Gobbledegeek 2.o

The Fighting Miners failed in their quest to win back-to-back premierships when they were defeated by the Puckapunyal Boars 6-5 in a quagmire at Puckapunyal last Saturday.

Torrential rain had covered the playing surface with about 50mm of water which soon cut up to become a quagmire. Adding to the difficult conditions were intermittent downpours and a strong wind.

The Miners had first use of the wind and were soon made aware that the Boars had come to play with spirit and determination. The normally dominant Miners’ scrum was shunted in the first two encounters.

Throughout the first half, the Boars dominated field position and possession. The Miners’ ball retention was poor as passes were pushed, catches spilled and lost in contact. The Boars capitalized on this superiority with a penalty goal in the 30^th minute to set up a 3-0 lead at the interval.

The Boars stretched their lead with a second penalty goal early in the second half.

From this point onwards, the Miners lifted their intensity. Inspired by some dominant tackles by the Tuitupou brothers, the Miners brought themselves back into the contest.

They finally troubled the scoreboard attendant in the tenth minute of the second half when centre Michael Crichton scored a try in the corner after a crisp passing movement by the backs.

Bendigo continued to press forward with Jesse Tuitupou, Konrad Fepuleai and Johneen Fagavao making strong runs.

They were rewarded with a penalty goal opportunity in the midway through the half in a handy position but the kick went wide.

From this point on, play rarely moved out of the area between the quarter lines as the two teams slogged it out in the mud.

The Tyson’s Reef Hotel player of the day award went to Jesse Tuitupou. Others to shine included Fepuleai, Nick Dehnert, Elson Tuitupou, Johneen Fagavao and Michael Crichton.

Scorer: Crichton try.

Team: 24 N. Poingdestre, 2 E. Tuitupou, 3 J. Tuitupou, 4 N. Dehnert (c), 5 B. Westley, 6 A. Saville, 7 D. Fallaver, 8 K. Fepuleai, 9 S. MacDonald, 10 Jon Solomon, 11 J. Learai, 12 J. Fagavao, 13 M. Crichton, 14 Jeremy Solomon, 15 J. Manderson.

Replacements: T. Henderson, L. Tuitupou, S. McGrail, S. Fagavao, P. Thomas.

Reserves: T. Mulvaney, J. Jeffries, S. Queally

Emergencies: L. Eriksen, N. Whittle, V. Liufau

W. Coulter 54439165

The Fighting Miners travel to Puckapunyal on Saturday seeking back-to-back premierships in the VRU Country Division.

The Miners will go in as underdogs against the minor premier Puckapunyal Boars who have beaten the Miners in two of three meetings this year. The Boars will also be rested after a week off while the Miners disposed of the Cobram Dust Devils in a bruising contest last weekend.

The Miners expect to be at full strength with only flanker Allan Saville under a fitness cloud. Saville strained a calf muscle in last week’s game but is hopeful of being fit to take his place.

The Fighting Miners are celebrating their fortieth anniversary this year and are hoping for a twelfth premiership to crown the celebrations.

The Fighting Miners playing squad is the epitome of multiculturalism and family traditions:

• there are five sets of brothers in the squad;
• seven of the players are sons of former players;
• players originate from seven countries – Australian both white and indigenous, New Zealanders both pakeha and Maori, PNG, Samoa, Tonga, Norway and Ireland.

The match kicks off at 3.00pm.

There are still seats available in the players & supporters bus which leaves Shadforth Park at 11.30am.

W. Coulter

As I said previously…..they’re all big games in the run in to the finals.

The Fighting Miners will be at full strength for their clash with competition leader Cobram Dust Devils at Shadforth Park this Saturday.

In their last outing, the Miners knocked Puckapunyal Boars out of top position with a convincing win.

Bendigo coach Alan Wilkinson is confident his team can repeat the feat against the Dust Devils. In their two previous clashes with the Dust Devils this season, the Miners have a loss and a draw.

In both matches, the Miners were in a winning position until the last fifteen minutes of play but allowed the Dust Devils back into the games with a drop off in intensity and lack of discipline.

