GFL 1996 Season Review

PREMIERS	RUNNERS UP
Dixon Dragons	The Cockneys


Black Angels	Standley Annihilators	Black Forest Bandits	The Cartel	The Cockneys
Troy B	Terry Standley	Mark Braithwaite	Greg O'Rielley	Scott Puvogel
Adelaide, SA	Gawler, SA	Plympton, SA	North Plympton, SA	Ridgehaven, SA

Dixon Dragons	Huppatz Headslammers	Krusty's Klowns	The Lechers	Schnappy Schaubles
Nick Hall	Paul Huppatz	Andrew Cropley	Damian O'Rielley	John Groom
West Ryde, NSW	Canberra, ACT	Oaklands Park, SA	Adelaide, SA	Keswick, SA

A short selection of the main contributors from each team to highlight the team strengths:
Black Angels: Lockett, Lyon, Pearce, Everritt, C.Lewis, Dhurrkay, Alessio, Abraham, Heaver
Standley Annihilators: Ablett, Brownless, G.Williams, O'Loughlin, Heady, Stoneham, Crocker
Black Forest Bandits: Hunter, Matera(x2), McRae, S.Hart, Gleeson, Charles, B.Gale, Farmer
The Cartel: Richardson, Hodges, S.Smith, O'Brien, D.Lewis, Breuer, D.White, Bradley, Stevenson
The Cockneys: D.Jarman, Mercuri, Loewe, Neitz, Patterson, Lloyd, Merrett, A.Lynch, Voss, Clape
Dixon Dragons: Modra, Mann, Hudson, Wheildon, P.Williams, Osborne, Cousins, C.Grant, Longmire, Allison
Huppatz Headslammers: Dunstall, Hird, Bewick, C-Collins, Gehrig, Daffy, Riccardi, Waterhouse
Krusty's Klowns: S.Rocca, Cummings, Molloy, Burns, Lepptisch, Long, Spalding, A.Jarman
The Lechers: A.Jackovich, Watts, Minton-Connell, McKernan, Sholl, M.White, McLeod, Donnelly
Schnappy Schaubles: Heatley, Sumich, Ball, Winmar, Kernahan, J.Cook, Buckley, Carey

ROUND 1 - March 29
Black Angels 10.10.70 v Black Forest Bandits 8.8.56
Huppatz Headslammers 13.10.88 v Standley Annihilators 15.10.100
The Lechers 3.5.23 v The Cartel 10.7.67
Dixon Dragons 6.6.42 v Krusty's Klowns 17.12.114
The Cockneys 18.11.119 v Schnappy Schaubles 11.10.76

ROUND 2 - April 6
The Cartel 11.8.74 v The Cockneys 19.6.120
Huppatz Headslammers 7.16.58 v Black Angels 14.10.94
Krusty's Klowns 22.11.143 v The Lechers 7.9.51
Schnappy Schaubles 14.5.89 v Standley Annihilators 13.4.82
Dixon Dragons 6.6.42 v Black Forest Bandits 5.8.38

ROUND 3 - April 12
Standley Annihilators 7.3.45 v Black Forest Bandits 5.13.43
The Lechers 8.9.57 v Huppatz Headslammers 10.9.69
The Cockneys 14.9.93 v Black Angels 15.8.98
Dixon Dragons 9.6.60 v Schnappy Schaubles 11.5.71
Krusty's Klowns 14.8.92 v The Cartel 14.9.93

ROUND 4 - April 19
Tie: Black Angels 17.11.113 v Dixon Dragons 17.11.113
Krusty's Klowns 21.13.139 v Standley Annihilators 7.4.46
The Lechers 4.8.32 v Black Forest Bandits 7.10.52
Huppatz Headslammers 11.7.73 v The Cockneys 19.12.126
The Cartel 13.6.83 v Schnappy Schaubles 12.8.80

ROUND 5 - April 25
The Lechers 9.10.64 v Standley Annihilators 8.5.53
Dixon Dragons 14.7.91 v The Cartel 18.8.116
Schnappy Schaubles 7.4.46 v Black Angels 12.10.82
The Cockneys 23.12.150 v Krusty's Klowns 18.11.119
Black Forest Bandits 13.12.90 v Huppatz Headslammers 15.8.98

ROUND 6 - May 3
The Cartel 16.5.101 v Black Forest Bandits 18.13.121
Krusty's Klowns 15.8.98 v Black Angels 18.5.113
Schnappy Schaubles 5.9.39 v Huppatz Headslammers 5.6.39
Dixon Dragons 19.10.124 v Standley Annihilators 7.1.43
The Cockneys 14.4.88 v The Lechers 7.3.45

