Entertainment for the 2.5 hour drive to Odense would normally be provided by a radio, alas, Taffy being an obvious pork eater brought his own entertainment which did not just tickle the hearing senses but also the sense of smell and I think for one of them, the sense of touch.  Those odours, matched by a throwback by President Higgins of a Mauler pre game of 2006/07 meant the windows were down for most of the drive.
We arrived to Odense with about 30 mins to spare and the brisk walk warm up was greeted by Baz and Rossco who also participated in night before events.  There was a slight breeze and Taffy winning the toss elected to kick with it.
For the first game against Odense, we had a mixed bag in the middle of a couple of Australian fossils in Az and Ryan, and a couple of young buck Swedes in Siggy and Tim.
Whether some were still coming to from the drive up, or were perhaps a bit stiff from the drive up the Maulers started poorly.  Constantly being led to the ball, at half time we were down by 12.  After changing a few things up the maulers started the 3rd quarter well, Polmear and Barron rotating across half back and half forward gave good run and carry.  Fabian started to negate one of their big blokes and the mids were sending the ball down with rigour.
At three quarter time we were up by 5 points, but kicking into a slight breeze.  Our defense stayed strong led by veterans Taffy, Tony and Rossco as well as relative newcomer Neil meant Odense were unable to kick a goal in the last.
Our forward line of Baz, Jonas, Fabian, Barron and Polmear slotted 2 unanswered goals which got the Maulers home by 18 points.
A great effort by all the boys to keep persisting and finally get the result.
The second game started soon after the final hooter.  A request came from Aalborg 2 mins before bounce down to play 10 a side and have 2 on the bench.  In the great Mauler spirit we accepted, this meant some pine time for some of our lads, seems strange that the other team had 12, we had 13 and they insisted on playing 10.  We drive 2.5 hours to play footy and then have our blokes and their blokes sitting on the pine.  I digress …
Like the earlier game, Maulers started slow.  Down by 11 points at quarter time, turned into 12 points at half time.  Things were not looking good for the maulers who were taking on a fresh Aalborg.  Fabian who in the earlier game played a negating role on one of the Odense talls, did a similar job in the second game, but this time also played very offensively and took some ripping contested marks, he ended the day with 2 goals and could have been more had he not copped one in the chops.
At half time the Maulers were buoyed in the knowledge that we were down by a similar margin in the last game and came back.  Ryno inspired the troops at half time and led by example taking on 3 separate ruckman and attacking the ball with vigour.
Tim and Siggy were linking up well throughout both games and provided some much needed run and surprising hardness over the ball considering their youth.  They were key to the comeback in the third I think both slotted goals in the 3rd and we clawed our way back to be down by 4 points.
In the end, the fatigue caught up with the team as well as kicking into a slight breeze and Aalborg went on to win the game by 3 goals.
Special mention should go to Tony who thwarted many Aalborg and Odense attacks with some solid contested marks and some excellent field kicking, he was awarded with the mug.  Azza ran all day and contested well in spite of a corked calf which he is probably still going on about.  Also to Neil, our only Irish rep who got into the game the more it went on and looked as if he had established some real confidence playing the oval ball game and this should only help him in the future with the maulers.  Always great getting new blokes into the club and playing well.
Finally our two young blokes Siggy and Tim. We’d have been absolutely stuffed without you, please keep coming and bring some of your mates.  You blokes are the future of our great club and its terrific to have you blokes playing with us, as you are both great blokes and you know how to play and you go about it the right way.  Keep it up fellas.
Lets go again Maulers.

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