Saturday morning dawned overcast for a weekend of footy that saw the Bombers split far and wide, catching up on games postponed earlier in the season.
At Gore Hill Oval, the Under 18s took the field for a clash with ladder leaders Sydney Hills. But the Bombers, despite being underdogs, had come to play. Tackling hard, presenting options, running flat out; the Bombers burst out of the blocks with the first three goals of the game, and held a 15-point lead at the first change. Early in the second quarter, the lead extended to 20 points. The Eagles came back later in the quarter, but the Bombers had enough in reserve to lead by 8 points at the last change.
The Eagles, top of table and with a bigger interchange bench, had to come out hard in the third term, and they did. Four quick goals saw the Eagles take the lead; but the Bombers then worked hard to stop the Eagle run, and a goal after the siren saw the deficit reduced to 14 points at the last change.
The Bombers refused to go down without a fight, and took the challenge up to the Eagles in the last quarter. Twice they got the margin back to within a kick; but the goal that would give them the lead would prove elusive. The final margin was 11 points - no victory, but it was a solid fighting effort by the plucky young Bombers.
It was another clash against a top team when our reserves travelled to Weldon Oval to take on Manly. It was a tough and tight first half, with the Bombers defending grimly but finding goals hard to come by. It took until deep in the second term for the Bombers to get on the scoreboard; but thanks to some good work in the backline the deficit was only 23 points at the long break.
And although the Bombers continued to work hard in the second half, it wasn't running North Shore's way; and the Bombers would concede 10 goals in the second half to go down by 89 points.
On Sunday afternoon at North Dalton Oval, the signal to bounce the ball to start the Premier Division game against Illawarra saw the heavens open, and the first quarter was played in wet and slippery conditions. It took some time for the Bombers to hit their straps; but getting on top late in the quarter they led by 15 points at the first change.
The second quarter never reached any great heights, with both sides struggling to control the ball in the slippery conditions, and there were plenty of turnovers. But with four goals to two for the quarter, the Bombers doubled the lead and held a 30-point advantage at half time.
The Bombers tightened the screws defensively in the third quarter. The Lions barely managed an inside 50 for the quarter and were unable to score. Goals were hard to come by at the other end; but the Bombers managed four of them and led by 57 points at three quarter time. It had been a scrappy game, and the slippery conditions made for a lacklustre final quarter. But Danny Roberts was the exception, finishing with a bag of nine goals to spearhead a 77-point win.
Last Modified on 09/01/2013 09:26