This Saturday evening after the game against the Saints we're having our fundraising Lawn Bowls Night. We'll go to CYM Terenure Bowls Club at 6.30pm after showering & changing at Terenure Rugby Club. Make sure to each bring along a group of your friends, we'll have a tournament as well as open-bowling for everyone. There will be a BBQ and bar available. Macka's working very hard to make this a good night for all, let's get a good number of people along.

Following our Belfast match, the Swans are heading to the Galway Races. Chucky & Farmer have booked an apartment with a few spare places, and more apartments may be available if we get another 4 to 6 fellas to come. 

As some of you already know, Sunday was the 3rd round of the draft cup and following this, the Ireland squad was selected for the European Championships in Copenhagen & Malmo in August. The swans are very proud to see a total of 8 players selected as part of the whole Irish squad - 5 into the team and 3 on standby.

Those first 5 lads are:

Big Paul, Mick, Rambo, Bobby & Manus.

The 3 guys on standby are Martin, Enda and Darren.

Well done guys, fantastic effort. And to those who didn’t make the squad, there are plenty of chances ahead for you to step up and show the selectors what you can do.

Further information can be found on the arfli website www.arfli.com.

With 9 teams in 3 different groups for the round robin stage, the South Dublin Swans found that their group consisting of the Aberdeen Dingoes and the Belfast redbacks, was not going to be as easy as they hoped. 

Game 1 kicked off against the dingoes whom were an unknown package. The Swans came out firing but found their opponents up to the challenge. Goals were exchanged and the half time score found the swans needing to lift – with scores being almost level. The second half turned into a shambles for the swans, the dingoes kicked two goals to grab a solid lead. The swans peppered the goals but the forwards were missing some easy opportunities. A massive goal by big Paul put the swans within distance but the time had run out and on the final siren, the swans found themselves with a 1 point loss Dingoes 4.1 to Swans 3.6 and the thoughts of an early finish to the day were on the cards. 

The Swans followed this game with a stern talk from Scotty and realised that the game against the Red backs would decide our day. To the Swans credit, they didn’t let each other down and some great football was played all over the field. Belfast are a fast running good skilled side but the Swans played brilliantly, led by the midfield of Ryano and Ryan & Con, and both big guys Paul and Shane. Manus up forward was providing a good target and the backs were defending extremely well. The final score in a good skilled game, Swans 7.1 to Belfast 2.2 

Our day rested on the result of the Belfast and Dingoes game and good fortune came with Belfast winning comfortably leaving all three teams on one win each, however the Swans went through to the main group finals with a superior points difference. 

The main finals group consisted of the Swans, the Dublin Saints and the Cork Lions who all top their tables. Game one Swans v Saints would be a good test for the Swans and again they followed the format of the previous game with brilliant play all over the field. To the Saint credit, the fought out the game to the end even after many of their players departing before the final stage. Again the midfield were fantastic, and a dependable backline who repelled every Saints charge. The forwards had plenty of opportunites but still failed to convert fully, however the Swans were just too strong in the end winning 9.8 to 2 points. 

The second match saw the Lions comfortably win over the Saints setting up the match against the Swans as the “grand final” for the day. 

The Lions have been the Swans nemesis for many seasons, always providing a tough game of football, however after a full day of good football by the Swans, there was renewed faith that this would be our time to win. 

The game started with some great midfield work from Paul and Shane in the rucks, along with Ryan and Ryano assisting, the swans took the first initiaitive with a point on the board. The Lions responded with a goal but this still didnt cause the Swans to panic. As the game went on, every Swan put their body on the line and some took some hard hits, none more than a spectacular new recruit Ryan who smashed into two cork boys, still held the ball and disposed of it forward. This lifted the whole team and after some great play all game, the Swans ran out victors 4.6 to 2.3 and were crowned Smats Super 9’s champions for 2010. 

A few highlights of the day include the new Irish recruits taking to the field as though they had been playing the game for years, some class new Aussie players, a duelling ruck team, the hard hitting boys in the back line and midfield and a ‘hit and miss’ forward line (some goal kicking practice will help!) and of course we can’t go without mentioning the swans faithful guys returning from last year! Special mention to Ryan Serocki (Ryano) who was player of the day and a star in the final, great stuff Ryano. Thanks to all those that assisted in the running of the day – fantastic effort, thanks to the Swans boys who played as fill ins with other teams and those on the bench. Jen the physio was great in keeping the boys going all day. 

The presentation ceremony was held on the pitch after the game, where medals were presented to the winning Swans team by Australian Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Bruce Davis. The successful day continued into the night where the super 9’s cup was presented to the Coach Scotty and Captain Macka at D2 nightclub. The cup remained full of refreshing drink for most of the night and heads were sore the next morning.

