Junior footy’s back!

The smiles on the faces and the excitement in the air justified the weeks and months of hard work by officials, volunteers, and administrators when the Junior Competition finally got underway on Sunday.

Amongst all of the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic there was much great news to be celebrated by the Junior footy family. Chief amongst the positives was the return of the Camden Haven Bombers club which is fielding a team in the Under 11 competition after not being able to muster enough players last season.

The Bombers played their home match in Port Macquarie against the South West Rocks Dockers. Whilst the players were thrilled to come away with a strong win, the real highlight was seeing the proud black and red colours once again adorn the field.

Another celebration was at EJ Biffin Oval where the Nambucca Valley Lions fielded an Under 15 team for the first time against Port Macquarie Magpies. The Lions only entered the competition in 2016 with an Under 11 team and have grown rapidly ever since.

Whilst the Magpies proved too strong on the day the fact that the competition now has a club with three Junior teams where there was no footy presence only five years ago is an incredible achievement.

The two most thrilling matches of the day were both played at Burdett Park between the Bellingen Bulldogs and Sawtell Toormina Saints.

The first match of the day saw the Under 11 contest decided by just four points in favour of the Saints. The Dogs will be ruing a slow start where they weren’t able to kick a goal until after the half time break, before a four goal blitz in the third term saw them hit the lead. The Saints dug deep in the last quarter and managed to sneak across the line for a gutsy win.

The Youth Girls contest was equally as thrilling with the Saints scoring a two point victory. The biggest margin all match was less than two goals, with scores locked at half time, and Sawtell up by just one point at the last break. Each team kicked two goals in the final quarter but the Dogs just couldn’t find the winning score and the Saints hung on.

Now that the footy’s back we continue to encourage everyone to adhere to COVID principles so that we can all keep enjoying our favourite pastime.

For full result details click here.