Currently, the Miners are in third position on the ladder with 36 points, trailing Cobram on 47 points and Puckapunyal on 45 points.

If the Miners can win their remaining three games with bonus points, they can get to 51 points. Both Puckapunyal and Cobram have a bye to come and will meet each other in the final round of home and away games. Accordingly, the Miners need to win all their games and hope that other results go their way in order to finish in the top two and get the double chance in the finals.

This Saturday’s game kicks off early at 1.00pm due to the Bledisloe Cup match in Melbourne.

W. Coulter

Please go along and support the lads at Shadforth Park, if you can as I’m sure they will appreciate it.

A resurgent Fighting Miners thrashed competition leaders 46-20 in an eight try romp at Shadforth Park last Saturday.

After an indifferent start to the season, the Miners have now had an unbeaten streak of four matches.

In Saturday’s game, Bendigo ran in three tries in the first fifteen minutes through Jesse Tuitupou, Jeremy Solomon and Michael Crichton before Puckapunyal had gotten out of its own half.

Pucka then camped in the Bendigo half for a considerable period of time before the Miners’ defence was finally broken with a try in the 30^th minute.

On the stroke of half-time, Miners half-back Steve MacDonald pierced the Pucka defence in a strong 30 metre dash to establish a Bendigo lead of 20-5.

Pucka reduced the deficit to 10 points with a try early in the second half and appeared to be about to make a recovery.

However, the Miners switched back on, piling on four tries in the first 20 minutes of the second half to go out to a 46-10 lead

Scorers: Crichton 2, Thomas 2, Jeremy Solomon, J. Tuitupou, E. Tuitupou, MacDonald tries; Manderson 2, MacDonald goals.

W. Coulter

Read the full match report here.

The Miners have another bye this weekend (24th). They will be hoping for a reversal of fortunes against Cobram Dust Devils when the meet the following Saturday. The match is at Shadforth Park, North Bendigo on 31 July and kicks off at 1pm.

Note the 1pm kick-off! This is so that club members have time to get to Etihad Stadium for Wallabies v All Blacks game that evening. Tickets available at the time of this post.

In fact , it looks like they’re all big from here on in for Bendigo rugby team…

The Fighting Miners are at full strength for their clash with competition leader Puckapunyal Boars at Shadforth Park this Saturday.

After two weeks on the road where the Miners beat Border Army and drew with Cobram, they go into the match with some degree of confidence.

In their two previous encounters this season, the Boars have won both but the Miners consider themselves unlucky to have lost the last match at Puckapunyal where they scored three tries to the Boars’ one.

With four matches and a bye remaining before the finals, the Miners are in fourth place on the ladder behind Puckapunyal, Cobram and Border Army. However, three of the four games are at home and the Miners are confident of overtaking Border Army.

To sneak into the top two and get the double chance in the play-offs, the Miners need to win all their remaining games, pick up some bonus points and hope other results go their way.

The match kicks off at 3.00pm

W. Coulter

…so get your backsides along to Shadforth Park and give the boys as much support as you can. See you there!

I use the word ‘men’ to describe these degenerate miscreants but these are not the actions of real men.

TWO Bendigo men have been charged with the rape of a 12-year-old girl.

The men, both in their 20s, are alleged to have consumed drugs and alcohol and had sex with the girl in full view of their friends despite her pleading with them to stop.

Long Gully man Dale Goss, 25, and Jarrod Nadort, 23, of Lockwood were arrested on Tuesday after the girl made a report to police.

…and despite police protestations, the Magistrate, Jennifer Tregent, let the ‘alleged’ perverts out on bail!!

These sick paedophiles can consider themselves incredibly fortunate! They can thank their soon-to-be well-used sorry arses that this wasn’t my daughter, because I’d be locked up in their place and they’d be slowly decomposing in a urine soaked shallow grave at an undisclosed remote location.

Bendigo 12 lost to Cobram 24 at Koonoomooo, 5 June 2010.

