**Bomber's Echuca Quarter by Quarter**

With excitement and potential in the air our boys remained dedicated and professional.  By the time the bus had left the ground the team were already hydrating and loosening up for a big weekend!

**1st Quarter**
Our bus took off from Edinburgh with Ari, Pas and Gerry playing the tagging role in their own transport. With the rain pissing down and the bus windows completely fogged up, we had no idea where we were, nor what time zone we were in. Tough going for our bus driver Carbo, but perfect conditions for drinking and loud music! 

The downside….our old man bladders couldn’t make it past Bundoora! We pulled into to a servo for an emergency stop and found there was NO TOILET!! With our bladders bursting and our morals slowly fading a creative solution was quickly found and we were back on the road!
Kappo led the way, taking control of the boom box and making sure song requests were upheld.  Ed starred using his natural footy ability to weave up and down the bus demanding that we all sing our little hearts out to some great Aussie classics.

After a quick stop at a bakery in Kilmore (they were very happy to see us without a booking!!) we were refreshed and ready to rock it out again. There was more of the same shenanigans, but this time a few had a little snooze in the middle of the Warriors concert.  
Before we knew it, we were pulling into an unsuspecting Echuca Holiday park.
**In the votes:** Ed and Kappo. 

**2nd Quarter**
It was time to freshen up and explore.  We were surrounded by other end of season trips, which created a bubbling carnival like atmosphere. 
Fresh legs were required, and we got them in the form Dusty, Damo, Thorney, Sammy, Tesla Clint, Azza & Belly.

It was now time to lift again and head out for our unofficial team dinner at the Shamrock where you could choose from 101 different parmas. Thorney was disappointed in a few of his teammates for taking the easy option and ordering the first selection on the menu ……”the traditional Parma”. 

From there it was a short walk to the dance floor and a live band to get the foot tapping. I am not sure what Parma Damo and Ed had, but we all should have followed suit. They were kings of the dance floor and Damo’s vertical dancing took his game to new heights! I think he was putting his hand up to spend some time in the ruck, but he will need to fix his pants as there were some clear cracks appearing in his game plan.
With a game of footy to play the next day a few of us dared to go home at a decent hour, but there were some big game players who did the Warriors proud, staggering back home after 12. 
*In the votes:* Ed & Damo.

**3rd Quarter**
With varying degrees of sleep under our belts a few of us started the day by taking on the Echuca ParkRun. My eyes nearly fell out of my head when I saw Ed was already up and had had breakfast!! There was nothing going to keep this man down! 
While ParkRun was an awesome start to the 3rd quarter, my legs were going to pay for it later in the day.
Joining our team from here was a bright eyed and bushy tailed Juzzy, Disco & Dasha. Next up the big game that everyone had come to see.

**In the Votes:** Tesla Clint (the running machine!!), Matty D and a host of individual brilliance.

**Special mentions:** 
Azza - who spoiled the oppositions ruckman and was planted headfirst into the turf for his efforts. 
The Umpire Squad - yep, we had a fan club of around 7 drunken umpires on their end of year trip come down and support us at the game. Watch out Willow, the female ump gave us a great team lifting speech at ¾ time.
Sammy – wearing sneaker, spent more time on his arse than his feet.

**4th Quarter**
The Emus may have taken the chocolates, but we certainly hung around and drunk their beer!! 
After a few drinks at the ground, we limped home on the Emu’s bus and got ready for a big final quarter. Kicking it off at the Emu’s club rooms where yarns were told, and laughs were had. 
The Emus were fantastic hosts, putting on food and some fun activities that got us all involved.
Andy put in a special last ditched performance with a coin toss that saw him steal a bottle of Chivas virtually from Dave T’s mouth. This was the rocket that Dave needed and from here he was not taking any prisoners. No one was going to take the next hard bottle get from him and with a little aid of a rock he won the paper plane throwing comp!

Still in fine form from raiding the Emu’s alcohol, we hit the team dinner in full flight. Food didn’t slow anyone down, but a game of pool between Booma, Tim, Kappo & I certainly did. It would be still going if Kappo and I didn’t do the team thing and let them win 😊 

A shift in gear saw us land at the American. It took a while to adjust to our opponents in here as they were a little younger. Most of us saw the light and moved back to the Shammy which was a division much more suited to an over 35s team. 

Example 1 – The songs had words in them. Example 2 – The crowd didn’t need baby sitters with them. You get the picture.

It was here that some big gut running efforts were made. The Skipper started to shine, charged up on a few bourbon and shot chasers, he took the lead and showed us all how it is done. Juzzy, Disco, Dash and Lou took no convincing and followed their fearless leader into an epic night of dance.

**In the votes:** Boomer (a true leader), fellow dancing machines Juzzy, Dash, Disco and Lou.
**Special mentions**
Dave T – competitive spirit and one of the last home.
Andy - with a celebration to behold
Ed - who just kept going even without a voice!

**All Good Things Must Come to an End**
Sunday morning saw a few bleary-eyed men trying to collect their thoughts after the night before. Some managed breakfast and others could only manage to fall into their seat on the bus. 
After a quick stop to say hello to our friend Rosey, where we presented him with a signed Warriors jumper, we were back on the road to Melbourne.
Needless to say our trip home was a lot quieter than the trip up. 
I just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone. The bunch of guys we had on this trip made it such a success!
*To Carbo, thanks for being our driver. You did an awesome job!*

**BOG** – Ed – he drunk the town out of beer, sang to us on the way up, played a great game and got up earlier than all of us!!
**Footloose award** – Booma, he had competition, but by all reports, he was head and shoulders above everyone with his Saturday night moves dancing the late into the night.
**Forrest Gump Award** – Clint. He ran the park run on Saturday morning, dominated the footy game and got up for and ran 13km on Sunday.
**Draft Combine Award** – Damo. He reached greater heights than anyone else on the dance floor.
**Hungry Hippo Award** – It’s a 3 way tie between Carbo, Andy & Porky
**Arse Up Award** – Sammy spending more time on his backside than standing up through the game.
**Sharp Dressed Man Award** – This goes to a man of class lil Pete. His dress sense put more than a few of us to shame. Dash also looks sharp.

**A few special mentions:**
Bomber for organising the whole weekend  The weekend wouldn't have happened without your efforts, so a Big thankyou from all the Warriors.