HILLS MAKE IT 20 STRAIGHT AT THE PORT
How often can consecutive victories be genuinely satisfying?
The Beatles had a run of 27 top 20 hits between 1964 and 1976 but two can’t play anymore.
Port Adelaide won six consecutive SANFL premierships in the 50s but all the footage is in black and white.
Jim Stynes played 244 consecutive matches but how many premierships medals did he get?
United States athlete Al Oerter won four Olympic gold medals in discus but his self professed aim was to win five.
Champion Puerto Rican racehorse Camarero won 56 consecutive races but as a gelding how much enjoyment did he derive from the fruits of his labors?
St Kilda won the first 20 matches of season 2009 but failed to win the premiership.
John Howard won four consecutive federal elections but then lost his own seat.
The list of consecutive victories goes on but only the Hills Supertigers can claim a blemish free result. In a run of victories which commenced in 2008 the Hills’ team have beaten all comers and continually defied the odds. Some of the newer members of the squad have never experienced a Superules loss.
Sunday’s victory against arch rival Portland was one of its sweetest.
Playing Portland on their home ground was always going to be a challenge and the task looked daunting when after 15 minutes of the first quarter the locals led five goals to nothing.
Having trained for three months, and been primed for a first up victory, they ran the ball like a well oiled machine. At that stage local bookmakers were offering odds of 5 to 1 about the Supertigers but their supporter only wanted to back Portland.
Full forward Gary Magee salvaged one goal back just before the break but things looked bleak.
The second quarter saw the emergence of some of the Hills’ players who had been missing in the first stanza.
A bristle faced Richard “Dick” Kleemann, fresh from a Queensland holiday, began to work his magic and dynamic duo Simon Kemp and David “Runt” Wuttke started to “dam” the Portland flood. Evergreen rover Dave McGill looked dangerous up forward, before “jagging” a hamstring and Kim Pearce found space near goal. Magee continued to threaten and Sean Watt threaded a goal to bring the Tigers within 9 points at half time.
The third term was an enthralling arm wrestle highlighted by many tight contests and an unfortunate injury to resolute defender Chris Geraghty. An accidental hip to the face resulted in 7 stitches and a compound fracture of the nose. As luck would have it, Chris was scheduled to undergo a shoulder arthroscopy the next day and so could get both jobs done at once.
Aleks Bojanic was locked in a sensational battle with a giant machine called “Robo Cop” and indestructible “Chrome Dome” Wayne Seymour displayed a “kamikaze” attack on both ball and body.The last quarter had a strong sense of inevitably as the Hills’ team gradually gained the ascendency and some of the Portland players began to resort to desperate individual measures.
When three Supertigers nabbed “The Weed” holding ball, the tide had well and truly turned. “Watto”, “Wayno” and “Damo” celebrated exuberantly and then wisely made themselves scarce.
One of the highlights of the quarter was the effort of debutant Scott Molloy.
Having battled manfully all day, Scott found himself running the ball out of defence.
Unfortunately, a combination of fatigue and excessive momentum saw him stumble as he attempted to get boot to ball. His 100 kilogram frame leant forward and then dropped almost as quickly as the ball; which luckily rolled out of harms way.
Chris Hill, who is on the way to rivaling Jim Stynes record for consecutive games, created a Superules’ first. The debut of his son Michael, plucked from the rookie list, saw the first father son combination in the history of Hills’ Superules.
Another record for consecutive performances could soon belong to stalwart goal umpire Graham “Friar” Tucker. Despite the retirement of his son Alex, who had delivered outstanding service to the team over the past 15 years, “Friar” continues to follow the Supertigers to all parts of the state.
The club culture is now stronger than ever and despite appearing a little rusty, the synergy of the group was sufficient to overcome a very formidable opponent.
The Supertigers, like the Adelaide Crows, were subjected to a much more rigorous pre season training regime than in the past. Two gym sessions and an intense lawn bowls game trebled the normal pre match program which most Hills’ players undergo each year; a fact that “gutted” a number of Portland players who enquired about this reality post match.
The attempt to reach 21 consecutive victories takes place next Sunday in the local derby against Blackwood at Pooraka.
HILLS 11 – 11 PORTLAND 8 – 9
Best: Kleemann, Kemp, Jaensch, Wuttke, Magee, Geraghty, Bojanic
Goals: Kleemann, Magee 4, Watt 2, Thomson 1