The Fighting Miners suffered their first ever defeat at the hands of the Cobram Dust Devils at Koonoomoo last Saturday. The Dust Devils entered the competition in 2008 but have not been competitive until the current season.

In Saturday’s game, the Dust Devils got on top in the second half after the scores were deadlocked at 12-12 at the break.

Bendigo scorers were Jeremy Solomon in the tenth minute and Nick Poingdestre in the 35^th minute.

Bendigo had the upper hand in the first half with a dominant scrum, good rolling mauls and good hit-ups on the fringes of the rucks by the big men. This dominance resulted in a string of penalties to the Miners and kept the Dust Devils on the back foot.

Team: 1 N. Poingdestre, 2 T. Henderson, 3 J. Tuitupou, 4 S. Kelly, 5 E. Tuitupou, 6 S. McGrail, 7 D. Fallaver, 8 K. Fepuleai, 9 N. Dehnert, 10 Jon Solomon, 11 S. Queally, 12 S. MacDonald, 13 J. Learai, 14 Jeremy Solomon, 15 J. Manderson, 16 S. Paterson, 17 P. Clark

Scorers: Jeremy Solomon, Poingdestre tries; Manderson goal.

W. Coulter

Read the full match report here.

The Miners have a bye this weekend but you can still see them in action when they take on an ‘old boys’ selection as part of their 40th Anniversary celebrations. Why not head up to Shadforth Park and watch?

The Victorian Rugby Union Country Division competition resumes with round 6 on 26th June at home against the Deniliquin Drovers.

Searching for a ‘list of idiots in Bendigo’ brings a surprising number of visitors to Gobbledegeek 2.0, not as many as those searching for nude images of Julia Gillard though! For this reason, I thought it might be a worthwhile public service to actually compile a list of Bendigo-based half-wits.

Fortunately, these low-brows are not the majority in this otherwise ‘alright’ Victorian town, so it shouldn’t be a difficult task. So if you know a candidate for the list, please submit their details here. To avoid becoming a candidate yourself, please remember to include the gene pool contaminator’s name, reason for it’s nomination and a photo where possible.

The overwhelming majority of these knuckle-draggers will no doubt merit their own post but I will endeavour to list them here too. They appear in no particular order of idiocy or severity of crime.

Mark my words, the top twenty will be dominated by those repugnant in-bred fuckaloops we call hoons but you are welcome to prove me wrong…..

The List

Although not hoons, these three knob-jockey’s can get the ball rolling…..

Eighteen year old Stewart Love (you long time) and two younger wannabe robbers who stole thousands of dollars worth of gear in a mini-gay-crime-spree, were found guilty yesterday…..

The full (ish) story here.

I popped into the NAB in Strath Village shopping centre the other day to enquire about their merchant banking services and  ‘virtual terminal’ facility. As part of some research I was doing, I remembered reading something on the NAB website. Unfortunately, I assumed asking in person might prove more helpful should I have questions.

I asked for the information I sought but the two female tellers glanced at each other as if I had just asked them to theorise some impossible mathematical equation and expected an answer in fluent badger! After some umm-ing and ahh-ing, which clearly demonstrated a mutual cerebral void, I offered them  a release from their obvious agony.

I smiled sympathetically and headed for the door.

Despite scoring three tries to their opponent’s one, the Fighting Miners were narrowly defeated by the Puckapunyal Boars in wet, raining conditions last Saturday.

Lack of discipline when not in possession of the ball cost the Miners dearly as the Puckapunyal goalkicker took every chance offered to him, slotting 5/5 with four penalties and a conversion.

Team: 1 N. Poingdestre, 2 E. Tuitupou, 3 J. Tuitupou, 4 N. Dehnert, 5 S. Kelly, 6 D. Fallaver, 7 S. McGrail, 8 B. Westley, 8 A. Saville, 10 Jon Solomon, m11 S. Fagavao, 12 Jeremy Solomon, 13 J. Learai, 14 S. Queally, 15 J. Manderson, 16 T. Henderson, 17 C. Dalley, 18 Conrad, 20 M. Crichton, 21 P. Thomas, 22 L. Eriksen  Reserve: Julius Solomon

Scorers: J. Tuitupou, E. Tuitupou, N. Poingdestre tries; Manderson goal

Next week, the Miners travel to Cobram to take on the resurgent Dust Devils.

