Festival of footy at Port and Grafton

Port Macquarie Magpies will host a huge day of footy action at Wayne Richards Park on Saturday when they take on Sawtell Toormina Saints in four grades, followed by a Masters (Over 35) match to be played under lights.

Port and Sawtell have met twice this season, with Sawtell getting the win on both occasions. However those two matches were at the Saints home ground where they had not only superior experience in playing the windy conditions, but also had the luxury of a full strength squad.

The Magpies have been buoyed by last week’s away win over the Grafton Tigers and will be relishing the chance to become the first team to beat Sawtell in the 2018 season. Player availability won’t be an issue at home for the Magpies and they will be well and truly up for this match.

The Women’s match between Port and Sawtell is similarly poised.

In the last fixture between these two Port narrowly won three of the four quarters but a sluggish start left them with a scoreboard deficit that was too great to overcome. At home, with a full complement of players and a vocal home crowd, the Magpies will be looking to put in a four quarter effort knowing that they have the capability to knock off the Saints.

Sawtell have a number of injury concerns that will see them light on for numbers for a second consecutive week. They performed exceptionally well last week under those circumstances but will need to lift further as Port in Port will provide their sternest test yet.

Grafton Tigers two best performances of the season have both been at home so the team will be happy to be within the welcoming embrace of Ellem Oval again this week. The Tigers were disappointed not to beat Port last week but did finish the stronger to win the last quarter and will be hoping they can use that momentum as a springboard to an upset win over Coffs Harbour Breakers.

To date, the Breakers only wins of the season have been against the Tigers so they will be quietly confident heading into this match. Without getting ahead of themselves, Breakers know they need to string together a run of results to get the title defence on track and this is the perfect chance to lay down a performance marker and take the first step towards building a winning run.

There will be a carnival atmosphere at Ellem Oval as the Tigers stage their Ladies Day event in conjunction with the first ever match for a Grafton Women’s outfit.

Breakers Women are forgoing their bye to travel to Grafton and play a demonstration match against a group of enthusiastic ladies who have come to AFL in the last month. This will be the first of three demonstration matches staged in Grafton with a view towards forming a team to play in next season’s competition.

This match starts at 1:30pm at Ellem Oval.

Anyone interested in Women’s footy in the Clarence Valley should contact the AFL Northern NSW office on 6659 6000.

Round 6 fixtures – Saturday 26 May

Port Macquarie Magpies v Sawtell Toormina Saints at Wayne Richards Park, Port Macquarie (Under 17 at 9:30am, Women at 11:20am, Reserves at 12:50pm, Seniors at 2:20pm, Masters at 4:30pm)

Grafton Tigers v Coffs Harbour Breakers at Ellem Oval, Grafton (Under 17  at 11:30am, Women’s demonstration match at 1:30pm, Seniors at 3:00pm)

For full fixture details, click here.