It’s a three way tussle at the top of the AFL North Coast ladder and, with three rounds remaining, it looks like it’s going to go down to the wire.
For the first time this season, Coffs Breakers, Sawtell Toormina Saints, and Port Macquarie Magpies are all locked on the same number of competition points, being separated only by percentage points.
At Fitzroy Oval, Port Macquarie hit the ground running with a 6 goal first quarter blitz to jump out to a 23 point lead. Whatever coach Nic von Schill said to his troops at the break did the trick and they responded in style with a 7 goal quarter of their own to hit the front at half time by just 7 points.
Breakers maintained their form after the long break where another 4 goals to 2 saw them extend their lead to a 4 goal advantage. Port battled bravely in the large quarter to try and wrestle back the ascendancy but Breakers held firm to claim a 28 point victory and move back to the top of the ladder by the slenderest of margins.
Breakers coach Nic von Schill was happy with his team’s performance. “Port jumped us at the start and I’m really pleased that we stuck to the game plan and didn’t drop our heads. It’s great to be on top of the ladder but we’ve been here before this season and it only lasted one week, so our focus now is on making sure we stay here.”
Port coach Anthony Beasley was disappointed with the result, but saw enough promising signs to be confident of his team’s ability to bounce back. “The last three weeks our kicking for goal has been poor. It cost us one match and very nearly a second one last week. This time around our kicking has been much better and kept us in the match.”
Breakers best were captain Mckinlay Pearce, the ever reliable Fraser Duryea, and the constantly improving Eli Gray. Leading goalkickers for the home side were Pat Curtain (3), Mckinlay Pearce, Darren Funston, and Jay Guthrie (2 apiece).
Port were best served by Dylan Cameron, Wil Wright, and Scott Dalton. Cameron contributed 2 goals, as did James Nelson, Dylan Beasley, and Jesse Schmidt.
Coffs Breakers 14.17.101 defeated Port Macquarie Magpies 11.7.73
Unfortunately, Grafton Tigers drastically improved performance last week proved to be a false dawn rather than a re-emergence from the shadows. Buoyed by last week’s narrow loss to Port, and playing at their home ground, there was real hope that the Tigers could spring a surprise against the wounded Sawtell Toormina Saints. It wasn’t to be as Sawtell turned on a master class in ruthless footy to blow Grafton away from the outset.
If the match wasn’t over by quarter time, it surely was at the long break. By this stage Sawtell had passed the century mark and Grafton were yet to trouble the scorers. The third quarter provided the only highlight for the Tigers with Aiden Bryant slotting their only goal, while Sawtell piled on another 8 goals which were followed by a further 7 in the last quarter to pass the double century.
Leif Stuart had an absolute field day playing at full forward, kicking 16 goals. Add these to a further 10 in the last two weeks and he will be very hard to beat for the goal kicking award. Mark Couzens booted 4, while five others players contributed 2.
The big win gave Sawtell a significant percentage boost and saw them jump to second on the ladder, ahead of Port on percentage.
Sawtell Toormina Saints 32.19.211 defeated Grafton Tigers 1.1.7
In Under 18s action, Coffs Breakers jumped a game clear at the top of the ladder with a win against Port Magpies in a tight, 3 goal affair.
Breakers led throughout in this match but were never able to establish a decisive break. The third quarter in particular was like two prize fighters standing toe to toe as neither team was able to make even a point’s headway on the 19 point lead that had been established at half time.
The final term saw inaccurate finishing in front of goal by Breakers which left the door ajar for the Magpies who did finish the quarter with 4 goals to Breakers 3, but this wasn’t enough to change the outcome.
Breakers best were the Brindle brother, Brock (2 goals) and Tristan. They received great support from Damien Dickson who kicked 5 goals, while Gabe Ellicott added 3 and Sean O’Reilly a further 2.
NSW/ACT U18 representative Max Lower led the charge for Port, along with Kobe McClure and Isaac King. Liam Dunlop with 4 goals and Fraser Carroll with 3 were the leading scoreboard contributors for the Magpies.
Coffs Breakers 15.14.104 defeated Port Macquarie Magpies 13.8.86
Next weekend the competition takes a break as AFL North Coast hosts the annual rep fixture against Tamworth AFL, featuring the best players from Armidale, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Narrabri, Inverell, and Moree. This will be another highlight in what is proving to be one of the best seasons of footy action on the coast in years and is not to be missed. The match is at C.ex Coffs International Stadium at 2:00pm on Saturday (16 July), with curtain-raisers featuring a Youth Girls match (11:00am) and a Masters game (12:30pm). Gates are open from 10:00am so get down to the Stadium and help create a home ground advantage that will see our team retain the shield!
Last Modified on 11/07/2016 09:57