Read the full match report here.

Saturday’s opening match of the 2010 Country Victoria rugby season saw the Fighting Miners suffer a 14 – 26 defeat at the hands of Puckapunyal at Shadforth Park, Bendigo.

Defensive frailties on the fringes of the ruck and in the backline of the Miners gave the Boars repeated opportunities to score but the Miners held on to trail by only seven points at the break, 7-14.

Bendigo’s points were scored from a try to five-eighth Steve MacDonald when he sliced through the Puckapunyal defence at the back of a line-out and a conversion by Josh Manderson.

Puck opened the second half with an unconverted try to stretch its lead to 12 points at 19-7.

Bendigo responded with some strong running from improved set play. This led to a string of high tackles by the Boars’ players as the match threatened to become spiteful. Referee Wayne Pick took strong action, sending three Puckapunyal players to the sin bin simultaneously in the twentieth minute of the second half….

by W. Coulter

Read the full article here.

The Bendigo Fighting Miners are still in desperate need of players to sign for the proposed youth squad. If you aged between 14 and 16 and are interested or know someone who may be, please call Mark Luatutu on 5434 5822 (work) or 0427 315067.

The 2010 Country Draw is now available. You may download it here or alternatively from the Miners’ website.

Round 1 kicks off at 3pm against Puckpunyal at home (Shadforth Park, North Bendigo) on May 1st.

You might also like to know that the Fighting Miners have a practice match against Premier Division Side, Melbourne on Saturday April 17th Kick-off at 3pm at Shadforth Park.

Please go along and support.

To give this scrumdiddlyicious Italian number it’s full name….Peppered Chicken Fettuccine Tossed with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Wild Mushrooms & Spinach. It may very well be known by another name but I’m afraid I have no have no idea what it might be. The original recipe was passed to me by a talented young chef in Bendigo named Adam and so the credit, and thanks, go to him.

You will notice, perhaps with some panic, that I have omitted the proportions. The reason for this is that after making it a few times, I discarded the recipe and made it to taste. For instance, I love mushrooms but the kids balk at their texture and so the amount and the variety will vary. We all adore pesto but it can make the dish a little rich and heavy, so if you have plenty of chicken to go around, cut down on the pesto and vice versa. Experiment by adding and tasting as you go. Add more of what you like and less of what you don’t but don’t go mad otherwise it will become too salty or overly rich.

Referring back to the long-winded title, if you are partial to it, you might like to add more pepper and reduce the amount of pesto. Heck! Leave out the pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and substitute cream and you have yourself a completely different meal!

Ingredients

Fettuccine or Tagliatelle
Chicken Breast Fillets
Sun-dried Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Spinach
Pesto
Cracked black pepper
Garlic
Butter
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese

Method

Start by cooking the pasta in well salted water. This should take between 8 and 10 minutes once the water is boiling, just long enough to let you prepare the rest of the dish.

Slice the chicken into equal pieces and marinate in olive oil and black pepper while you get on with the other stuff.

Slice the mushrooms and cook in an equal butter oil mix. Season and add a little garlic. Personally, I prefer to just heat them through so they remain quite firm but not still crunchy. You can experiment with wild mushrooms and I would suggest Crimini (Cremini, baby bellas, Italian Brown and Portabellini) for their richer, more earthy flavour or for the more adventurous (and if you can get them), Pied de Mouton or Porcini (Penny Buns) but any mushroom imparting earthy or nutty flavours such as Portabello, would be great in this dish. If you manage to get your hands on some good ‘uns, reduce the impact of the other ingredients and make it more about the mushrooms.

Earthy Cremini Mushrooms

Add more olive oil for the sauce. You may leave this step out if you’re not a fan of olive oil but you don’t want it to be too dry.

