The Eagles suffered a stuttering start to their 2015 TAFL campaign on the weekend, going down by two goals to rivals Gunnedah Bulldogs in what was a frustrating fixture for both sides.
Taking to the field for the first time this year, the Eagles performed soundly after Gunnedah got the jump on them early.
“They started better a lot quicker than us and were leading by three goals at the end of the first quarter,” said Narrabri co-captain Michael Leven.
“We clawed back to be within a goal at half-time and then we were level heading into the final quarter.
Locked at 53-all going into the fourth, Eagles could count themselves a bit fortunate, with Gunnedah having 11 behinds to the visitors’ five.
At that point the Eagles also had an extra goal on the home side too.
“That definitely helped us to keep us in the match,” said Leven.
“We had good service out of the middle and were able to work it out of our defensive area safely.”
However Gunnedah closed out the match, running in six goals to kill off the contest at 96-71.
It was a hard pill to swallow for the Narrabri team, having only conceded to their rivals on one occasion out of the last six head-to-heads.
Player-coach Todd Dunn was the standout for the side as he kicked seven of the 11 goals for the team.
Bailey Clark, Zach Lauritsen, Liam Denyer and Daniel Hughes were the other scorers.
“Todd was easily our best on ground and threw himself at everything.
“Midfielder Dan Nixon is also a deserved mention with the work rate he put in.”
Nixon had the tough job of marking last year’s TAFL best and fairest player Andrew George throughout the match.
Denyer, Jake Fenner, Joel Elwood all had solid debuts for the club in last Saturday’s run.
This weekend will see the side use their bye round to recover and plan ahead for their next two assignments against Tamworth Roos and Inverell Saints.
Source: The Courier 24th April 2015