Time for teams to show their Premiership mettle

Photo courtesy Brad Greenshields, Green Shoots Marketing

 

Nearing the half way mark of the season and the fixtures take on a very interesting twist as matches in the Men’s round 5 mirrors those of just seven days ago.

The Senior grade draw had to be re-worked after the start of the season in response to the ever changing landscape. This resulted in the round 4 fixtures being repeated in round 5, with the key difference being that home team responsibilities are reversed this week.

In the first of these clashes, Sawtell Toormina Saints have decided to take their home match against Grafton Tigers on the road. This game will now be played at Centennial Oval, Woolgoolga which enables the Saints to have three teams all in the same location.

Considering that the Tigers claimed an 11 point victory in last week’s showdown it’s a big call by the Saints to forego home ground advantage. That resulted represented the Saints first loss of the season, and first loss to the Tigers in many years, so coach Brandt Lee will want to make sure that it doesn’t become two in a row.

The Tigers are flying high, with three wins from four matches, and are already dreaming of Finals activity. It’s a real boost for the competition to have the Tigers competing so strongly, and coach Adi Campbell and the key leaders won’t let the group’s focus wander beyond the next match.

The Breakers are feeling buoyed by breaking their duck for 2020 and will be keen to use last week’s win as a platform to launch another title challenge. However, the experienced playing group will know that winning on their home patch is one thing, they need to back it up by proving to everyone, themselves included, that they can also win away.

Port Macquarie Magpies are still feeling their way with a new playing group and new coach at the helm. On paper, they appear to have a line-up that can be ultra competitive each week, they just need the combinations to gel. Playing at home has always represented a huge advantage for the club and this group will know that they need to make Wayne Richards Park a fortress that holds trepidation for visiting teams.

In the Women’s match of the round, the well rested Northern Beaches Blues host the battle weary Sawtell Toormina Saints.

These teams last met in a mid week clash that saw the Blues claim their first win of the season. Northern Beaches had the bye on the weekend so have had ten clear days to prepare for this clash which has also provided a great chance to recover from any general soreness that may have built up.

Sawtell, in the meantime, had a bruising encounter with the Breakers and now face their third match in 11 days. This is a huge challenge for any team but is made doubly tough for the Saints considering the number of new players to the code they have within their line-up who are unused to the physical rigours of AFL footy.

For full fixture details click here.