Drain and add the cooked pasta, toss and add shaved Parmesan. Potato peelers are great for shaving but a standard grater will probably have the necessary grating slot.

Add the spinach, toss and add a knob of butter. If you’re not a big fan of spinach, try it anyway because it’s the marriage of flavours that make this dish so bloody lovely. If you really must, leave out the spinach, it won’t lessen the dish noticeably. You might also like to add lightly toasted pine nuts or even almond slivers.

Serve with shaved Parmesan on top and accompany with a chilly crisp white of your choice.

Perhaps I’ll add a few black olives when I do this next and I must remember to take photos. Here’s one I borrowed but it doesn’t have sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, Parmesan or any chicken for that matter!!

Yummy all the same

I hate the fact that I find it extremely difficult to sleep and ‘er indoors is forever telling me to visit the quack but tonight I was fortunate to be a light sleeper-cum-insomniac.

An unnatural noise outside caught my attention where random wind-related sounds don’t. Given that the missus is working away in Melbourne, I couldn’t wake her to deal with it and so I had little choice but to drag myself out of bed. A sneaky peak out between the blinds revealed some low-life miscreant creeping up the driveway.

Being ever so courageous, I poked my head out of the front door and politely greeted the bugger! Yes, I actually called out “hello?” My God! What was I thinking? I immediately came to my senses and attempted to rescue the awkward (for me at least) situation with some choice expletives but the little sod was obviously so confused and startled by my effeminate (particularly blonde) initial greeting, that he had long since scarpered.

Fearing law suits from the neighbours, I darted back in and donned my shorts and flip flops (thongs in ‘Stralian) but he was long gone; or so I thought.

I spotted a girls bike on the other side of the road, lying on the grass and having just watched a stellar performance by Robert Downey in Sherlock Holmes, I was inspired to deduce that this could be the prowlers getaway vehicle and so took a photo as evidence. I would have dusted for prints there and then but not having the appropriate training in forensic science, I decided I couldn’t be arsed. Anyway, the little git was probably going to be back for it.

At this point I thought it prudent to inform the authorities.

If only I hadn’t popped inside for a deserved smoke, I’d have caught the not-very-good-burgler because as I walked down the driveway to wait for the police, the would be tinker sprinted from the cul-de-sac, grabbed his girly getaway bike and shot off down the road with a parting “Fark you!”

Charming! I thought as I made a lame attempt at running after him in my traditional Aussie footwear. He disappeared out of site around the corner where I noticed the lights of a car turning in the road. I assumed this was either an accomplice manning a more suitable getaway vehicle or the troops arriving in the nick of time.

It turned out to be the police after all and not only did they collar the little criminal around the corner, they picked up his loyal partner in crime. Apparently, they admitted to being out harvesting parts for their BMX bikes.

The Bungling BMX Bandits of Bendigo!

Gobbledegeek 2 Bendigo BMX Bandits 0

The Girly Getaway Vehicle

Or more to the point, the filthy nonce will be when he’s convicted and sent to play with the big boys. He’s going to need rope for his soap, that’s for sure!

Dennis Alfred Goudge, who Bendigo Police describe as Victoria’s worst child sex offender, faces 58 charges (revised from 144), including multiple counts of child rape, sexual penetration of a child under 10, sexual penetration of a child under 17 and indecent assault.

The (alleged) paedophile spat at photographers as he was snapped leaving his committal hearing at Bendigo Magistrate’s Court.

I am uncertain of the privacy laws here in Victoria but I would very much like to see a list of convicted child sex offenders and their location within the Bendigo region. In fact, I believe all parents have a right to know, a right to protect their children, a right to know where potential dangers lie!

Thankfully, this insidious piece of shit was remanded in custody until May 27th. I trust that he will be tasting his own vile medicine while awaiting his next appearance in court.

Read the full article here.

Bendigo Paedophile Dennis Goudge

…in the head!

