Beware Lions of either Nambucca or Casino variety
Nambucca Valley has proven it's more than capable of mixing it with the better teams in the AFL North Coast. Photo: Paul Taylor
ON paper the assignments of Northern Beaches and Sawtell/Toormina look easy enough but neither of their coaches believe what’s on paper.
Still smarting from last week’s loss to the Saints, Northern Beaches will be looking to bounce back at home when it faces Nambucca Valley.
In a match pitting two of the senior competition’s newcomers together, Blues coach Rory Evans said it doesn’t matter that Nambucca has only recorded one win so far in 2021. Based on recent results and what he saw the last time the two teams met, he believes Northern Beaches will need to be on their game if they’re to win.
“They really challenged us last game so I guess that’s all we can really from what we know about them,” Evans said.
“I know they’ve pushed Sawtell and the Breakers the last two weeks so if that’s anything to go by then I think we certainly can’t them lightly.
“But it’s a good opportunity to see whether we can bounce back. We’ve got some things to work on and we’ll go from there.”
The Lions from Casino will be playing at a home ground that this week had new goal posts installed.
It’s another step forward for the Lions and Sawtell/Toormina’s coach Brandt Lee said it’s important his team travels in strong numbers now that the Saints have put themselves well and truly back in the hunt for a finals berth.
“Probably our biggest challenge is our travel,” Lee said.
“Earlier in the year we traveled poorly up to Lismore and down to Port Macquarie and it cost us big time.
“I said to the boys we don’t want to have that lapse in the middle before we play Northern Beaches again (on July 24) so we want to travel with a strong team and put up a good performance.”
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Sawtell/Toormina will be travelling up the Summerland Way to face the Casino Lions on Saturday. Photo: Green Shoots Marketing
ROUND 11 – Saturday, July 10
NORTHERN BEACHES vs NAMBUCCA VALLEY at Centennial Oval, Woolgoolga
(2.50pm – Seniors)
GRAFTON vs PORT MACQUARIE at Ellem Oval, Grafton
(10am – Under-17s [Tigers vs Saints]; 11.50am – Women; 1.20pm – Reserves; 2.50pm – Seniors)
COFFS BREAKERS vs LISMORE SWANS at Fitzroy Oval/Old Camp, Coffs Harbour
(11am – Under-17s [Breakers vs Inverell]; 12.50pm – Reserves [Breakers vs Blues]; 2.20pm – Women; 3.50pm – Seniors)
CASINO LIONS vs SAWTELL/TOORMINA at Queen Elizabeth Park, Casino
(1.45pm – Seniors)
Final scores from around the grounds will be posted on Twitter soon after the siren sounds in the senior matches – Follow @AFLNorthCoast
SENIOR LADDER
| P | W | D | L | WIN % | FOR | AGST | % | |
| Coffs Breakers | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 90.00 | 1075 | 579 | 185.66 |
| Northern Beaches | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 72.22 | 676 | 488 | 138.52 |
| Lismore Swans | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 70.00 | 1214 | 545 | 222.75 |
| Port Macquarie | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 55.56 | 766 | 622 | 123.15 |
| Sawtell/Toormina | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 55.56 | 653 | 628 | 104.00 |
| Grafton | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 45.00 | 954 | 652 | 146.32 |
| Nambucca Valley | 10 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 10.00 | 403 | 922 | 43.71 |
| Casino Lions | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0.00 | 228 | 1533 | 14.87 |
