With the The FARM flat out tending to our fabulous clients in early 2010 responsibility for maintaining Suite 101 fell to yours truly - the latest agency recruit.

I soon noticed that The FARMers had been slack in reporting the OzTag season progress and set out to rectify the problem asap.

Alas, before I had the chance to join them on the paddock (intimidated as I was at first by the buff and professional looking specimens I saw circulating in the office the afternoon of game day) the season was over.

Having read about their promising first weeks here on Suite 101 I turned to The FARMers optimistically for an end of season wrap up.

There were tales of Hugo’s suave and nimble movement, Karis’ super human tagging skills and Aaron’s remarkable bravery in the face of injury (apparently he managed to finish every single game with a bleeding left knee). The highest praise however was reserved Yankee Brooke Blakslee, not for his mammoth diving tries (which were nonetheless legendary) but for his team spirit. Though sidelined with a nasty phlegmatic illness Mr Blakslee braved it to the park for the final game where he provided much needed moral support – not to mention beers at half time.   

The FARMers were more than happy to commend the skills and attitude of their fellow team members. But they were not so forthcoming when it came to the hard facts: What was the win to loss ratio? Where did they sit on the table at season’s end? 

When my initial attempts to obtain this information were thwarted I was pointed in the direction of team founder and Business Development Manager Phillip McCann.

The initial response: “Too many losses to remember”.

To which my reply was: “Well surely you remember the amount of wins then??”

The verdict - 1 official and legitimate win (which you may have read about here – explains the lack of updates after that!), 1 on paper only win (the other team forfeited), 1 embarrassing loss to a team that obviously cheated (miscellaneous – we’ll chalk that up as a win), 1 loss (to the comp leaders) which apparently would’ve been a win if not for a dodgy referee, 1 forfeit on Melbourne Cup Day (which would’ve been a win had anyone been sober enough to run in a straight line) and numerous on paper losses that might’ve been wins had the team not been penalised for a shortfall in X chromosomes.

So where did all this leave The FARMers at seasons end? As OzTag Champions of the year of course (well in their eyes anyway ). Onya FARMers!!

Well Game two snuck up on us, still no training session! The team was in high spirits though as most of us have been personal training twice a week for the last five odd weeks.

So whether it was the exercise endorphins or just the promise of a run around we took the field with a bit of a laugh and plenty of enthusiasm!

Early on in the game Brooke Blakeslee a new FARM recuit overcame his American sensibilities and crossed the line for a try.

This was soon followed by tries from the design department in Hugo and the Dev boys in Aaron. We let one in but went to the break up on the scoreboard.

Now here is where we fell asleep int he last game, fatigue took over, legs got heavy and we slowed down, but not this time! Everyone in the team shared their tactical genius in a round the circle half time fire up speach and on we ran, more charged than kick off!

And thats how it continued a few more tries to the boys and one spectacular cross in the corner by Designer Nikki, it was magic. 

Final score 8-3, a good solid win for TheFARMERS. As this was our goal for the season (to win one game) we now must turn to the secondary goal, win the whole thing!

So here I sign off but I will ntoe that the win has energised the team, there is even a training session scheduled for  Sunday this week, followed by a few cheeky beers int he sun though I suspect :)

Hi there, as I am nearing the end of week six here at TheFARM I figured it was high time I said hello!

I became a FARMER in late September and ever since it has been quite a unique, satisfying, at times perplexing but always prodigious experience.

One of my first orders of business was to start a company Oztag team. Interest from the start was strong with dare I say, too many players looking to sign up! After a little jigging about we finally had our team of 13, next on the to do list was a logo which Nikki & Hugo in the design team created. Next was a little practice run after work and we were ready to tackle the first game!

It was agreed a strong start is what was required so we ran on to the pitch at Centennial with great gusto and not a small amount of cheering. Rewards came immediately with Hugo scoring the opener which was quickly followed up by Brooke (he is American  but managed to throw the ball the correct way) and Aaron all crossing for sensational tries!

Heading to the sheds (otherwise known as the sideline) at halftime we were 3/1 up, this was going swimmingly, surely it was in the bag! Unfortunately we were playing a much younger team who had a sub and without any (only 8 of us could play as the rest were working hard for our clients) ourselves we started to tire. One try was let in, followed by another, TheFARMERS rallied with a gazelle like run down the sideline from one player resulting in a tag right on the line and another player crossing for a try only to realise one of his own teammates had somehow tagged him, this was not how the

In the end we were defeated 6/3 but there was plenty of talent and ticker on that pitch. So next week we will be chasing that evocative mix of joy and triumph which will come with the first win, who knows coach Chrispi may even buy us some beers if we are successful!

I will keep you up to date as the season progresses inexorably towards the finals in January, in the mean time here are a few pictures of TheFARMERS, and you are all welcome to come cheer us to victory from the stands.