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Words: Brayden Dean
Photos: Bill Cutten
August 24th, 2009

SOUTHERN CHALLENGE 2009

THE GREAT SOUTHERN academy boys packed up the bus and left for the long trip to Esperance.

Half way along we stopped at Ravensthorpe to get some lunch, we continued our drive towards Esperance. When we arrived at the Blue Water Lodge we dropped off our bags and sorted out our sleeping arrangements. We then went down town to do some food shopping. Back to Blue Water Lodge we had some free time, some of the boys played footy out the front while the others were competing on the pool table, while Govs and Phil were getting our BBQ ready. A bit later we all had dinner filling up on sausages, rissoles and salad.

After dinner we all went for a walk along the beach, across the road and all the way to the end of the town jetty. After the big walk we all went to bed for a good sleep. The next day Phil woke us up early so we could have showers before breakfast. After Breakfast we had some free time so we went and visited the Esperance Football Academy, we were shown around there new building by Symmo which was great.

We left Esperance Hugh School and went for a scenic drive around the coastline and had a look at all the beaches around Esperance with there crystal blue water and white sand. We drove up to the rotary lookout to take a team photo. We went back to camp, packed our footy bags and headed off to Esperance Oval. Our first game was vs Esperance Stingrays, I’m pretty sure they never scored a goal, every one played really well. About 20 minutes later we got ready to play Kalgoorlie, they came out strong but they weren’t strong enough to beat us in the end. The next game played was Esperance vs Kalgoorlie it looked like Esperance were winning throughout the game but Kalgoorlie gave them a good game.

After the last game we had Presentations and I Brayden Dean got the MVP for the Great Southern Football Academy, we all then had a feed and relaxed a little bit until we went back to camp. We all had showers and got ready to go to the Cinemas to watch a movie. Friday Morning we were up early, bags packed, dorms cleaned and a quick breakfast. We hit the road about 9am bound for Albany. Thanks to Phil and Govs for a great trip.