Former Warriors Gridiron Champion and current rookie Denver Bronco Adam Gotsis was in Melbourne for the week and was able to get down to watch his old Warriors Teammates defeat the Berwick Miners 68-6 in cold conditions in Melbourne.

Adam played 4 seasons with the Warriors before he took off to the states to begin his college career with Georgia Tech before then being drafted 63rd overall (2nd Round) by the Denver Broncos in the 2016 NFL National Draft.

Adam surprised his old teammates as he arrived with his family and friends to watch them play. At half time he took a quick snap with some of the team before posting to Instagram “Come a long way but haven’t forgot where it all began!”

Adam is in Melbourne finalising Visa details before he heads back to Colorado to continue rehabbing his knee.

Asked about his experience with the team so far Adam explained “It’s unreal. The veterans just want to help the rookies. I sit next to D-Ware (DeMarcus Ware) and he just always helping the Rookies”.

Adam is hoping to be able to cleared before training camp which begins for Broncos Rookies on 24th July whilst the Veterans report on 27th July.

Training camp will be held at the Paul D. Bowlen Memorial Broncos Centre.

The Warriors would like to wish Adam all the best with this recovery and also when he competes at his first ever NFL training camp!

Adam Gotsis with his old Warriors Gridiron teammates (Photo Courtesy of Adam Gotsis)

Week 3 saw a double header in Endeavour Hills with the Barbarians taking on the Melton Wolves in their first ever encounter.

In a scrappy game the Barbarians looked to take control of the game on the ground led by Running Back’s Matt Nemec and Johny Chen moving the chains behind a young and improving offensive line. Both backs looked to be able to gain at least 4 yards a carry with Johny Chen eventually finding space for a 20 yard touchdown run. QB Sean Roche was able to find WR Andrew Davis in the middle of the endzone for the 2PT conversion.

The Barbarians Defense were looking for a much better performance to what they showed in Week 2 and they came out firing being able to stop the Wolves with 3 and Outs the majority of the day. Rookie DL Daniel Petrov applied pressure all day up front and veteran Linebackers Phil Gilbert & Daniel Sanderson were able to stuff any runs up the middle.

Rookie DL Daniel Petrov and ILB Daniel Sanderson apply pressure to the Wolves runner (Photo courtesy of Donovan Chin Photography)

Although there was some great play from both sides of the ball, there were still plenty of mental errors occurring and enough so that the Wolves were able to capitalise with some first downs and visibly grew with confidence as the game wore on. Barbarians entered the Half Time break 8-0 over the Wolves.

The Barbarians started the 2nd half well with CB Peter Lemalu able to intercept a deep pass returning the ball back into Wolves territory. With the Offense driving, they moved the ball all the way into the redzone but on 4th down with only inches until the endzone were not able to convert.

The Barbarians defense still high on the interception previously were able to leave their mark by tackling the ball carrier in their own endzone for a safety bringing the score to 10-0.

The Barbarians and Wolves would then go series for series with turnovers on both sides and the final score would remain 10-0.

The Warriors then were able to hit the field against the Berwick Miners who had been struggling of late. In what many expected to be a comfortable victory, the Warriors fumbled their opening kick off return giving the Miners great field position early in the first but fortunately for the Warriors, the defense stood tall and returned the ball back to the Warriors who would see RB Luke Jackson run the ball at will and score a touchdown 2 minutes into the first quarter.

From there the flood gates would open with touchdowns to Jackson, Glover, De Niese & Breuer.

The final score was Warriors easily accounting for the Miners 68-6.

Next week sees the Barbarians tackle the Gippsland Gladiators in Officer (3PM Kick Off) and the Warriors taking on the Western Crusaders in Footscray.

Week 2 saw the Warriors & Barbarians both travel to Bendigo for a double header against the Geelong Buccaneers & Bendigo Dragons.

The Warriors took on the Buccaneers first up and started off slow allowing the Buccs to hit the scoreboard first with their running attack which has worked well for them over the past 5 years.

The Warriors were then able to hit right back and take the lead 8-6 which is where the game remained at the half.

QB Dominic Dearman entered the game in the second half and took the game on showing why he is the best at the QB Sneak with a 20 yard run and later finished a 8 yard gain by running over a Buccaneers defender.

The Warriors were able to find TE Alex Glover in the corner for a touchdown to extend the lead 16-6 before the Buccaneers hit back before the end of the 3rd Quarter with a 1 Yard Touchdown run.

Mark Tsui was a star for the Warriors Defense recording an interception and making multiple tackle towards a game MVP performance.

DB Mark Tsui was everywhere against the Buccaneers (Photo courtesy of Geelong Buccaneers)

A long connection to Glover again by Dearman seemed to have stopped the Buccaneers momentum and with the lead extended to 22-12.

The Buccaneers as they always do kept fighting and with less than two minutes to play entered the redzone. Whilst they were not in hurry up mode, they made some nice runs and eventually scored bringing the game to 22-20 and requiring the ball back from the kick off in order to try and at least score by field goal or a touchdown. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Warriors and they were able to kneel the game out.

The Barbarians fresh with a lot of new rookies and some junior players were keen to finally be able to play their first game of the season, although they knew it was going to be a difficult task in Bendigo against a team that plays so well at home with the addition of local players available for their home games.

The Barbs started slowly and never looked to gain any positive momentum against the Dragons who shut them down defensively and were able to offensively run the ball with relative ease.

The Barbarians eventually lost 44-0 and would soon focus on fixing simple mistakes and hope to change things around against Melton in week 3.

Week 1 of the 2016 finally arrived over the weekend and the Warriors faced the up and coming Melbourne Uni Royals at Croydon.

With the weather being a bit wet of late, the Croydon pitch was muddy and also contained some pools of water but neither team cared as the football season had finally arrived!

The Warriors took the ball first and in Dom Dearman’s hands, moved down the field and scored thanks to the nice running of RB Luke ‘Whitey’ Jackson.

The Royals almost as easily as the Warriors returned fire and punched in a score of their own to former Warrior Prince Coleman.

On the ensuing kick return the Warriors fumbled allowing the Royals to pounce on the ball and regain possession just outside of their redzone. With the Warriors Defense unable to talk and adjust from the previous series, the Royals hit the lead early in the 1st with a 14-8 score.

The experience of the Warriors then kicked in and they were able to punch in a few scores and defense stepped up to hold the Royals from scoring at will. The score at the half was 30-20 the Warriors way.

The halftime score sore adjustments made and changes in personnel. The most significant change was that at the quarterback position with Joe Thompson coming in to show different formations and different plays to catch the defense off guard. The change seemed to work with Thompson keeping the ball himself for a touchdown and later throwing a screen play to RB Luke Jackson for a 35 yard touchdown. Thompson would then injur his ankle attempting to run in the 2PT conversion bringing club hero Dominic Dearman back for some more minutes.

In sloppy conditions and a penalty riddled game, the Warriors come out victorious 50-28 victors to open up the season.