The Sunrise Gazette

Well. Here we are. Dew on the grass at Frascott Park, coffee coming off the carpark urn, and somewhere just off Mattocks Avenue a boot being laced with far too much ceremony. Round One of the Sunrise Cup — three a side, playing to the one set of posts — and I couldn’t be happier if you handed me a flat white and a fresh set of studs.

We open with the Frascott Falcons against the Mattocks Monarchs. Small-sided footy is honest footy — nowhere to hide, no passengers, every touch on show. If you can’t play, three-a-side finds you out inside a minute. If you can, there’s no better stage.

A word on the scoring, for the newcomers. This week it’s goal-only — we count the kicks at goal and nothing else, so the boot does the talking (as per usual). In your normal x-league run-around it’s a point for a try and a point for the conversion, simple as that. Down the track we’re looking at four for a try and two for the conversion — but that’s a story for another Saturday.

And don’t read too much into a one-off. This week is a special — three a side, bragging rights on the line. From next round the full squads are back in it, so everyone gets a run, and everyone gets a week to sort their combinations and cook up a little something for the round after. That’s where the real chess starts.

For the Falcons, Adam Hennessy and Nathan Arojo lead their side into battle — and what a story Adam’s is. Nearly a year lost to the wilderness of the Sunshine Coast, and here he is, back where he belongs with the studs on. Welcome home, son. Add Arojo’s footwork — which, I’ll be honest, still gets me every time — and the Falcons carry a genuine threat.

The Monarchs answer with Owen Ouyang and Cooper Cramond, and if that pair get to link up and spring their wide aces, you’ll want your coffee down and your eyes up. Cooper’s a handful every time he gets the ball; Owen’s quiet, clinical, and suddenly you’re down by six. You have been warned. I have been down by six.

And the transfer wire’s been running hot — I’m hearing whispers of late additions to both squads. Nobody’s confirming anything, which of course means everybody’s doing something. Watch this space.

The whistle’s in the safest of hands: Declan Foy and Noel Stallbaum take the referee’s duties while the Mustangs sit out the round. You couldn’t ask for two calmer heads with the whistle. They’ll do a fine job — and if they don’t, they’ll hear about it at the local. We all will.

Well, they warned us three-a-side would be honest, and honest it was. On a pitch you could’ve covered with a picnic rug, the Falcons and Monarchs served up the sort of even, end-to-end scrap that makes a man forget his coffee’s gone cold. Nobody hid. Nobody could.

Both sides got over the line — this was footy with its sleeves rolled up. Toby Davison slotted a lovely field goal for the Monarchs, the coolest head on the park, and then Cooper Cramond did exactly what I told you he’d do: put his head down and bustled straight through the Falcons’ defence for a good, solid try. Strong, direct, and a genuine handful — every single time.

Spare a thought for Nathan Arojo, mind. The Falcons’ skipper had a couple of kick-and-chase plays where the luck simply wasn’t with him — the decisions went against him when a bounce or a call the other way changes the whole complexion of it. He’ll have a word or two at the local, and he’ll be entitled to them.

The transfer wire? It ran hotter than I promised. More late additions than a WCW Nitro in the mid-’90s — squads shuffling right up to the first whistle. And in the mix-in, the highlight of the day: Noel Stallbaum’s Barmy Army rolled in en masse, all the way from Victoria, and turned the enthusiasm up to eleven. Proper class, proper noise. That’s the Sunrise Cup at its very best.

If Round One was an honest scrap, Round Two threatens to be a track meet. The Monarchs and the Mustangs both play the same way — fast, loose, ball in hand, ask questions later — and when two sides that love to run and gun meet, you don’t get a chess match. You get fireworks.

It’s captain against captain, and what a pairing: Owen Ouyang for the Monarchs, quiet and clinical, forever a step ahead — against Declan Foy for the Mustangs, composed, unhurried, and the sort you just stand back and applaud. One likes to strangle you slowly; the other likes to cut you open. Something’s got to give.

And keeping the peace? None other than Adam Hennessy — back from the Sunshine Coast wilderness one week, whistle in hand the next. The Falcons take their bye and hand Adam the middle. Two run-and-gun teams and a debutant referee: I’d get there early and I’d hold onto my coffee.

A disastrous opening four minutes, friends — that’s all it took. An injury to Nathan Arojo, guesting in the famous purple and white of the Monarchs, after a bit of friendly fire with his great mate Owen Ouyang. Two blokes who’d run through a wall for each other, and it was the pair of them that came together. We wish Nathan a speedy recovery; the local won’t be the same till he’s back propping up the bar.

From there the game swung, and it swung the Mustangs’ way. The Herd did what the Herd does — honest, direct, everyone in the fight — and once they had their noses in front they were never for turning. The stats speak for themselves, and they’re all on the record.

In the all-in games that followed we saw some amazing plays — and nothing, nothing, beats Noel Stallbaum’s banana-kick conversion. Off the boot, round the bend, straight through the middle. Something we’ve never seen before out here, and I’ve been watching a long time. Put your coffee down for that one.

Spare a thought for Cooper Cramond, mind. Had a lovely chip-through on and was denied by a shallow in-goal — and, would you believe it, a damaged boot. Rumour has it he ran so fast he stripped the thread clean off. A first for the Sunrise Cup; won’t be the last odd thing we see out here.

