“Blue Tigers” carve out a slice of history

Richardson Park, Sawtell will live long in the folklore of both the Northern Beaches and Grafton clubs as it became the first venue where the joint venture Women’s team tasted victory.

The last fixture between Sawtell Toormina Saints and Northern Beaches/Grafton was decided in favour of the Saints by just four points and Saturday’s encounter was almost as tight.

The “Blue Tigers” led by seven points at the first break courtesy of a goal to former Sawtell player Alana Hanson. Keira Basset replied for the Saints early in the second term to close the gap, but Kayla McIntosh kicked her first career goal to give the “Blue Tigers” a handy six point lead at half time.

The third quarter was a war of attrition with Sawtell held scoreless against two behinds for Northern Beaches/Grafton to extend the lead to eight points going into the final term.

By the last quarter the “Blue Tigers” were starting to tire and couldn’t get the decisive score to deliver the highly anticipated result. Sawtell added three behinds but weren’t able to kick straight enough to seal a come from behind win.

The final siren brought with it scenes of elation from all associated with the Northern Beaches/Grafton joint venture as history was created.

Northern Beaches/Grafton will take new found confidence into the rest of the season and could cause further upsets along the way. Sawtell Toormina Saints are still looking for key players to return to full fitness but are getting closer week by week.

Northern Beaches/Grafton 2.4 (16) defeated Sawtell Toormina Saints 1.5 (11)

In the Men’s game between Sawtell Toormina Saints and Grafton Tigers, the Saints proved to be too fast and too slick.

The return of key tall Leif Stuart at centre half forward gave the team a much needed target to kick to going forward and created space in the forward line for players such as Tyler Donovan and Ronan Singleton. Stuart kicked six goals for the match and was all but matched by Donovan with five.

Mitch Napier was strong in the ruck and his mobility moving forward caused the Tigers constant headaches. Midfielders Hamish Bird, Brandt Lee, Alex Pyke, and Angus Anderson combined well to regularly win centre clearances with slick handballs and clever kicks.

The Tigers had a number of good passages of play where they were able to bring the ball out from the back, through the midfield and deliver it into the forward line but the lack of a mobile key target limited their ability to apply scoreboard pressure. Much of the Tigers good play revolved around Noah Swarski, Ronan Leslie, and Kade Bagnall but these passages weren’t frequent enough to pose a threat to Sawtell.

Swarski and Bagnall were the goal kickers for the Tigers.

Sawtell Toormina Saints 23.21 (159) defeated Grafton Tigers 2.2 (14)

For full results click here.