Who will step up in round 5 of the Senior Comp?

Photo: Deb Novak, Grafton Daily Examiner

This Saturday’s round of matches will go a long way towards shaping the season.

The second local derby of the season between Sawtell Toormina Saints and Coffs Harbour Breakers sees bragging rights up for grabs. Far more importantly though, this match is a chance for the Saints to extend their unbeaten start to the season and, in so doing, extend the gap on the ladder over their arch enemy.

Breakers will be keen to even the derby ledger at 1 win apiece, but will be far more focused on stringing consecutive quality performances together. Injuries are still and issue for the club and the depth will be sorely tested once again, so this is a chance to show that the whole club is committed to working its way up the ladder.

Grafton Tigers and Port Macquarie Magpies are both smarting from last week’s results and will be eyeing this clash as a prime chance to claim a much needed win.

In the corresponding fixture 12 months ago the Tigers snapped a losing streak that stretched back almost two years. Not having tasted success again since that red letter day, the Tigers will be desperate to claim the and to sing the club song once more.

The long road trip presents a real struggle for the Magpies to get their strongest line-up on the park. Knowing this, the Tigers hierarchy would have circled this round as a must win clash when the fixtures were released prior to the start of the season.

The Port Magpies are a proud club and will have been stung by last week’s performance. They will see the clash with the Tigers as a chance to restore damaged pride and will be focused on the energy, and effort levels of the players who make the commitment to travel to Grafton.

In the Women’s competition, runaway leaders Sawtell Toormina Saints find themselves in the midst of an injury crisis and are likely to go into the match against Coffs Harbour Breakers light on personnel. The strength of their performances to date has been the evenness of the performance from all players and they will be relying on those available players to raise their performance to cover those missing.

Breakers will see this as a great opportunity to put a first notch in the wins column. The Breakers have competed strongly in all matches to date but have lacked the cohesion and polish to post the scores that can apply the pressure to their opponents. Breakers finished their last match on a high and will be looking to build from that momentum and claim the win that will really fire the rivalry of the local Women’s derby.

Round 5 fixtures – Saturday 19 May

Sawtell Toormina Saints v Coffs Harbour Breakers at Richardson Park, Sawtell (Under 17 at 10:00am, Women at 11:50am, Reserves at 1:20pm, Seniors at 2:50pm)

Grafton Tigers v Port Macquarie Magpies at Ellem Oval, Grafton (Under 17  at 12:30pm, Seniors at 2:20pm)

For full fixture details, click here.