Breakers and Port jump to early lead

Coffs Harbour Breakers and Port Macquarie Magpies are the early pacesetters in the Senior competition with each having unblemished records after two rounds.

This sets the stage beautifully for next week’s clash between the two teams which will be the first key indicator as to who are the early season premiership favourites.

In the first local derby of the year, Breakers claimed bragging rights over Sawtell Toormina Saints with a dominant first half performance that saw them up by 51 points at the main break. The second half performance wasn’t quite as emphatic but still saw the Breakers win both the third and fourth quarters to record a dominant 65 point win over the arch enemy.

Ben Gibbeson was awarded the inaugural ANZAC Medal as best on ground for a performance that included three goals. Tyler Ryan and Chris Frangos were both key players for the Breakers, while Nick Stanlan-Velt led the scoring with seven majors.

Reigning premiers Sawtell are without a win after two rounds and will know they need to turn things around quickly if they want to stand any chance of defending their title. Coach Brandt Lee is leading the way and is being well followed by youngsters Alex Pyke, Angus Anderson, and Ronan Singleton who are in their debut season in the top grade.

Coffs Harbour Breakers 18.15 (123) defeated Sawtell Toormina Saints 8.10 (58)

In Port Macquarie, the hometown Magpies continued their impressive start to the season by inflicting a big loss on the Grafton Tigers.

Port had put the game to bed by half time, holding a 102 point lead. Whereas in the first round they let their intensity slip in the second half there was to be no reprieve for the hapless Tigers as the Magpies piled on another 22 goals after the long break.

Most pleasing for coach Tom Marmo is the Magpies’ accuracy in front of goal  which has been a problem in recent seasons. Jesse Schmidt had a field day, kicking 11 goals to open a lead on the goal kicking chart, while Marmo himself added six. In all the Magpies had 12 individual goal kickers which shows the options available to them on the way to goal.

Grafton had struggled even before the first bounce having made the long trip south light on numbers. On a tough day, the effort of those that did travel couldn’t be faulted as they kicked two of their three goals for the match in the final quarter when they had every right to have clocked off.

Port Macquarie Magpies 39.16 (250) defeated Grafton Tigers 3.2 (20)

In the Women’s competition, whatever Port Macquarie coach Mel Hunt did at training through the week certainly addressed their goal kicking woes from round 1 as the Magpies kicked their record score.

The Northern Beaches/Grafton outfit were outstanding in their debut performance in round 1 but learnt that traveling and backing up isn’t easy. This is an important lesson and one that will stand the club in good stead moving forward as they look to record their first competitive win.

Cambridge McCormick continued the dominant form that saw her win the 2018 League Best & Fairest medal with a five goal performance. Anishah Burnes, Kate Winterbottom, and Tahlia Goodwin each kicked two goals in a dominant performance that marks the Magpies as the team to beat in 2019.

Port Macquarie Magpies 13.10 (88) defeated Northern Beaches/Grafton 0.0 (0)

The Sawtell Toormina Saints Women backed up their round 1 draw with a strong win against the Coffs Breakers to keep their unbeaten record intact.

Keira Basset was unstoppable for the Saints, booting nine of the team’s thirteen goals. With Justine Bowman adding three further goals it’s clear to see where opposition teams need to focus their energy if they want to beat the Saints.

Breakers were let down by poor kicking in front of goal where they trailed by 21 points despite having had only one less scoring shot. Cassidy Ronalds had been a stand out to this point but had to leave to travel to state team try outs and this resulted in Breakers losing much of their positive momentum in the second half.

Sawtell Toormina Saints 13.7 (85) defeated Coffs Harbour Breakers 3.6 (24)

For full results click here.