“Oh the agony and the ecstasy !!! Probably our finest performance to date, and against the lads who stole our unbeaten run cherry, only to have it tempered with an absolute hiding. 2 Deaths and 2 MNG's one being a niggling injury on our MA10 catcher.. aargh. Not only that 2 of them were freakin well dodging casualties. For only the second time in the history of the team we gave up a handicap.. two of them in fact. Bad Press (what the hell does that do again?), and Morleys revenge, who hit our Block Guard Linewoman Suryet. The Maulers won the toss and elected to Recieve.

The first Drive.. it took nearly the whole "Maulers" team to put down the 2 elves on the line of scrimmage, while the big fella Ra-Hel held strong in the middle of the pitch. Bay City scooping up the ball and handing off to surprisingly Fast and Agile Chaos Warrior Bondi, who settled nicely into a Chaos Clage. The "Echoes" moved up to the cage..risking pain to take care of some tackle zones, and Ra-Hel.. surrounded I might add.. crunched his way towards the ball carrier, only able to pushback Plenty Valley it was his Guarding skill that was to come in handy. Enter the day of the Wardancer and "Echoes" team captain Talaban having finally optained the Stripball skill. He leaped into the thick of things and with the help of his Barked up buddy laid a pushback on Bondi and stripped the ball off him. It bobbled around between a number of players before eventually coming to rest at the corner of the cage. Karesh Var doing what he does best.. leaping over the LOS, gathering the ball, and passing to the Catcher Togen who had positioned himself up the field earlier in the play (In hindsight he could have been wider, but I never expected him to get the ball). My god have our defensive ailments dissapeared...what did we ever do without stripball?. The "Maulers" were rather unimpressed by this skillful display.. with great cries of "Bah" emanating from the coaches box. Talaban was put to deck, and viciously fouled by Belconnen, before any attempt to retrieve the ball was made. Luckily only a stunning ensued. It was obvious the "Maulers" weren't worried at this stage, Bondi calmly dropping back and crunching the lone Catcher, fracturing his leg, and leaving his potentially great career in limbo. The Apothecary headed onto the pitch.. but was waved away by a clearly shocked "Echoes" coach Questor Anu. Fearful of worse yet to come. Bondi of course gathered the loose ball, Westlakes and Bay City dropping back to support him. With Talaban stunned, it was the turn of the other Wardancer Cation to step up to the plate, and he did not dissapoint smashing the Warrior to the ground, and watching as the ball tumbled into the hands of one of his assisters Judon. The rest of the team came forward in support or tried to rectify the mistakes from the first time these teams clashed and dodging away from any block actions. Of course this saw our first self inflicted casualty, Pendar breaking his ribs dodging. Bondi was able to get to his feet and blitz the ball free from Judon.. but luckily for us it fell amongst many "Echoes" tacklers. The "Maulers" set a cage around the mess of players, while the rest of their team.. went tree felling. Woden putting Ra-Hel to deck, and Belconnen unsuccessfully laying the boot into the prone woodland beast. Originally I had planned to get the ball to the catcher Touchstone, but a pretty pathetic blitz and another useless Block action saw plan A out the window. Instead Karesh Var decided to do it all, dodging to the ball picking it up in a tackle zone before dodging past the sideline marker Bay City, and leaping in for the opening TD. Next drive saw Suryet still on the toilet..... probably had her period or something...(Is that Morleys Revenge?), The "Maulers" again had some trouble really hurting the "Echoes" front line, both Agility 5 Linemen Anwar and Karesh Var proving difficult to bring to ground. Same play again with Bay City handing off to Bondi, who settled into a much looser Clage this time around. Anwar toyed with the Chaos beings.. weaving through them to finish up behind Bondi, While Cation although stumbling somewhat joined his teammate... throwing in a leap for good measure. Talaban blitzed again, the ball stripped this time into the hands of Anwar. Players were bunched into lots of little groups all over the pitch. Touchstone completing the play with another weaving run to mark up on Bay City. Southland employed his massive Claw in blitzing Anwar.. team training coming in handy as he smashed the elf to the ground.. stunning him. Belconnen again couldnt resist an early foul.. and with the ball still at the feet of three "Maulers" players, he laid into Anwar, perhaps because he was knocked out the ref actually spotted this one.. and the Chaos Beastman was shown a red card. Room was freed up to to push Woden onto the ball but instead Talaban put him to deck where he stood. Karesh Var stumbling on his leap before righting himself... but failing to pick up the ball, and leaving himself very exposed. Tea Tree plaza put the "Echoes" star on his arse.. and to say the coaching box was relieved to have seen the back of the dirty fouler Belconnen last turn would be an understatement. The "Maulers" put a few more elves to deck.. and setup some cover downfield as Bondi picked up the ball and headed off for the Touchdown. Veris dodged away from his markers to get in the face of this impressive Chaos Warrior, before Talaban leaped free from the tangle of players and again stripped the ball, the frustration was evident on the face of both coach and player at this stage. Other teammates dropped back.. before Karesh Var attempted to dodge his way to the ball, surprisingly failing again and going down with the ball almost within reach. This time Bondi was used to block and it was left to Bay City to scoop up the ball, not wanting to attempt a risky play for an unlikely TD, he settled in behind his teammates, who happened to be standing in Clage formation at the time. Talaban again leaped into the cage.. this time not needed strip ball as he put the poor Beastman on his face, while the ball bobbled out. Cation dodged free of his two markers and headed up field. This time Karesh Var was able to get to his feet, leap, pickup the ball in 2 tackle zones, dodge free and launch an effortless long pass to the open wardancer. The rest of the team left their markers, while Ra-Hel just looked on having taken root a few turns earlier. It was left to Westlakes to pull of the cover tackle, but he was unable to bring Cation down. Instead the "Maulers" saw to it his fellow 'dancer' was off the pitch, Talaban being knocked to the turf, and knocked out by the flying boot of Tea Tree Plaza. In the end Judon was able to dodge away from his marker, and assist Cation when he blitzed his way through Westlakes on his way to the "Echoes" second touchdown... and many more "Bahs".
Halftime: Echoes 2 Maulers 0

