Revolution Play Their First Game of 2004

Saturday saw the first time that a lot of these guys had got together.  New players from all around the country had been selected to be a part of the 2004 Revolution Squad, mainly because of their efforts at the 2003 Nationals.  This would be their chance to impress selectors and make a play for a spot in the team to compete in the Atlantic Alliance in August.  After all meeting in West Hollywood the squad headed out for its first training session together.  Some very nice skills were shown by both new and senior players, probably some of the best skills to date.  Even though most players had done no training since Nationals, the fitness looked relatively good. 

 

An interesting point to note is the emergence of the new "brothers" in the squad.  We now have the following...

 

Charlie and Tommy Ellis

Jared and James Brunmeier

Chris "Bluey" and Colin Carroll

Aaron and Ross Seigel

 

Part of the 2004 Australia Week festival saw 3 Australian footy matches played at UCLA on the Sunday. The main game of the event, not to take anything away from the other games,  was the showdown between the Revolution and a California All-Stars team.  The California All-Stars team was made up of some of the top Aussies playing in CA as well as some fine Americans, which included some of the Revo players. 

 

The Revolution team to take on these tough competitors took on a new look.  A new look as in 9 new players got to show their stuff.

 

The starting line up was as follows.....

 

B      Kyle Strenski               Matt Jagger                 Tommy Ellis

HB    Brandon Blankenship   Brad Rinklin                Dave Thurmond

W     James Brunmeier         Donnie Lucero             Dan Sarbacker

HF    Charlie Ellis                 Chris BLUEY Carroll  Marty Curry

P      Brad Pope                   Jeff Purcell                  George Lakomy

 

R     Mike Waller

RR   Chad Martin

R     Dan Kocka

 

Interchange...Ross Seigel, Colin Carroll, Erik CHUCKY Kalhovd, Aaron Nelson, Phil Shreibman and Tim Weir.

 

Injured...BJ Gambaro

 

Captain  Donnie Lucero

Vice Captain  Charlie Ellis

 

We were able to lend a couple of our senior players to the CA All-Stars team to help strengthen their side as well as giving us the opportunity to see some "new blood".  Thanks to the following players: Zac Holway, Andy Lindsey, Matty Dainauski, and Mike Herstein for playing with the same intensity for the CA team.

 

The game started as planned, a very tight and tough encounter.  At the end of the first quarter the scores were

 

Revolution  2 goals 4 behinds 16 points  to  CA  2 goals 1 point 13 points

 

A few of the key disciplines were missing in the first quarter but after the address by Coach Scott Nicholas the team pulled together and began to play some of the finest football played by a Revo side thus far.  The Revos went on to dominate the game, never letting up, and finishing with a great victory.  Cameron O'Brien was heard to say at the end of the match that "this was without a doubt the best game of footy I have ever seen in America"  which is a huge compliment coming from a former AFL player.  At one stage the Revo's had kicked 15 goals straight, which is a huge accomplishment considering that we had a new look forward line including rookie center half forward  Bluey Carroll.

 

The scores were as follows:

 

            REVO                                     CA

       G      B     TOTAL                   G      B     TOTAL 

Q1   2      4      16                          2       1      13

Q2   8      7       55                         3       4      22

Q3  16     7      103                         5       7      37

Q4  23     8      146                         7       9      51 

 

Goal kickers for the Revos were

 

Jeff FINGERS Purcell 5

Charlie Ellis 4

Erik CHUCKY Kalhovd 4

Chris BLUEY Carroll 3

James Brunmeier 2

George Lakomy 2

Mart Curry 2

Brad Pope 1

 

After the game, at the players post game address, Coach Nicholas payed praise to everyone for a great game but reminded the team that "this is just one step towards reaching our goal, of winning the International Cup in 2005.  We have shown that we can play footy.  Now we need to get fit and constantly work towards our goals.  With the players that we currently have, and some hard work and discipline, we can achieve anything we set our minds to".  Some players that were mentioned in Coach Nicholas' address were Bluey Carroll for his first game effort at Center Half Forward, James Brunmeier for his great debut on the wing, Ross Seigel for his guts, Brad Pope for his discipline, Donnie Lucero for his solid "captains" game and leadership, and an absolutely sterling performance by "one player who if he was born in Australia would have surely played professional footy" Charlie Ellis.

 

Votes were as follows:

 

Charlie Ellis 5

Donnie Lucero 4

Chris Bluey Carroll 3

James Brunmeier 2

Jeff Purcell 1

 

After the match the team sung a very passionate version of their team song, one which I am sure we will hear more of. 

 

This 2004 Revolution team, with the addition of possibly 10 more players, like 2004 scholarship winners Jared Brunmeier and Justin Valley, will surely be the best Revolution team thus far.  If we continue to grow and develop the players we have coming through the ranks, I am sure that the Revolution team will be victorious in both 2004 and 2005.