Good work boys! Bring on season 2010!!!

The Smats.net ARFLI Super 9s is on this Saturday April 24th as part of the inaugural Dublin Anzac Sports Carnival and will be held at Terenure College Rugby Football Club. Get along for a great day of sport, food & entertainment.

With a good 8-a-side match as our Sunday training session yesterday, the Swans are looking good for the competition.

After the football & touch rugby competitions is the prize-giving & after-party at D2 in Harcourt St, from 6.30 with free-finger food and Aussie/Kiwi beers on sale.

Hi Everyone,

Training's on Tuesday & Thursday this week, both nights at Terenure Rugby Club from 7pm. 

For the next 4 weeks we're training both Tuesday & Thursday nights as well as a match/training session on the weekend to get ourselves fit & well drilled for the season opener scheduled for May 8th.

Coming up on Saturday is the next round of the SMATS.net Draft Cup up in Artane. I'm looking forward to coaching my side to victory after being away for the first round.

The following Saturday, 24th of April is the annual 9-a-side pre-season cup during the Dublin ANZAC Sports Carnival at our home ground, Terenure Rugby Club & Terenure College. There'll be heaps of people along, with 12 Aussie Rules teams and 8 Touch Rugby teams, as well as an Australia vs NZ cricket match the following day at CYM Terenure Cricket Club (Aussies or Irish are needed to fill the side). Bring all your family & friends down as it should be a great day. We should have enough players so are considering entering 2 teams, but are yet to decide if it'll be Aussies vs Irish or Masters (over 30s) vs Juniors. After the sports carnival at Terenure, the festivities move onto D2 for the official prize giving & after party.

To all of you who missed it, we had a great Swans day out on Saturday, kicking off at the Woolshed as the doors were opening at 10.30am to watch the Dons do the business over the Blues, and the poor ol' Tigers struggle to kick a goal up in Sydney. The smarter of us decided on coffee & a breakfast roll at that time of the morning, but some fellas thought a pint of black would be just as good. We carried on a cross-town pub crawl with plenty of time spent basking in the sunshine at the Swan bar, losing money on the Grand National, watching some rugby (who was playing??), and further on into the night. Well done to those who lasted the distance (Farmer was starring in a remake of 'A Weekend at Bernie's), and even better by those of us who backed up for a great training session in the Sunday afternoon sunshine.

Scotty.

After the success of our first Open Day which was attended by a good number of newcomers despite snow the night before and freezing conditions on the day, we're following up with the second of our Open Days, coming up on Sunday week, 2pm March 21st.

Everyone is welcome to come along; bring your friends and anyone interested in learning about the game. We'll teach the skills of the game, give some tips in a no-pressure environment, then finish up with some light simulated game drills.

Hi Guys,

I hope you're all fit and healthy after the Christmas / New Year break and looking forward to pre-season training for this coming season like I know a lot of lads are. Now is the time to get out there for a run or two during the week, and to start doing some strength work, like some sit-ups & push-ups every other night, to get yourselves ready for pre-season.

AGM

Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday week, the 24th of January from 2.30pm onwards. Stay tuned to your email or check the club website for the location; it'll either be the Terenure Rubgy Club or a pub in Terenure/Rathmines. We may get a lunch before moving onto the big issues for the season ahead. We'll send out an Agenda to everyone ini the week leading up to the AGM.

Pre-Season Training

The coaching board (Scotty, Rhino, Marty & Farmer) have already met this year and set the calendar of training dates shown below. Our first session will be at Bushy Park Sunday January 31st, the last Sunday January. During that week there are the Australia Day celebrations at The Woolshed.

From then onwards we'll be training every Sunday, during which time you will be required to do extra work at home, during the week. From March onwards we will commence training once during the week, Wednesday as well as the Sunday sessions. About two weeks before the season commences we will move training to twice during the week, and then stop the Sunday sessions once our competitive matches start.

Our Sunday training sessions will be varied, and for the first stage we'll mainly be focussing on our fitness and strength. Access the calendar here.

Recruitment / Trial Days

As part of our push for season 2010, we'll be running 2 'Trial Days' on Sunday 21st of February & Sunday 21st of March. These will be heavily promoted by ourselves and will be a day where new players or anyone at all interested in Aussie Rules can come along and try out kicking, marking and hand-balling a footy in a no-pressure environment. We will have our fitness session beforehand, then get any newcomers involved in some light-hearted games and a bit of kick-to-kick.

We all need to get out there and recruit as many new teammates as we can for us to have a successful 2010. Get onto anyone you know, or any places you think might have a few potential players for us, and get them along to one of the Trial Days, or pre-season training if they want to get fit.

Cheers guys, see you all at the AGM and our first pre-season session, and get recruiting!

Scotty.