ROUND 7 - May 8
The Cockneys 21.14.140 v Standley Annihilators 7.5.47
Krusty's Klowns 12.7.79 v Huppatz Headslammers 18.6.114
The Lechers 6.4.40 v Dixon Dragons 9.9.63
Black Forest Bandits 5.3.33 v Schnappy Schaubles 17.10.112
The Cartel 7.7.49 v Black Angels 13.12.90

ROUND 8 - May 17
The Lechers 9.10.64 v Schnappy Schaubles 11.5.71
Huppatz Headslammers 15.8.98 v The Cartel 9.3.57
Black Angels 13.8.86 v Standley Annihilators 6.3.39
Black Forest Bandits 16.6.102 v Krusty's Klowns 15.7.97
The Cockneys 13.14.92 v Dixon Dragons 10.14.74

ROUND 9 - May 24
Standley Annihilators 13.1.79 v The Cartel 7.2.44
Krusty's Klowns 10.10.70 v Schnappy Schaubles 17.10.112
Dixon Dragons 10.5.65 v Huppatz Headslammers 11.7.73
Black Angels 23.7.145 v The Lechers 5.3.33
The Cockneys 8.11.59 v Black Forest Bandits 14.7.91

ROUND 10 - June 7
Standley Annihilators 10.7.67 v Huppatz Headslammers 7.5.47
Schnappy Schaubles 14.7.91 v The Cockneys 13.14.92
The Cartel 10.8.68 v The Lechers 10.7.67
Black Forest Bandits 10.5.65 v Black Angels 17.7.109
Tie: Krusty's Klowns 11.4.70 v Dixon Dragons 10.10.70

ROUND 11 - June 14
Black Angels 24.13.157 v Huppatz Headslammers 20.8.128
Black Forest Bandits 8.8.56 v Dixon Dragons 11.13.79
The Cockneys 11.13.79 v The Cartel 8.2.50
Standley Annihilators 9.4.58 v Schnappy Schaubles 8.9.57
The Lechers 6.8.44 v Krusty's Klowns 14.2.86

ROUND 12 - June 21
The Cartel 14.5.89 v Krusty's Klowns 7.3.45
Black Forest Bandits 12.10.82 v Standley Annihilators 7.7.49
Schnappy Schaubles 10.8.68 v Dixon Dragons 19.10.124
Black Angels 8.10.58 v The Cockneys 19.10.124
Huppatz Headslammers 10.11.71 v The Lechers 5.2.32

ROUND 13 - June 28
Standley Annihilators 8.3.51 v Krusty's Klowns 10.7.67
Black Forest Bandits 7.4.46 v The Lechers 10.2.62
Dixon Dragons 18.8.116 v Black Angels 8.10.58
Schnappy Schaubles 3.6.24 v The Cartel 13.6.84
The Cockneys 25.10.160 v Huppatz Headslammers 17.10.112

ROUND 14 - July 5
Huppatz Headslammers 16.8.104 v Black Forest Bandits 7.8.50
Standley Annihilators 10.5.65 v The Lechers 6.6.42
Krusty's Klowns 4.7.31 v The Cockneys 21.10.136
Schnappy Schaubles 12.4.76 v Black Angels 19.5.119
The Cartel 13.6.84 v Dixon Dragons 14.6.90

ROUND 15 - July 12
The Lechers 9.4.58 v The Cockneys 18.10.118
Black Angels 15.9.99 v Krusty's Klowns 11.3.69
Standley Annihilators 11.7.73 v Dixon Dragons 15.12.102
Huppatz Headslammers 12.5.77 v Schnappy Schaubles 15.6.96
Black Forest Bandits 12.3.73 v The Cartel 12.7.79

ROUND 16 - July 19
Schnappy Schaubles 13.12.90 v Black Forest Bandits 8.7.55
Black Angels 9.10.64 v The Cartel 8.6.54
Dixon Dragons 10.6.66 v The Lechers 12.5.77
Standley Annihilators 7.3.45 v The Cockneys 3.10.28
Huppatz Headslammers 6.5.41 v Krusty's Klowns 6.4.40

ROUND 17 - July 26
Huppatz Headslammers 12.8.80 v The Cartel 10.5.65
Krusty's Klowns 7.9.51 v Black Forest Bandits 16.10.106
Dixon Dragons 11.11.77 v The Cockneys 14.5.89
Schnappy Schaubles 25.5.155 v The Lechers 21.3.129
Standley Annihilators 10.1.61 v Black Angels 9.4.58