We recieved in the second half... wait and we are winning.. what the? Sadly Talaban did not return, but Suryet did.. ah well shouldnt be too greedy, hopefully dont need Stripball anyway. Anwar sick of the punishment he has had to absorb, instead dished it out, Badly hurting Chermside on the LOS, Touchstone headed upfield, while Cation used his mighty blow to Knock Out the beclawed chaos warrior Southland, and also head upfield. Var collected another completion in the back field, Judon left with the ball. Doncaster moved up to mark him, while Innaloo failed to bring down Touchstone. Cation with some help from his friends blizted free and headed for the endzone. Judon dodging away from Doncaster, handing off to Anwar, who in turn launched a very 'Karesh Varesque' spiral to Cation for his second TD of the game. It was at this point in the game that the pro "Maulers" crowd boiled over spilling onto the pitch and beating the snot out of the ref, with no ready replacement the "Maulers" waterboy took up the whistle, and to say he was a little one eyed would be an understatement, the kid was actually a cyclops. It started to go a little pear shaped from here on in. Innaloo, who we remember with little fondness from last game, used his vicious claw on poor Judon, killing him instantly.. I say instantly but really it was quite distressing to watch each limb be carved away by the chaotic, chain conglomerate sponsored beastman. Again the Apothecary was sadly waved away, Questor Anu, with head in hands peeking at the new 'Ref' with a look of despair. Anwar was fouled again, no one noticed besides the few "Echoes" supporters. Bay City passed to Bondi this time, while Woden swept doen the flank, only to run into the fist of Cation. Talaban put Bondi to deck, while Karesh Var swooped on the ball as the "Echoes" converged. Bay City was unable to put the great Var down, who leaped free and sprinted in for his second TD. And away we go again, Anwar copping the obligatory foul, Bay City dropping back solo for the deep kick off. The majority of "Echoes" players headed downfield to pressure the beastman, while Sadly another was lost, Shori.. daughter of another past player Boru, tripping to her death (Reroll not used.. or for that matter actually used :( ), and once again the cries for Apothecaries aid from the distraught players on the pitch ignored by a stone faced Anu. Anwar fouled (is it even worth mentioning). Bay City moves up, and with a slight bobble flings a short pass to Bondi.. who shock horror.. drops it. Cation blitzes to free up the ball a little, Var leaping and dodging to the ball before failing his last dodge roll (with dodge reroll still intact :( ), and the star Nomad went down to cries of horror from the "Echoes" crowd, but some small satisfaction from Questor Anu that his apothecary is still on hand. Bay City gathers and hands of to Bondi who almost drops it, before heading up the field solo, while the rest of the "Maulers" gather around the stricken Var, Tea Tree Plaza launching into him elbow first.. and with a great sigh of relief from the "Echoes" coaching box.. Knocking him Out. Talaban and friends combine to knock over the luckless Chaos Warrior, before Anwar.. free from fouling this last turn gets to his feet picks up the ball, fires a long pass to Touchstone, who makes the catch and heads up field, stopping just before the line, with noone from the "Maulers" within cooee of him. Six of the Chaotic brutes gathered around Ra-Hel for some stalling retribution but are unable to break his mighty armour. Talaban Knocked out Innaloo for fun.. before Touchstone strolls in for the last TD of the game. The last "Maulers" turn saw them attempt a completion for their 30 spps Chaos Warrior Southland, but although the pass came off... Bay City despite his 4 Agility rubbed further salt into the wound by dropping it.
Fulltime: Echoes 5 Maulers 0

Wow my greatest SWL win.. up there with the 4-3 come from behind effort against the WyvernTail Stingers.. but what a price to pay for it... there goes this season I would say. Clay was a good sport.. I suppose you have to be really. Good luck avoiding relegation. Your last 2 rounds will be the big ones methinks. Just dont drop out and come back with damn Dwarves. Oh yeah and sorry for the long write up.. I get carried away sometimes.. gets a bit too blow for blow. Especially while the boy unbelievably stays asleep long enough for me to keep writing this drivel.

Twahnlows:

3 Votes to #7 Bondi - This guy was just unlucky. Really played quite well, an excellent early casualty, and has some awesome potential, just ran into a horror of a day supplied by a stripballing wardancer.

2 Votes to #12 Innaloo - Did jack shit really. Did however pull off the only opponent caused kill of the game, and was bloody evil last time we played.

1 Vote to #5 Bay City - I would have said was the only Mauler to not fail something, did his job retrieving the ball supurbly, but then he went and dropped the catch that would have given Southland a much needed 3rd skill roll. Well played anyway.”