After a 100+ point win against Eastlake Demons in Round 8, a few of the Cootamundra Blues premiership heroes made the trip to Mackay in Queensland to celebrate the wedding of one of the club’s best to ever do it in navy blue, Stephan Chant.
“The best clubman you’ll ever play with. Courageous, tough, would never ask you to do something he would not do himself,” Blues Joel Pearson said.
“As a leader, he’s a man of few words, but his actions would you inspire you to run through walls.”
Following a well-deserved break for the boys, the Blues are back at the training ground this week in preparation for their Round 9 clash against Batemans Bay Seahawks this Saturday.
As 3.5 hours worth of driving separates both sides for the encounter, a neutral ground to play at Rockley Oval in Googong has been agreed by both clubs.
It will be one of the Blues biggest test this season as the Seahawks are six wins from seven including a 30.15.195 thrashing to Tuggeranong Valley AFC 1.1.7 in Round 6.
With a 460.62 ladder percentage for the Seahawks, the Blues opposition who did not play last season, are renowned for their defensive discipline and are also sharp in-front of goal.
Seahawks’ Ross Hummel is currently leading the goal kicker tally this season at 28 goals in six matches with Cootamundra Blues Coach-player Joe Scott in fifth with 18 goals in six games.
Coach Scott who kicked a new personal record 11 goals against Eastlake (previous record was four goals) believes this weekend’s clash against one of the top sides of the competition will be a true test to see where the Blues are at as mid-season approaches.
“We are coming off from a couple of good wins and it would’ve been good to have played Batemans Bay last weekend without the bye and continue that run of form,” Coach Scott said.
“But in saying that we also needed that spell to rest blokes who have been playing week-in-week-out.
“On Saturday we will be focusing our defence as it has been our strongest asset all year. We’ll be taking a on a one-on-one approach which means shutting down every opposition player at every opportunity there is.”
Coach Joe is also pleased with how the club is travelling this season sitting at sixth and with a few performances this season proving the side to be worthy of finals.
“We were struggling for numbers and depth at the start of the season and we have been fortunate that over the weeks blokes have knocked on the door and turned up to training,” he said.
“Finals is always the goal. There’s already four sides at the top that are a standout in the competition but if we can continue to beat sides that are equivalent to us and overcome some of these big fixtures, then we can class ourselves worthy for a chance to play finals.”
One of the major focus for the Blues this season is the rise of the younger bloods to the side, including nine players under the age of 21.
There are an additional three young Blues in the side living in Canberra who help out and play games in Canberra and will feature this weekend.
They are Ben Rose, Andy Merritt and Kai Baumhammer who is also a nephew of Blues life-member Don Oliver.
Club President Todd Basham’s sons Aaron and Blake are both heavily involved in the side’s weekly starting lineup this season too, following in the footsteps of their father who accomplished his 290th outing last season, breaking the record for most matches played at the club.
Blake has been playing for the Blues for the past five years and Aaron has done the same for the past three years.
According to coach Joe Scott, Blake Basham is arguably the biggest standout player this season due to his skill and athleticism and the difference he makes at the backline.
Against Eastlake, Blake was playing alongside Aaron at half-back, who enjoyed plenty of the ball that game.
Aaron who is 21 years of age, battled with an ankle injury at the start of the season which gave him a slow start, but is fit and firing as seen against Eastlake.
Coach Scott has plans for Aaron to be a key midfielder later this season.
“They are two key players in our side and they have proven to be taking that next step-up in that leadership role as they are starting to get a fair bit of senior footy around them.
“The Basham’s are very helpful around the younger players in the side, who are only one to two years older than them.
“The younger ones will look up to both Aaron and Blake and if they model what they are doing both on-and-off the pitch, in a year or two they will be just like them.”
Aaron added that having a fairly young side this season has been encouraging for the Blues in seasons to come.
“When you take on class oppositions and get beaten by a large margin I don’t think you should just look at the negatives as we have such a young developing side,” he said.
“We’ve been encouraging all the young boys just to try their hardest and have a go. The past few weeks when we have been playing against sides more like ourselves, you can see the Blues going well and that is great to see.”
Meanwhile, sister and 16-year-old Lara Basham was also praised recently for her efforts to organise and coordinate the Ladies Day at Clarke Oval on May 29, to which the Blues enjoyed a 19-point win against Belconnen.
This weekend’s clash: Cootamundra Blues vs. Batesman Bay Seahawks, Saturday June 19, 2pm at Rockley Oval, Googong.
Christopher Tan