ROUND 18 - August 2
Black Forest Bandits 9.9.63 v The Cockneys 13.6.84
The Lechers 8.7.55 v Black Angels 19.10.124
The Cartel 5.2.32 v Standley Annihilators 9.8.62
Schnappy Schaubles 20.15.135 v Krusty's Klowns 15.4.94
Huppatz Headslammers 13.4.82 v Dixon Dragons 15.11.101

ROUND 19 - August 11
Qualifying Final
Black Angels 19.6.130 d. Dixon Dragons 13.13.91
Elimination Final
Huppatz Headslammers 22.11.143 d. Schnappy Schaubles 9.8.62

ROUND 20 - August 18
1st Semi Final
Dixon Dragons 9.4.58 d. Huppatz Headslammers 5.14.44
2nd Semi Final
The Cockneys 11.7.73 d. Black Angels 9.9.63

ROUND 21 - August 25
Preliminary Final
Dixon Dragons 19.11.125 d. Black Angels 12.9.81

ROUND 22 - September 1
G R A N D F I N A L
Dixon Dragons 18.8.116 d. The Cockneys 14.7.91

GFL 1996 carried over from GFL 1995 with a few changes at the coaching helms - while no new coaches joined the competition, two teams had to be resigned from the league in order to bring the competition to a more even 10-team league. The Cunning Stunts and Tax Dodgers were truncated from the league while coaches did a bit of swapping around as follows for new teams (name-wise) in the competition:
Standley Slammers became the Black Forest Bandits and appointed M.Braithwaite as coach; Cunning-Lingo's became Standley's Annihilators and appointed T.Standley as coach; Plympton Panthers became the Schnappy Schaubles and appointed J.Groom as the coach. P.Huppatz renamed his team from Beanheads to Huppatz Headslammers and appointing T.Standley as a home-based proxy cum assistant coach since a change in location for Huppatz had happened. D.O'Rielley was also required to rename his side from Longmire's Lechers to The Lechers since he invoked the protected player scheme by having a concession pick and delisting his star forward, Longmire, out for the season with a knee injury.

It took until round 6 before the eventual 1996 premiers, Dixon Dragons notched up their first win for the season - opening up their account in style! They lost just four more games for the remainder of the year from that point onward and got into the top five comfortably but not easily. Yet again their minor round was competitive at best but it was their finals performances that again came to the forefront. Like the 1995 finals series they opened the floodgates and went beserk, but this time going one better and taking out the flag! No other team could come close in the finals series and their reputation for future finals series had a concrete basis!

The best team of the year was undoubtedly The Cockneys, but like the Dragons from the year before, they found they had to serve their apprenticeship by first losing a Grand Final before winning one. Twice they notched up the highest score for the season and held onto the record for the League overall. With Loewe, youngster Lloyd, Lynch (when he played), Patterson, Merrett, Jarman and Mercuri running rampant in the forward lines, the team was the benchmark for others during the season. Losing the Grand Final was annoying but they had shown enough to be held in awe by others.

Carrying over from the most dominant seasons from any team in 1995, the Black Angels just went on from where they left off. But they lost that dominating factor in 1996 because of two highly influencing factor - the late draft picks and continual injuries to their main spearheads throughout the year. Lockett, Lyon and Pearce, three of the Angels best made only cameo appearances throughout the season, and then generally without the assistance of the other two. Still, it showed just how nasty this team really was, still finishing third at the death. Some classic matches with the Dragons only enhanced the rivalry between these two clubs.

Canberra based Huppatz Headslammers finally got their act together this year by stringing together a few wins, and big ones at that. The only real drawback was the lack of availability of stats and coverage in Canberra, so the necessity of hiring an assistant coach to provide advice was required, and this helped quite a bit. But like the Angels they were not fortunate enough to have a decent line up on the park each week due to injuries, but the likes of Bewick, Dunstall, Hird and Daffy when they played were major influences in the outcome of all their matches - Hird particularly given he won the Brownlow. The most memorable match was Round 7 when Bewick bagged a career best 9 goals, half of the Headslammers winning scoreline of 18 goals.

Coach John Groom at the helm of his Schnappy Schaubles which were later going to be renamed to Keswick Krill, commenced his first of three successive years reaching but going immediately out of the finals. Having taken over '95 wooden spooners and recruiting Carey into the line up was sure to boost a side that was better on paper than on the field. As it was the team was competitive all year, even pulling off a couple of big, big wins but a number of low scores and debilitating losses basically allowed the team to earn its name by virtue of no-one could really tell what it was going to do from week to week. Carey and Kernahan were the main contributing factors, along with Sumich but aside from the first mentioned player, the other two were injury or form riddled and just did not make enough appearances to give the team any achievement.

