Close matches the highlight of round 1 in Seniors

Image courtesy Green Shoots Marketing

 

Grafton Tigers have sprung the first major surprise of the season, stinging defending Premiers Coffs Harbour Breakers in the opening round.

Prior to Saturday the Tigers hadn’t tasted victory since round 3 of 2017, but there is a new found optimism surrounding the Tigers this season with dual Premiership coach Adi Campbell back in charge of the team.

The Tigers were fast out of the blocks, kicking five goals to Breakers one in the opening term to put the Premiers on notice that they couldn’t just go through the motions.

Breakers heeded this warning and settled into their normal style of play in the second quarter to close the gap to only four points at half time.

Early in the third stanza the Tigers’ challenge looked to be waning as Breakers started to control more of the play, however they were able to hang tough to maintain contact and only trail by ten points at the last break.

The last quarter resembled the first, with the Tigers roaring home with six goals to two to not only record victory, but to put the other teams on notice that they won’t be easy beats in 2020.

Grafton finally have a mix that comprises a core group of older players leading the way and supporting the club’s talented crop of youngsters. This was demonstrated in their best players on the day with Luke Stanford and Benny Holder providing the toughness and stability, whilst young guns Clancy O’Neill and Nico Wheaton played their roles perfectly. Wheaton kicked five goals, O’Neill and the returning Mitch Lollback added two apiece.

The Breakers best players included Tyrone Jones, Michael McMahon, and Nick Stanlan-Velt who kicked four goals. President Jay Guthrie added a further four goals in a display that shows plenty of promise for the rest of the season.

Grafton Tigers 13.13 (91) defeated Coffs Harbour Breakers 10.14 (74)

In Port Macquarie, the Magpies and Sawtell Toormina Saints went toe to toe for three quarters before the Saints kicked away in the last term to seal victory.

The big question mark going into this clash was how would the Magpies perform considering the mass change over in personnel since last season’s Grand Final? Whilst Port will be disappointed with a first up loss there are plenty of promising signs that suggest they can be in the mix again come end of season.

Sawtell had their own rebuild last season and relied heavily on a quality crop of 16 year olds. These players adjusted well to the extra speed and physicality of Senior footy and are rapidly becoming key players for the Saints.

The match was a low scoring affair, with the Saints holding an eight point advantage at three quarter time courtesy of their efforts in the second stanza which represented the only occasion to that point where either team had managed two goals.

The shackles were loosened slightly in the final term as fatigue set in and players found more space, with Sawtell kicking three majors against Port’s two to seal a 20 point victory.

Sawtell’s effort was very well spread throughout the team with their seven goals being kicked by seven different players, including stalwarts Brandt Lee and lachie Draper-Bell, newcomer Jack Abbott, and youngsters Jonah Horan and Ronan Singleton.

Port’s efforts were led by Braden Saggers and Nathan Dorrington with two apiece, while Hayden McDonald added one.

Sawtell Toormina Saints 7.14 (56) defeated Port Macquarie Magpies 5.6 (36)

In the Women’s match of the round, Northern Beaches Blues and Sawtell Toormina Saints played out a thrilling encounter which is expected to highlight just how close the premiership race will be in 2020.

It took a while for both teams to find their rhythm and it wasn’t until the second quarter before the Saints kicked the first goal of the match through new recruit Chloe Grey.

The Saints then added two further goals in the third term through Fiona Lane and Olivia Jogever against just two behinds for the Blues and it looked as though Sawtell would cruise to a comfortable win. However, the Blues found the formula to take advantage of the breeze at their backs and dominated the last term, with Alana Hanson kicking the team’s first two goals of the match and season.

Desperate last line defence saw a couple of potentially winning scores for the Blues touched in the goal square and the Saints hung on to record a narrow two point victory.

These two teams have built up a strong respect and rivalry in a short space of time and we can expect more close games between the two in 2020.

Sawtell Toormina Saints 3.3 (21) defeated Northern Beaches Blues 2.7 (19)