Saints Hit the Ground Running
Sawtell Toormina Saints showed they will be one of the teams to beat in this year’s AFL North Coast competition when they handed a badly undermanned Port Macquarie Magpies outfit a 104 point loss.
The Magpies were missing key members of their leadership group in Craig Dicker and Rod Sonogan which left a vacuum in the defensive line and, more tellingly, in experience and composure.
The first and third quarters were relatively even, Sawtell leading by 10 points at the first break and just shading the third stanza to outscore their opponents by a solitary point. However the damage was done in the second quarter where the Saints added 6 goals against Port’s one. If it wasn’t for inaccurate kicking in this period the match could have been all over at half time, with Sawtell adding 11 behinds.
The score blew out in the final quarter as Sawtell’s superior fitness and experience told, with the reigning premiers adding 9 goals to Port’s one to seal a 20.27.147 to 6.7.43 victory.
It was a real team effort for the Saints with 13 individual goal kickers. Adam Booth kicked three, while Leif Stuart, Jim Angel, Jed Ellis-Cluff, Jake Cosmai, and Daniel Pritchard each kicked two majors. Booth, Cosmai, and Ellis-Cluff were amongst Sawtell’s best performers on the day, along with the returning Jack Gillingham.
Port Macquarie midfielder Scott Dalton said his side fought valiantly, but with an inexperienced line-up, they were no match for last year’s premiers.
“They pretty much ran over the top of us,” Dalton said. “We were competitive for the first quarter and a bit, but from then it blew out.”
Sawtell Toormina Saints 20.27.147 defeated Port Macquarie Magpies 6.7.43
Meanwhile, supporters of both Grafton Tigers and Coffs Breakers have to wait until next weekend to get their first indication of how their team will fare in 2017 as their round 1 clash at Ellem Oval was washed out. There was much anticipation around this match as people were keen to see how Grafton’s recruits would come together, and whether they can pose a significant premiership challenge. Both sets of club officials were understandably disappointed that the bad weather intervened and are currently working to see if the match can be rescheduled.
Grafton Tigers v Coffs Breakers – washed out
Next Saturday’s round 2 action sees Port Macquarie with their first home match of the year when they host Coffs Breakers at Wayne Richards Park, whilst Sawtell are at home against Grafton Tigers who will be having their first run of the season.