A Maiden Gully uber-hoon makes a late claim for “Cockhead of the Year Award’ by dobbing himself in. I know what you’re thinking, that these imbiciles surely can’t get any more moronic, but if this article from The Advertiser is to be believed, then the 26 year old subject has surely set the standard. No wonder Bendigo Police carted him off the hospital for an assessment!

On a related note, I’m seriously struggling with superlatives for these numpties, so if you have any you’d like to share, feel free to post below.

So as another crap year draws to a close I thought I might proffer one final peice of inane literary tripe by exposing some of the sick and depraved who frequent Gobbledegeek 2.0. by summarising the search strings that lured them here during 2009.

The comprehensive visitor statistics gathered by WordPress detail, amongst numerous other things, precisely the site from whence you came, the browser you used, your IP address,  and best of all, the search string you used (which obviously resulted in a link here)!

Without a doubt, the most frequently used search string in 2009 was any variation of ‘Nude photos of Julia Gillard‘ for Christ’s sake (original post). I still cannot fathom why anyone would be searching for nude photos of the Welsh red-headed politician (no offence J). The runner up is the very steady performer that is any variation of ‘simple pizza recipe‘. The one-eyed, almost but not quite, entirely unlike, quasi-serial killer ‘Barry Rochford‘ is behind bars in third (original post). For those in search of ‘telstra customer service‘, let’s face it, it’s an oxymoron (like ‘happily married’ or low calorie ‘chocolate covered bacon‘). You’re not going to find it. It’s like Shangri-bloody-la!

I would also like to highlight some of the slightly more odd searches that have resulted in your  arrival at my doors! These are just a few:

• want suck my dick bendigo (sic) – no thanks. I’m still digesting Christmas turkey and how in God’s name did that get you here?
• bendigo peadophiles (sic) – were you looking for their home page?
• barry rochford is dead – err, sadly not true.
• are welshmen poms – no they are not! Who searched for this?
• axedale pig farts – don’t they all?
• hoons are human too – and Australia will win the soccer World Cup!

So remember, if your Googling includes embarrassing search strings and you end up here, I have your IP address and I may just use it! You know who you are!

“So long and thanks for all the fish” or if you prefer, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Along with hoons, should we really encourage them to reproduce?

I find it extremely difficult to motivate myself to go jogging. In fact, motivation for any sort of fitness-related exertion is nigh on impossible to muster. Before you jump down my throat with unhelpful comments related to bone-idleness and such, may I add that there is a genuine underlying medical reason for this. I’d rather go to the dentist AND watch paint dry than pound the pavement and so I am on a mission to uncover something a little more inspiring.

Boot camps seem to be popular at the moment and I suppose this might be one way to encourage some, with the bonus of a (somewhat) varied workout but even these become repetitive quickly and to be honest, a boot camp that boasts an absence of screaming and shouting orders, is hardly a ‘boot camp’; camp certainly.

I don’t necessarily have a huge problem with repetitiveness but the ‘chore’ needs to be interesting or at least different from the run-of-the-mill workouts.

I remember basic training in the Paras, where the barking of NCO’s was all the motivation anyone needed. The promise of a ‘beasting’ was an unnecessary bonus for below par performance. Then there were the 10 mile tabs (speed marches) in full combat gear, 40+lb pack and weapon, in all weathers and terrain were not necessarily the most fun one could think of but they were, if nothing else, part of a varied and highly effective fitness program.

So if anyone out there can think of a unique or interesting method of getting fit, I’d be interested to give it a go.

Bendigo Fighting Miners rugby union team not only celebrate 40 years of outstanding country rugby in 2010, they are also putting out a call for youth players. So, if you, or anyone you know, would like to participate in a safe and positive environment, contact Mark Luatutu on 0427315067.

Alternatively, you can reply here or email me (admin at gobbledegeek dot com dot au) and I’ll pass your details on to Mark.

Even if you don’t know anyone directly, please help by spreading the word, as this multi-championship winning team receive precious little advertising and support as it is.

Incidentally, pre-season training begins Thursday 4nd February 6:00 pm at Shadforth Park and there will be a short touch game before the AGM at 7pm in the Club Rooms and all are welcome.