Breakers produce early blitz to bring down Saints
Nicklaus Stanlan-Velt gets a handball away for the Coffs Breakers in the local derby against Sawtell/Toormina. Photo: Green Shoots Marketing
WHAT was supposed to be a tight tussle between two local rivals was effectively over as a contest by half time.
Sawtell/Toormina had no answer for the ball movement produced by the Coffs Breakers and went into the sheds at half time trailing by a surprising 57 points.
The Saints improved after the resumption and actually won the second half by eight points when they started to get their own running game going but it was too little too late.
Breakers coach Kevin Wilson was impressed by what his team exhibited early.
“Watching that first half with the breeze they looked really good. Particularly that second quarter,” Wilson said.
“There was a lot more ball movement and just jelling together so I think they did really, really well.”
Angus Wood and Jay Guthrie each kicked four goals for the Breakers and Zac Dwyer chimed in with three.
Wilson said the increased margin compared to the meeting between the two teams in the opening round of the season was a good sign.
“It was an important win over a local rival and just the start of the second round, it helped us see where we’ve come since our first game against Sawtell,” he said.
SAWTELL/TOORMINA 1.5 2.6 4.7 7.8 (50)
COFFS BREAKERS 6.1 12.3 12.5 15.9 (99)
Goals – Break: A.Wood 4, J.Guthrie 4, Z.Dwyer 3, D.Homan, J.Hayes, T.Jones, N.Stanlan-Velt. S/T: H.Anderson 2, L.Draper-Bell, J.Troutman, B.Cox, C.Perks, B.Bar Reech.
Resrves: Coffs Breakers 6.16 (52) def Sawtell/Toormina 5.1 (31)
IT’S not often a team gets beaten by more than 200 points and impresses the opposition coach.
But that’s exactly what the Casino Lions managed to do on Saturday.
“They’ve improved a lot since the start of the season,” Lismore Swans coach Ashley Pritchard said.
“I was surprised at the end of the game when I looked at the scoreboard because I thought the match was a lot closer actually.”
The AFL North Coast’s leading goalkicker Andrew Baker kicked eight goals for the victors to reach the half century for the season as 13 players managed to get their name on the goal kicking list with the Swans kicking a total of 33.
Casino coach Rod McKey agreed that his side is improving but admitted there’s nothing like experience to help take the team to the next step.
“Experience and a bit of fitness was the difference between the two sides,” McKey said.
“As usual our team never stopped trying and the third quarter was the best for us. We had six scoring shots all game and half of those came in the third.”
CASINO LIONS 1.0 1.1 1.4 2.4 (16)
LISMORE SWANS 8.6 16.10 24.14 33.20 (218)
Goals – Lis: A.Baker 8, J.McGuinness 5, M.Schafer 4, S.Coates 3, T.Whalan 2, J.Ashby 2, C.MacKenzie 2, J.McKenzie-Edwards 2, K.Karhan, Z.McNabb, T.Mowbray, H.Ashby, O.Paterson. Cas: L.Fitzpatrick, A.Williams.
PORT Macquarie’s fast running game is often spoken about but it was a miserly defence that shone for the Magpies this time around.
In wet conditions at Wayne Richards Park Nambucca Valley failed to kick a goal in the opening half.
To be fair to the Lions it was a day that made scoring difficult and Nambucca Valley did bounce back to play out a very even second half between the two teams.
Nambucca Valley coach Leif Stuart was playing in his first full game of the season and he led the goal kicking for the Lions with two.
Jesse Schmidt, Braden Saggers and Kye Taylor each kicked two goals for the victor.
PORT MACQUARIE 3.2 4.4 7.7 9.7 (61)
NAMBUCCA VALLEY 0.1 0.4 2.5 5.5 (35)
Goals – Port: J.Schmidt 2, K.Taylor 2, B.Saggers 2, J.Embling, W.Kelly, N.Cameron-Hancock. N.V: L.Stuart 2, R.McGrath, A.Boatfield, A.Baldwin.
THE brothers Duryea are proving a handy double act in front of goal for Northern Beaches.
The clash against Grafton on Saturday was the very definition of an eight-point game but Evan and Fraser took the contest by the scruff of the neck kicking five goals each.
The Blues jumped out of the gates with plenty of intensity for the important clash and led by 22-points at the first break, taking advantage of their early use of the strong southerly breeze.
The reigning premier managed to reduce that margin to 15 points at the main break but that would be as close as the Tigers would get.
Northern Beaches kicked seven goals to two in the second half to run out 45 point winners in a nice warm up for this Saturday’s top of the ladder clash at Fitzroy Oval.
NORTHERN BEACHES 5.1 7.3 11.5 14.7 (91)
GRAFTON 1.3 4.6 6.7 6.10 (46)
Goals – N.B: E.Duryea 5, F.Duryea 5, J.Berryman 2, L.Symons, P.Oake-Laurie. Graf: T.Churchin 6.
Reserves: Northern Beaches 10.10 (70) def Grafton 6.6 (42)
LEADING GOALKICKERS
50 Andrew Baker (Lismore)
26 Tim Churchin (Grafton)
24 Fraser Duryea (N.Beaches)
19 Matthew Schafer (Lismore)
15 Evan Duryea (N.Beaches)
15 Jay Guthrie (Coffs Breakers)
SENIOR LADDER
| P | W | D | L | WIN % | FOR | AGST | % | |
| Coffs Breakers | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 894 | 416 | 214.90 |
| Northern Beaches | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 78.57 | 548 | 353 | 155.24 |
| Lismore Swans | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 75.00 | 1090 | 412 | 264.56 |
| Port Macquarie | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 50.00 | 676 | 597 | 113.23 |
| Grafton | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 43.75 | 735 | 510 | 144.12 |
| Sawtell/Toormina | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 42.86 | 518 | 525 | 98.67 |
| Nambucca Valley | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 12.50 | 265 | 741 | 35.76 |
| Casino Lions | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0.00 | 185 | 1357 | 13.63 |
ROUND 9 – Saturday, June 26
COFFS BREAKERS vs NORTHERN BEACHES at Fitzroy Oval
(10am – Under-17s [Breakers vs Grafton]; 11.50am – Women; 1.20pm – Reserves; 2.50pm – Seniors)
PORT MACQUARIE vs LISMORE SWANS at Wayne Richards Park
(1.20pm – Women; 2.50pm – Seniors)
GRAFTON vs CASINO LIONS at Ellem Oval
(2.50pm – Seniors)
NAMBUCCA VALLEY vs SAWTELL/TOORMINA at EJ Biffin Playing Fields
(2.50pm – Seniors)
Note: Sawtell/Toormina’s under-17 are playing against Tamworth at Richardson Park at 11am.
