History to be made in Senior Grand Finals

The national AFL competition has a general bye this weekend  so any footy fan looking for their fix needs to get down to C.ex Coffs International Stadium on Saturday for the AFL North Coast Grand Finals!

The Senior Grand Final pits two teams against each other that are not only fierce local rivals, but that are both looking to carve their own piece of history.

Sawtell Toormina Saints have won nine North Coast Senior Premierships, which sees them sit alongside Woolgoolga Blues as the equal most successful club in League history. A win in Saturday’s decider will see the Saints assume the sole mantle as the club with the greatest number of Premiership wins since the League’s inception in 1982.

Coffs Harbour Breakers are a club with their own eye on creating history. Rising in 2015 from the merger of former rivals Coffs Swans and North Coffs Kangaroos, the Breakers endured a lean first season in the competition but have featured in every Senior Grand Final since. Their premiership breakthrough came last season and, with the possibility of going back to back, the Breakers have their own dynasty in mind.

This will be the third successive season that these two clubs have faced off in the Grand Final. In each of the last two, it’s been the team that came through from the Preliminary Final that’s claimed the title, so Breakers need to buck that trend if they are to defend the premiership.

Honours have been shared across six meetings in 2018, but Breakers have the momentum having won the last three, including the Semi Final. That match was close, with several lead changes in the last quarter and the Grand Final is likely to be a repeat performance.

The inaugural Women’s Grand Final offers participating teams Sawtell Toormina Saints and Port Macquarie Magpies their own opportunity to create history by becoming the first team to have their name engraved on the Linnett Perpetual Premiership Cup.

Sawtell have been the form team all season, winning eight and drawing one of their ten regular season fixtures. The Saints provided ten players to the dominant North Coast Force representative team and this is a really strong indicator of the strength and depth of their line-up.

The Magpies inflicted the only loss of the season on the Saints, and backed this up with a draw on the next occasion that these two teams met. Port know they have the ability to match it with Sawtell if they bring their A game and don’t let the Saints jump out to an early lead.

This is exactly what happened in the Semi Final, where the Saints opened a big lead by quarter time but the rest of the match was extremely close and tight.

First timers to Women’s footy have been surprised by both the ferocity at the contest and the skill level. Sawtell and Port are sure to turn on a spectacle that is both fierce and skilful and totally befitting a Grand Final.

In the Under 17 competition, Coffs Harbour Breakers take on Port Macquarie Magpies in a rematch of this season’s most exciting Finals Series contest.

Two weeks ago these teams played out a one point nail biter that had more twists and turns than a soap opera. On that occasion it was Breakers that emerged with the spoils, meaning that the Magpies have had to come through a tough Preliminary Final whilst Breakers had the week off.

Port are Minor Premiers in the Under 17 competition but have struggled for numbers in the last month and have had to play without the luxury of a bench. Fatigue could become an issue, especially for those players that have backed up in the higher grades, and the Magpies will need to remain calm and focus throughout.

Breakers will have welcomed last week’s rest as they gun for their third Youth title in the past four years. This is a testament to the club’s production line of talent considering that all of the players who contributed to the first two flags have progressed to open age footy.

In Reserve Grade, Port Macquarie Magpies can mark the team’s resurrection with a premiership if they can get over the top of Coffs Breakers.

Port were unable to field a team in Reserve Grade in 2017 so it has been a major achievement to not only get the team back together, but to also string together a season that has produced just one loss.

This is the one men’s grade that Breakers are yet to claim a title in and they will be desperate to send off a number of retiring players in the best possible way.

Both clubs will put out strong line-ups full of players that have oscillated between Reserves and the top grade all season which will guarantee a high quality affair.

Saturday 1 September – Grand Final fixtures

10:00am	Under 17	Coffs Breakers v Port Macquarie Magpies
12:00pm	Women	Sawtell Toormina Saints v Port Macquarie Magpies
1:40pm	Reserves	Port Macquarie Magpies v Coffs Harbour Breakers
3:25pm	Seniors	Coffs Harbour Breakers v Sawtell Toormina Saints

 

All matches are at C.ex Coffs International Stadium. Entry is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for under 18 and pensioners, with under 12 free.