A round of upsets and home ground advantages, with both last year's grand finalists - Batemans Bay and Tathra, beaten on the road, and Eden celebrating a huge clean sweep of games at home.
Pambula Panthers v Batemans Bay Seahawks
Seniors: Pambula 10.6 defeated Batemans Bay 8.7
Only two senior matches, Seahawks taking an easy 50 point win in reserves, and the seniors match opening at a frantic pace, Pambula kicking away early with 3 goals on the scoreboard before Batemans Bay opened their account, but getting scores back to just one point difference at end of the first quarter, then pushing ahead in the second, going into the long break 7 points up.
Panthers rallied in the third, kicking with the breeze to add 3.2 to 1.2, but still anybody's game going into the final quarter with just 5 points in the game. Pambula solid in defence, the Bay trying unsuccessfully to break through, but managing just another 1.2 in the final quarter, Pambula registering 2.2 to run out worthy winners by 11 points.
Narooma Lions v Tathra Sea Eagles
Seniors: Narooma 13.16 defeated Tathra 11.10
First round on the road for Tathra, and looking strong in the juniors with solid wins in both under 13s and under 15s, and then cruising to a 63 point win in reserves.
All going according to plan in the seniors, Sea Eagles with the upper hand in the first three quarters of the game, but with a narrowing margin, from 20 points at end of the first, down to 11 at half time and 8 going into the final quarter, when the Lions unleashed a barrage, kicking 3.8 to zip to celebrate a resounding 18 point victory.
Andrew Browne kicked 7 for Tathra, while for the Lions, Shane Gross kicked 4 and 2 each to Luke Moresi, John Breust, Luke Welling and Aaron Campbell.
Having taken out the 2005 Lightning Premiership, and knocked off both Batemans Bay and Tathra, both last year's grand finalists, in the opening rounds of the home and away, Narooma has laid down a challenge - bring it on!
Eden Whalers v Merimbula Marlins
Seniors: Eden 11.8 defeated Merimbula 9.17
Nobody in the Eden Whalers Football Club can remember when the club last had a clean sweep of 5 games at home, or even if it has been done in the past, but that made the celebrations in Eden even sweeter.
The Junior Whalers let rip, taking out the visiting Marlins by 137 points in the under 13s, and 128 points in under 15s, before pretty much cruising to a 24 point win over Pambula in under 17s. Reserves was another beat-up on Merimbula, with a 61 point victory, courtesy of 5 goals each by Paul Kirkby and Marcus Shearer, leaving the home crowd a buzz at the prospect of a clean sweep.
The seniors match was a tight tussle in windy conditions with scores pretty much level in the first half, Eden 6.6 to Merimbula 5.6 at the long break, but wayward kicking in the third by the Marlins left the gate open, adding just 5 behinds to 2 goals straight by Eden, to be down 13 points going into the final quarter.
Merimbula came back at Eden in the final quarter, several times closing the gap to just 3 points, but each time Eden would kick a goal to push the margin out again. Marlins had 10 shots at goal in the final quarters, for a 4.6 outcome, Eden putting on 3.2 to squeeze a 3 point win. Daniel Tuan kicked 5 for Eden, while Chris Young got 4 for the Marlins, but Merimbula's 9.17 final score line told the story of the match.
Merimbula Diggers v Tomago River Crows
Reserves: Diggers 19.10 defeated Tomago River 1.3
Too strong for their visitors, Diggers under 17s had a field day kicking 26.18 to just one point by Tomago River Crows, including 9 goals by Marek Jarmusz, while their reserves bounced back from last week's home loss with a 115 point win, and 5 goals each to Steven Murphy and Carl Johnstone.
Round 4 - 7 May, 2005
Pambula v Tathra
Merimbula v Narooma
Eden v Diggers
Tomago River v Batemans Bay (Reserves)
Last Modified on 02/05/2005 04:46