The Dunsborough Ducks hosted the Busselton Magpies in an epic encounter in atrocious conditions in the AFL masters on Saturday afternoon.
It was a 100 game milestone for Ducks legend Mike ‘Bubbles’ Hanley and the mighty ‘Grinder’ from the Magpies.
Both teams honored the occasion with a scintillating display of wet weather skills played in the true spirit of AFL masters football.
Visiting the pond of pain to play the Ducks on a dry day is a behemoth task but playing them in torrential rain and gale force winds was another thing altogether and thankfully the Magpies were ready to dig deep.
The opening siren sounded and the Ducks engine room hummed early as Browny, Handbag and Hussey smoothly roved Hammos taps to the ever dangerous half forwards of Manjuice and Danger.
The Ducks forward line were fed more balls than a socceroos goalkeeper as full forward Goose dominated early with the twinkle toes of Rooney and Fumbles scooping up anything that went to ground at his feet.
It was a joy to watch.
The Ducks took the foot off the pedal as half time approached as a message was sent out to give the Ducks defenders a bit of a go.
The skinnier Ducks defenders were showing signs of hypothermia and milestone man Bubbles was getting carried away in the goal square giggling and splashing around in puddles with Poh, Wilma and Hussey.
Soon the siren for half time sounded and both teams waded back to boundary.
In a rare show of compassion, stand in Ducks coach Bazza felt guilty handing out such a thrashing to the Magpies who were brave enough to front up to play the Ducks in such conditions and made some moves.
Club elders Magoo and Copes were instructed to feign a couple of minor injuries and wrapped themselves on the bench in warm towels.
Browny reluctantly took himself off with a severe case of nausea from leather poisoning.
However it was the on field moves that were a thing of coaching beauty. Bubbles was ordered into the ruck with a couple of debutantes in Bender and Hobbit who both slipped into the now depleted midfield.
Clearance machine Kingy was instructed to shank the ball out of bounds on the full at every opportunity.
As expected, things evened up throughout the second half and the Magpies started to slot a few clever goals.
It took wing men Yoda and Bourkey to take took control of proceedings to ensure a tight finish and creatively manufactured a turnover to allow a classy Magpies goal from the boundary to even up the scores and force the draw.
With Bazzas masterful plan complete the signal was given to the injured Magoo to hobble over to the siren and sound the end of the game. A perfect end to honor the milestone men for both clubs.
The post game hot showers were delightful, followed by a marvelous spread of curries to complete another fantastic day of AFL masters football.
Huge thanks to London and George Pearson for umpiring the game, Doozy for running the bar and Duckettes Leanne Rhodes and Vicki Collins for their work in the clubrooms and kitchen.