It was a grey and overcast Saturday, with the Bombers spread far and wide on away trips.
The Under 18s was first up, taking on Sydney Uni on a heavy track at St Pauls. The Students got the early jump, with the only three goals of the first quarter. But the Bombers lifted in the second term, tackling harder and forcing turnovers as they fought back to cut the margin to 14 points at the long break.
The Bombers continued to fight on in the face of adversity, and were still in the contest at the last change. But a couple of injuries left no interchange options and playing a man short in the final stages; and the weight of numbers was too great an obstacle to overcome. Although the Bombers continued to fight it out, the final margin of 46 points didn't do justice to the plucky young Bombers.
Meanwhile at Gipps Road, it was a thriller in Div 4, as the Bombers pepperred the goals; and although the Goannas kicked more goals, the Bombers kept forcing the turnovers and getting the ball forward, with the weight of possession just enough to fall over the line by a point.
But the fortunes were reversed in Div 1, with the Bombers playing another thriller against the Goannas but going down by a point.
It was a twilight match in Premier Division at Sydney Uni No 1, on a wet pitch with plenty of puddles in it. The game was bottled up early, with neither side scoring in the first ten minutes. But once the Bombers broke the deadlock, the goals began to flow. On the small Sydney Uni ground, there's plenty of goals to be had going direct, and the Bombers ran through six while holding the Students scoreless to lead by 39 points at the first change.
Early in the second quarter, the Bombers were in complete control and the game threatened to blow out. Sydney Uni were struggling and giving away silly frees; and the Bombers were gifted goals by silly 50 metre penalties to Daniel Roberts, Tim Nash and debutant Jake Monk. The Bombers had ten goals on the board before Sydney Uni scored. But late in the quarter, the Bombers put their cue back in the rack and Sydney Uni scored three late goals to reduce North Shore's lead to 45 points at half time.
Doug Hadden struck the first blow in the third term with a goal after 30 seconds. It was the first of eight unanswered goals for the quarter as the Bombers raced out to an 89-point lead at the last change. And going on with the job in the last quarter, the goals kept coming and when the final siren sounded the Bombers had taken the game by 106 points.
Last Modified on 09/01/2013 09:25
