Out west in the Eagles nest there was a surprise upset when the Saints got their second win for the season. The Saints welcomed back some old stars for their first game of the year in Darren Pithers, Mick Viney, Fraser Hughes and Bruce Wall. Along with young gun Mick Corcoran home from school and Keiran Te Velde that is some pretty big ins for the Saints. It didn't help the Eagles cause that Tim Cooper was unavailable for this game either. The Saints jumped out of the blocks in the first quarter and this is where they set up their win kicking 7 goals to 2 goals to go to the first break 31 points up. As expected Phil Dennis got his team going at the first break and they hit back hard in the second quarter. Kicking 5 goals to the Saints 2 goals and cutting the Saints led to 16 points. The Eagles continued their good work from the second quarter in the third quarter again outscoring the Saints and cutting their lead again to just 6 points at the last beak. Having set up the game for a classic last quarter the Eagles would have been confident that they could get the job done. However the Saints found their earlier mojo and recorded one of their best win in years by 11 points. The Saints best player was Darren Pithers and their major goal scorer was Captain Chris Whitton with 5 goals. Andrew Irvine was the Eagles best player and big Dan Hughes their highest goal kicker with 5 goals.
In the local grudge match No.1 oval in Tamworth inaccurate kicking was the order of the day. Both teams had 6 scoring shots in the first quarter with the Swans being just the slightly more straight kicking 2 goals to 1 goal. With a 5 point lead to the Swans it looked like a upset may be on the cards. The second quarter saw more of the same, but this time the Kangaroos kicked 2 goals to the Swans 1 goal. So at the main break the Kangaroos had taken the lead back by 3 points. The third quarter had the Swans get back on top kicking 4 goals 6 behinds to 4 goals 1 behind. Coach Gary Harriett would have been rueing the miss shots in the third quarter because they could have been so much further in front at the last break than a miserly 2 points. The Kangaroos managed to find a way to win by 18 points though and extend their grip on top spot by 2 games. For the Swans it now means that they are out the top five by a game and will now find it hard to make the finals. The Kangaroos best player was Mitch Penberthy and for the second game in a row their coach Tim Cotter kicked 7 goals. The Swans best player was Simon Freer and their main goal kicker was again Josh McKenzie.
Down at the Kennel the Gunnedah Bulldogs just keep on keeping on, beating the New England Nomads by 12 points. The Bulldogs have surprised this year, with the amount of talent they lost at the end of last I thought they would struggle. But they have covered their player losses well and find themselves in a 3 way tie for second on the ladder, separated only by percentage they are in fourth place. The Nomads were very excited at the start of the year with their player recruitment, but have not quite lived up to the hype just yet. The Bulldogs were to good in the first quarter and had a nice little break on the Nomads at quarter time by 14 points. The second quarter saw the Nomads kick 1 more goal then the Bulldogs, but had the Bulldogs kicked straight, 1 goal 6 behinds, the game could have been over at half time. At the main break the Bulldogs up by 11 points. The Nomads came out breathing fire in the third quarter keeping the Bulldogs to just 2 behinds for the quarter and kicking 3 goals 2 behinds themselves to take the lead at the last break by 7 points. This shocked the bulldogs back into action in the last quarter and they kicked 6 goals to the Nomads 3 goals to win a very entertaining match by 12 points. The Bulldogs major goal kicker was Chris Gee with 3 goals and was also their best player. The Nomads best player was young Tom Walsh and their main goal kickers were the old timer Adrian "Starry" Walsh and Dave Richards with 3 goals each.
Last Modified on 19/06/2011 18:58