The Mustangs come in with the wind at their backs, hunting two on the trot after bolting clear last week. There’s a catch, mind: they’ll be without their top performer, Ethan Hunt — the hands that set half of Round Two alight. Take Hunt out and the Herd lean on old heads, the battle-tested guile of Noel Stallbaum and Declan Foy to steer them round the park. And word around the urn is there are new recruits in the mix — we’ll see who fronts.

For the Falcons, the big news is a good-news story. Nathan Arojo looked in real strife with that knock last week, but after some brisk medical attention the gods of X-League have smiled on his predicament — and he looks ready to play. A fit Arojo changes everything Frascott can throw at you.

And holding the middle? None other than Owen Ouyang — Monarchs on the bye, their skipper on the whistle. (Yes, the very man I once put four past. He’s never forgiven me, and now he gets to blow up my mistakes — football has a sense of humour.) One last thing: mind the weather. It’s been spring-like here in the depths of winter at Frascott — dew on the grass, sun on the posts — and we’re all quietly hoping it holds.

Spring held its nerve in the depths of winter, and so — very nearly — did the Herd. For the best part of a morning it looked as though the auld heads of Declan Foy and Noel Stallbaum, paired with the youthful exuberance of Zara and Judah Vadakumpadan, had done just enough to hang on for the draw — level at the death, a share of the spoils all but banked.

But Nathan had other ideas.

A fit-again Nathan Arojo — patched up and passed fit after that Round Two knock, exactly as we’d hoped — put boot to ball in the last minute, chased it like a man half his age, and grounded it to steal the whole thing. A kick-and-chase try at the death, 6–5 the final word, and a coffee cup emptied clean over the hill.

Huge congratulations to both sides for a cracking display. The Mustangs will feel this one — two on the trot was right there, and they a man short of their Round Two star — but there’s no shame in a side beaten only by the last play of the day. Foy and Stallbaum steered them beautifully; Zara and young Judah announced themselves in earnest. The Herd will be back, mark me.

And then, as ever, the real fun — the all-in games that followed, where the colours mix and the combinations get interesting. Adam Hennessy was the standout, notching up some remarkable play; a slick combination with Cooper Cramond and Nathan Arojo brought his teams victory after victory and bagged Adam a hatful of trys along the way.

And would you believe it — with almost the last kick of the day, Noel Stallbaum banana’d a sideline conversion. He’s only gone and done it again. Off the boot, round the bend, straight through the middle. I named the last one Play of the Season and here he is filing an appeal against himself. Most impressive.

Now that was a morning of footy. Both sides came to play, the ball moved like it owed somebody money, and by the time the sun had properly cleared the posts we’d seen ten tries between them. Eleven-six the final word — but don’t let the margin fool you; the Herd, sorry, the Monarchs were in this one a good deal longer than the ledger suggests.

They had every right to be. Toby Davison was a handful all day and helped himself to a brace; Owen Ouyang chipped in a try and a goal; and Ella Isaacs played the conductor, a try and a goal of her own and three assists laid on for good measure. Through the early and middle stretch they matched the Falcons combination for combination.

But there’s a difference between staying in a game and closing one, and the difference on this day wore a Falcons jumper and answered to Adam Hennessy. Two tries, two goals, and three assists — a hand, by my count, in seven separate scores. He didn’t so much play the game as run the meeting. Around the seventh minute the Falcons found a burst, and Adam was at the middle of all of it, right through to a try-and-goal of his own with the last honest minute on the clock.

He wasn’t alone, mind. Nathan Arojo — still bending them, more on that shortly — went two tries, two goals, and the ever-reliable Theo Isaacs matched him for tries with a goal besides. Three Falcons, two tries apiece: that’s a finishing school, and it’s how a competitive game becomes an 11–6 that reads more comfortable than it felt.

And then the all-in games, where the jumpers get swapped and the good stuff comes out. Two things to file from the Mix-In, and I’d frame both.

First: Noel Stallbaum has banana’d a third in a row. Three on the bounce. The man isn’t bending bananas any more — he’s growing a bunch. I named the first Play of the Season, shrugged at the second, and I’m out of superlatives for the third. Somebody give him a fruit bowl and a standing ovation.

Second, and hold onto your coffee: Ethan Hunt was a human highlight machine. Try, then an assist, then an interception, then another try — a one-man reel that made the Mission Impossible look like Mission Simplistic. I’ve watched thirty years of this comp and I know a purple patch when I trip over one. Young Hunt was untouchable.

Here’s a fixture with a pulse. The Mustangs and the Monarchs both play the same brand — fast, loose, ball in hand, ask questions later — and the last time they shared a paddock we got fireworks, not a chess match. Round Two went the Herd’s way; the Monarchs will remember that, and they’ll want it back.

And the news that changes the maths: Ethan Hunt is back in green. If the Mix-In was any guide — try, assist, interception, try, a one-man highlight reel that made Mission Impossible look like Mission Simplistic — then the Monarchs have a genuine problem to solve. Take your eye off Hunt for a heartbeat and it’s three points and a wave to the crowd.

The Monarchs won’t come quietly, mind. Toby Davison is in the form of his life, Ella Isaacs is conducting an orchestra out there — a hatful of assists a week — and Owen Ouyang can turn a game on his own. If they can slow the Mustangs to a canter and make their own combinations count, they’ll fancy it.

The Falcons, fresh off eleven-six, put their feet up — though I’d wager Adam Hennessy watches this one with a notebook. A week off is a gift or a trap depending on what you do with it.