing and the Stallions falling off their previous cracking pace a little.

Adding last week's fines up was like watching the Turkey game - G-Man started confidently with a total of $10.50, then Paddy's army of missed shots pushed him ahead with an impressive $12.50, 'that mouthy c**t with the missing teeth' Gus then took the late lead with $13.50 - paying for invoking the wrath of both the fine master and 'ginger beard' Robin, and then in stoppage time it is revealed that Nick G forgot the pony - the $5 fine pushing him up to Gus levels - almost - Gus taking the dubious honour of most fined by a slim 50 cent margin. Well done.

Okay, awards first:

Stallion: Nick G - nuff said - impressive in that out of 10 games this season he has had the pony 3 times, the stallion twice.
T'was a close call with Jason who was absolutely everywhere (again) on saturday. How about the confidence in jason's game at the moment - almost saunters to the ball/tackle - in absolute control and knowing he is going to win it. Class. Perhaps its the headband. There was none of the Gerard-like passing off the outside of the boot Jason always practices pregame though - they may have brought the stallion. Has to settle for 3 MVP points.

MVP:
3- Jason
2 - Aaron
1 - Nick W

Pony: There could be only one really. Poor G-Man, stepped up to keep, punted the ball beautifully, did some great stuff, but a couple of 'moments' meant that he had to become a 2008 2 time pony. The getting chipped-parry to striker to combo will live on in Stallion's lore for a while yet. As will that keeper's top.

Fine highlights:
- Graham's 80s gay clubwear keeper's outfit.
- Graham: 'I've got a big throw and I'm not afraid to use it!'
- Spencer - Its great to have spectators - even better when one asks 'Dad, did you get it goal?' Umm no - the bad dad fine.
- Robin - Hansel and Gretel - skipping arm and arm down the field with his marker.
- Ben H - Commented that he was stoked about scoring for the first time in front of his partner, only for Annabelle to say that she looked the other way.
- Patrick - how many missed shots was that -1,2,3,4,5,6,7?
- Tristin - Turning like the Titanic
- Tristin - 'next week Tristin' - we will see him postmatch next week, he promised ...
- Ben B - smiling we he saw how many goals we conceded (we know you did!)
- Ben B - Avoiding a 4-1 thrashing.
- Ben B - kicks not as good as Grahams
(Hey ben, you get fined more for not showing up!)
- I'm not even going to start with Gus.

Tables will follow at some point ...

Picture: Tristin struggles to turn in the Anderson park mud, Ben B jumps ship just in time.

Paddy's Saturday ...

A record 7 missed shots - $7 right there.

The rest of the fines posted tomorrow.

Ah, leisurely Friday mornings

If you are looking for inspiration for tomorrow's game, if you follow this link and head down a bit you will find the match report for Terrace's win over Marist. Sounds like they absolutely dominated. And you can also find the Elite going on and on - 'SMASH THEM ELITE'. What would be the Stallions equviliant? Twinkle past them Stallions? Give them the Albatross?

I put that last bit in to warm up Corey who hates the Elite - you have been a bit quiet on the blog and Yellow Fever front - whats up? - too many late nights watching the tournament and making 100s of picks?

Monkey Marist

Photo below: Learning from Stop Out's second goal, Ben Brooks positions a defender for a set peice

I went to the zoo today with my family and saw a football marked 'MARIST' in the Baboon enclosure ....make your own punchlines, then share them here if you want.

Photo below: An England and Milwall fan