In a big season of firsts for the Manning Valley Mustangs, Sunday’s round of the AFL North Coast Junior competition represented another key first as the club celebrated it’s first ever win. The club’s Under 11 team has been steadily improving all season as they get used to playing competition footy, and the team recorded a 53 point win against against local rivals Camden Haven Bombers. With the Bombers reforming in 2016 this was going to be a great opportunity for both clubs to get their first win of the season and the Mustangs were able to take full toll of their home ground advantage to gain the club’s first ever win.
Northern Beaches Blues were the other success story of the round, winning their first match of the season. The Blues were unable to field a team in 2015 and a big off-season recruitment drive has resulted in the reformation of an Under 11 team. On Sunday, the team took on reigning premiers Sawtell Toormina Saints and won a tight and close tussle by 1 goal.
Camden Haven Bombers Under 15.5 team marked themselves as the most improved team in the Junior competition with a strong showing against Sawtell Toormina Saints. Just three rounds ago this team came together from nowhere to play their first match where they were outclassed by the Macleay Valley Eagles. This week the Bombers were able to match it with the Saints for two quarters, outscoring their highly fancied opponents in the last quarter by 4 goals to 2. Next week’s match against the Grafton Tigers is another great chance to continue their improvement and work towards the first win of the season.
A further highlight of the round was the return of competitive footy to Macksville Oval after a several year absence. There was a full round of matches played at the ground with Grafton Tigers featuring in all three age groups against Macleay Valley Eagles in Under 11, and against Port Macquarie in Under 13 and Under 15.5. The game of the day was in the Under 15.5 age group where Grafton Tigers gave the Magpies the sternest test of their season to date. The match was close throughout before 3 quick goals to the Magpies at the start of the last quarter allowed them to pull clear and record a 34 point win.
A summary of the results of the round is below:
Under 11
Northern Beaches Blues 3.3.21 defeated Sawtell Toormina Saints 2.3.15
Macleay Valley Eagles 10.0.60 defeated Grafton Tigers 0.0.0
Manning Valley Mustangs 9.7.61 defeated Camden Haven Bombers 1.2.8
Under 13
Port Macquarie Magpies 9.6.60 defeated Grafton Tigers 0.0.0
Coffs Harbour Breakers 6.11.47 defeated Macleay Valley Eagles 4.3.27
Sawtell Toormina Saints 11.8.74 defeated Bellingen Bulldogs 2.2.14
Under 15.5
Port Macquarie Magpies 9.4.58 defeated Grafton Tigers 3.6.24
Coffs Harbour Breakers 13.14.92 defeated Macleay Valley Eagles 11.6.72
Sawtell Toormina Saints 19.13.127 defeated Camden Haven Bombers 8.5.53
Last Modified on 10/05/2016 09:08