32's Views: Round 2, 2011 Hi everyone, It is an honour to be asked by Coachy to fill in for him in his absence this week. And after a hiccupped start to the season with last week's game washed out due to rain, the team were like greyhounds in the slips - just waiting to get out there! Having said that, we went into the game a few players short, after a string of late withdrawals. Thankfully, our opposition, Ghost Kicks, were playing their first ever game of AFL 9s and were also a player short, which created a more level playing field than what normally may have been expected. With the first game of any season often comes some fresh recruits, and we were very fortunate to be joined by Olivia Crowe (who engineered our demise in the 2010 Grand Final as captain of Olivia's All-Stars) and Eddie Clarke (a recent graduate of The Bullets academy program). Eddie started his initiation down in defence alongside experienced campaigner and 2009 Vitale Medallist, Brent. Renee and myself handled the midfield duties, while Dean and Olivia played forward. And it didn't take long for Olivia to go from villain to fan favourite amongst Bullets supporters, as she kicked the opening goal within a minute. In fact, her and Dean put on something of a clinic in the opening half, kicking goals at will. They got great service out of the midfield from Renee, who has seemingly taken her game to another level during the off-season. Her kicks had increased penetration going forward, and provided Dean and Olivia with ample opportunities to score. Being short a player in defence, she also worked hard to push back and help out in defence (a benefit of the rule changes is that players can now run in any zone). That's not to say Brent and Eddie always needed the help, as they both had control of that area of the ground, restricting the opposition to just a solitary behind for the half. The second half was more of the same. We were joined by a pair of brothers, who were looking for a game, which evened up the two sides. I kept the players in the same positions for the half - no sense in fixing what ain't broke! Dean and Olivia continued their feast of goals. Olivia was superb in her debut for the club, finishing with 8 goals (a team record for a female player) and taking several impressive marks - one that she took low down at her bootlaces was a highlight. Dean kicked 5 goals, and could have finished with a few more than that. I was impressed with not only his ability to win the ball and use it, but more so his unselfishness in passing to Olivia several times when he was well within range himself. As I said earlier, Renee was in career-best form and I'm eager to see how she progresses throughout the season. Brent was busy in defence, pushing hard up the ground at times, and creating a wall across the midfield. So too Eddie, whose dashing runs down the ground were a delight to watch. The final score was 105-7, the 98-point win becoming our biggest ever winning margin - beating the old record by a point! The games will only get tougher as the weeks go on and the new sides learn the game and improve. But we'll have the game's most experienced coach back by then...