One more step to the big dance
Grafton and Port Macquarie will meet in the Senior Mens Preliminary Final on Saturday. Photo: Green Shoots Marketing
SIX clubs will be playing at C.ex Coffs International Stadium on Saturday in a bid to reach the Grand Final.
Awaiting the winners of this Saturday’s matches are the Coffs Breakers who won the minor premiership in all four grades and automatically qualified to play in the final day of the season.
The day will start at 10am with Port Macquarie and Sawtell/Toormina meeting in the Under-17s clash.
Both clubs have a number of talented rising stars including Jai Bowd and Charlie Martin at the Saints and Lochlan Jones and Tom Ryan for Port Macquarie.
The Magpies have won all of the previous meetings so far in 2022 so will enter the contest as favourites but a couple of those matches have been closely fought affairs which shows the Saints are capable of causing an upset.
While five cubs have one team each playing on Saturday, Port Macquarie has three teams in the Preliminary Final. As well as the Under-17s the Magpies are also represented in both the women’s and men’s matches.
In the women’s match Port Macquarie will be playing against Northern Beaches.
The two teams have met only once this year and on that occasion it was the Magpies who prevailed in a 5-point thriller.
The Blues have hit their stride of late though winning their past three matches by an average margin of almost 61-points.
The Reserves clash will be a battle of the Lions when Nambucca Valley meets the Casino Lions.
The two teams met last weekend so will know each other fairly well in the lead-up to the big clash.
The Casino Lions won by 32 points in the final round of the season and will head into the first finals match in the club’s history with plenty of confidence.
Earlier in the year Nambucca Valley won when the pair met at E.J Biffin Playing Fields.
With this clash on neutral territory, tipping the winner of the Lion Cup that the two clubs play for each time they meet is a difficult task.
The men’s clash which starts at 2.50pm will see a rapidly improving Port Macquarie meet Grafton.
Just like the reserves this is a match that features two teams that played against each other just a matter of days ago.
On that occasion it was Port Macquarie who was too strong at home with a 55-point victory. The meeting prior to that was also at Wayne Richards Park and again resulted in a comfortable victory to the Magpies.
The first clash of the season may be the closest guide of this Saturdays encounter as just like it will be at the Stadium, the first meeting was played on neutral territory.
On that occasion the match was at Nana Glen and Grafton prevailed but only just in a thriller by four points.
Both teams have stars that are worth the price of admission with Port Macquarie’s forward line boasting Tom Dickson and co-coach Braden Saggers. Grafton has plenty of strength in its midfield with young gun Mikey Luxton leading the team’s mosquito fleet which includes Clancy and Ned O’Neill and Tim Whalan.
Gates open at the Stadium at 9am.
TICKETS
The Senior Preliminary Finals are ticketed through Eventbrite. No tickets will be sold at the gate. Click here to access the link to buy tickets.
AFL NORTH COAST SENIOR PRELIMINARY FINAL DAY
10.00am: Under 17 – Port Macquarie v Sawtell/Toormina
11.50am: Women – Northern Beaches v Port Macquarie
1.20pm: Reserves – Nambucca Valley v Casino Lions
2.50pm: Seniors – Grafton v Port Macquarie