Out of the five was a team which only would (under a different name of course) succumb to being 6th again and allow a Groom coached team to slip into five in future years too! About the only thing really going for the Standley Annihilators was its name - although there was much banter amongst the coaching fraternity that the last three letters should be replaced by 'ed' for a more accurate description. Injury was also to play a large part in this team's demise for the year with the deadly duo of Brownless and Ablett rarely seen on the field together - the former also suffering from form relapses throughout the year. Thereafter the list was a bit too thin to do anything remarkable for the games when these two dynamite goalkickers were unavailable. Carrying over from its former identity as the Lingo's there just wasn't enough salt to add to its far reaching reputation.

Middle of the road team The Cartel again failed to really make any impact on the League throughout the year. Rivalry and matches against sibling owned Lechers team seemed to be more important for this team than winning other matches and the intensity in these matches indicated both sides prepared long and hard at the expense of letting go the real reason why they were playing in the competition! When the players decided they would like to make a game of it, the team was capable of handing it out to the best of them, but too much slack from the coach's own example (again relying on Default Teams on many occasions to get them over the line) really allowed the players to enjoy themselves - off the field that is!

Given that the team was going to be taken over by the coach who was responsible for seeing to the wooden spooners the previous year, there was much trepidation of what was to happen at Black Forest Bandits who in their former identity were known as the Standley Slammers. The new coach did not instill the toughness or aggression left indelibly marked by its predecessor, but did try some tactical ploys in order to get the team into a more competitive outfit this year. A couple of retirements and the coup recruit of Farmer - although in his early days - were chalk and cheese and the team showed the same form throughout the season. Some unlucky losses and players who would fire one week but go MIA the next lead to the lowly finish of 8th for this better on paper line up. As it was Farmer was the team's leading goal kicker well down on the overall list, and he wasn't even grabbed until mid season - just about summing up swiftly how the season really was for this band of underachievers and misfits.

One of the more remarkable stories for the 1996 season was that surrounding the Krusty's Klowns who were a power early and faded right through the season to finish second to bottom. Some big percentage boosting healthy wins at the beginning of season allowed the team to sit above 100% right until the very last round, where it dipped under for the first time. The Klowns were both disappointing and unlucky, showing some ominous signs that would in future years be the very nightmare of other GFL clubs, but form was the big factor with Rocca and Cummings only showing glimpses of what they could really do on their day. Some good scores resulted in losses, but that only helped the team's fortune of uncannily holding a percentage higher than a hundred at seasons end, but it came down to unforgiving Schaubles line up to shatter the dream. Unfortunately for other clubs, it allowed the Klowns an early pick the following year and combined with the better form of its spearheads only lead to the team's super power status over the coming years.

Finally, the team which was granted the wooden spoon for the year was The Lechers. If any team really struggled throughout the year it was the Lechers, reeling at the loss of spearhead Longmire and requirement to drop his name from the team's. A trio of danger players in Sholl, Minton-Connell and mid-season recruit Jason Watts certainly gave the team some memorable moments, but the lack of consistency and availability of many players resulted in its eventual demise. Even then on too many occasions the best one or two players were left out of the side resulting in the worst coaching effort of anyone for the season with an actual registered 80.22% (the ladder above includes finals matches and is not accurate as at round 18). Intense rivalry was built up against sibling owned team the Cartel but that was about all the Lechers held in high esteem for the season. Even then they come off second best on most occasions. The lack of a consistent goalkicker ensured the team was less than competitive for the main of the minor round.

#	Team	W	L	D	R/T	C/P	For	Agst	%	PTS
1	DIXON DRAGONS	12	8	2	2031	93.55	1900	1693	112.23	52
2	The Cockneys	16	4	-	2695	75.32	2030	1460	139.04	64
3	Black Angels	15	5	1	2369	84.47	2001	1592	125.69	62
4	Huppatz Headslammers	10	10	-	2124	77.02	1636	1555	105.21	40
5	Schnappy Schaubles	10	9	-	1917	80.86	1550	1629	95.15	40
6	Standley Annihilators	9	9	-	1344	78.05	1049	1332	78.75	36
7	The Cartel	8	10	-	1677	76.92	1290	1381	93.41	32
8	Black Forest Bandits	6	12	-	1614	75.84	1224	1340	91.34	24
9	Krusty's Klowns	5	12	1	1898	79.24	1504	1594	94.35	22
10	The Lechers	3	15	-	1457	66.51	969	1550	62.52	12