The Outback Heart by Fiona Palmer

‘Well,’ he drawled, ‘if I’m not on a tractor, I’ll be there. Four weeks, right?’
    ‘Yep, April twentieth. I’d better get back,’ said Troy, jumping off the tray and shutting the tailgate.
    ‘Do you wanna come down to the house for afternoon tea? Pauline’s cooking up a batch of scones.’
    ‘Hmm, tempting as that sounds, I’d better go and make sure I’m set for the meeting tonight. Thanks anyway.’
    Ian nodded and followed Troy to the driver-side door. Troy got in and leaned his arm out the open window. ‘Tell Sam to do some extra running. We could use a good player.’ Troy grimaced. ‘See ya, Ian.’ With a quick wave Troy sped off as Ian limped slowly back towards his shed.
    The trip home had him plotting his meeting. It was too hard to work out where the guys would fit when he didn’t even know how they played yet. Hopefully he’d get a better feel for their strengths soon enough. He’d have to work hard on their fitness, the rest would come with time. He’d keep an eye on Spud, push him a little and see what he could achieve.
    At six o’clock that evening, Troy waited outside the clubhouse. He was the first to arrive. Patrick soon turned up with the club keys. They set up the chairs in a semi-circle around the whiteboard. Jasper walked in with the Duckworth brothers, and another group joined shortly after. Troy was starting to wonder if Indi had forgotten.
    ‘Jasper, is Indi still coming?’ Troy asked, glancing at his watch. It was nearly ten past six. He thought she’d be the first one there, waving around the help sheets. At least the whiteboard was here.
    At a quarter past all of the guys had arrived. Only Limp was missing, and he was off at an appointment in Perth.
    ‘Well, looks as if we’re all here.’ Except for Indi. He glanced at the glass doors. No sign of her. He picked up a marker and turned to address the team. ‘Go on, all of you, take a seat and we’ll begin.’
    Troy drew a football oval and then ran through the basic rules, and because he knew there were some complete newbies to the game, he even explained the scoring. The squeak of the marker masked the footsteps approaching, so when he turned back to the team he was surprised to see Indi there. She waved a handful of sheets and mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry.’ The gorgeous girl was hidden away again under her full-length fluoro work clothes.
Good,
Troy thought – he didn’t need her turning up in those tiny shorts to distract him. Her face was flushed and her eyes crystal blue.
    Indi began to hand out the sheets. Troy realised he was still watching her.
    ‘Now, Indi is passing you some help sheets. I want you to study them, especially those who’ve never played before. When you come to training on Thursday I want to be able to give you a position and for you to understand what I mean. But for now, I’ll run you through them on the board.’
    Killer and the Kiwis looked as if he’d just asked them to cut themselves with their own shearing handpieces. A groan even escaped Jaffa’s lips.
    ‘Don’t worry. If you’re still uncertain, just come and ask me,’ Troy said.
    An hour and a half later all the faces before him were lined with frowns and the eyes were glazed.
    ‘Okay, that’s it for tonight.’ The room erupted with relief as bodies began to stretch and move. ‘Don’t forget to study the sheets. We can do this again for those of you who are unsure,’ Troy said, and a chorus of complaint went up.
    ‘I think we’ve got it,’ said Kiwi Two.
    ‘I’ll bloody wing it,’ said Killer. ‘How hard can it be? Kick a ball through white posts and keep the other team off, right?’
    Troy rubbed his temple as the blokes filed out of the room.
    ‘Who’s for the pub?’ asked Lucky, which sent up a roar of excitement.
    Putting the marker down, Troy began to clean the whiteboard. Behind him he could hear chairs being stacked away.
    Indi and Jasper were the only ones left. ‘Thanks, guys,’ he said as