MANILA CUP
The Dragons sent club legend Bowski off in style in Manila, doing everything but winning the grand final on a tour that the man himself described as “one of the greatest tours”. The Dragons went down to the Philippines by seven points in the decider, with Maddy (Caolan Rafferty) taking out player of the tournament in a massive effort for an international. Bents slotted goal of the tournament.
Game 1 – Dragons 5.5.35 d Malaysia 0.4.4
Game 2 – Dragons 5.9.39 d Vietnam 3.1.19
Semi-final – Dragons 5.6.36 d Singapore 1.1.7
Grand final – Philippines 7.7.49 d Dragons 6.6.42
WINO’S SYNOPSIS
May 27th 2016, high expectations for the Dom Bowski swansong tour. T-shirts on, checked in…another trip to Manila, another delayed flight..but nothing was going to make us lose focus! Ten cans of beer on the plane! Excellent! Ultimately, it would help our preparation. Delayed bus at Manila..still unphased.. it was going like clockwork! Sat. morning, the Manila polo club bathed in sunshine, a pretty good sign that it would reach the predicted 32 C.. bring it on!
The Darkside would be first to test the strength of the other teams (Ppine Eagles, Singapore, and Vietnam)…. These gallant men (all 7 of us and a sprinkling of Singapore overruns) faced the might of the competition and… we were belted! but… never stopped giving our all. Highlights included the fact that we had the youngest, Lachie Daly, on tour debut, Boe used more Panadol than finger tape, Prav and Neil also made their tour debut. We were thumped but heads could be held high!
The Dragons had a markedly different day! Not in living memory have I seen a more glorious start to our Manila challenge, no sign of slow starts, all grit and focus. A wonderful team performance, from go to woe. At the finish, it had been four of the best, most evenly contested, hard fought games of football you would ever hope to see in Asian football. Outnumbered in squad size by all our competitors, these 17 played out of their skins to reach the final against the Eagles. We had beaten Malaysia, Vietnam and then Singapore with some of the best, consistent team performances ever seen from the Dragons in Manila (or anywhere)….choosing only 3 best players in each game could have been drawn out of a hat!.. all contributed enormously.
At the end of the day it was the Eagles who prevailed in the final by 7 points (we had led by 2 points at the break) and the smaller squad and slightly longer game saw us pipped by a very disciplined and determined Philippine squad. Caolen, so fittingly, got the Player of the tournament and Bents, the goal of the day, but the Eagles had the cup. The man of the moment, Bowski, spoke highly of his troops and thanked everyone in a fabulous few minutes on the stage which ended with a massive round of applause from assembled throng.
The party started and I believe we won that part of the weekend… easily!!
Enormous thanks to all tourists.. to Varls for his work with the whistle…nuf said, and to Barbs, Bowski and Bird for their organization of the tour and preparation of the squad. Bring on the SCAFL and… the champs!!