On Saturday June 21 2008, the No. 1 San Diego Lions travelled to San Francisco to take on the No. 6 Golden Gate Roos. The conditions were great for footy, wispy clouds in the sky, bright sun, and a strong breeze blowing diagonally across the oval which lasted the entire game.

The Lions won the toss, but team captain Brendan McDonald elected to defend against the breeze in the first quarter and the advantage was to the Roos. The Lions were fielding a lot of new players and it was a test for the coaching staff to get the Lions settled in the first quarter. A few early injuries—including a knee injury to star forward and Revo team member, Justin Valley—had the coaches scrambling, and Golden Gate came out of the gates quickly, full of run and full of passion for the football. In contrast, the Lions were second to the football, and found it hard to find a rhythm. The Roos took full advantage of the wind, and the Lions slow start to take a 3 goal lead after the first quarter.

In the second quarter the Lions started to find their feet. They had the wind at their backs and managed to peg back a few goals, thanks to some great work in the middle by McDonald, and Lions debutant Brian O’Reilly, who had “rucked” up for his first full-sided game of footy. Revos Donnie Lucero and Brett Ullman were stoic in defense. On the other side Revo, Andrew Lamont was one of the Roos leaders on the ball and in the ruck.

Q2: SD 3.4.22 GG 5.3.33

The third quarter was a great tussle. The wind seemed to have been getting stronger throughout the game, but calmed down a bit for the “premiership quarter”. The Lions managed to kick two goals to the Roos one, but a persistent attack by the Roos afforded them 5 behids as well, and so the quarter was nearly even. At the end of the third the Lions were down by just ten points.

But as was the case for most of the day, the Roos did a great job of running with the football and providing options across the ground. The Lions scored the first goal early in the quarter and followed up with a missed opportunity, resulting in a behind. There was a feeling that the game was anyone’s, with the margin just now 3 points. A long drought followed, with a lot of scrappy play. No goals were scored until only about 7 minutes remained in the game. Then, the Roos took advantage with some good running and strong teamwork. They snapped three quick goals in succession and knocked the wind out of the flagging Lions, who managed only to kick one more goal before the final buzzer. In the end, Golden Gate won by 3 goals, and took hold of the Dusting-Bergman Cup.

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