Saturday down at Bill Smyth Oval was the setting for a beautiful mid winters day with perfect south coast sunshine and weather – and of course the clash of the round with fourth-placed Narooma Lions and second-placed Merimbula Diggers duelling it out for bragging rights, as the final get ever closer.
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While the Narooma side was feeling confident after their strong performance the previous week , they all trained very hard on Thursday night and were expecting a resilient contest to continue to test their improved performances.
The clash started as expected, but the Lions started to show some early dominance and with some fantastic teamwork and attack on the ball proving all the difference at qtr. time along with some very accurate kicking ensure the Lions held a nice 11 point lead at the first break.
The coaching staff while happy with the 1st quarters effort implored the side to continue with the determination and attack on the ball – demanding that the players do what was asked of them in ensure continued success.
The second quarter the boys were listening to the fired up coach Clothier and continue to win some hard fought battles, while neither side were backing down on the contest, and some great body clashes endured, this only strengthen the team resolve and the Lions continued to win the hard ball and turn that effort into great results and put on a further 4 goal to 2 the lead strongly at half time by 24 points.
Third quarter the was a back and forth affair, with the Lions defence getting right on top and restricting the Diggers forward thrusts to only 1 goal – while the Lions forward line continued to dominant but unable to convert that to score board pressure – only scoring 1 goal themselves in a very tight match.
Coach Mick Clothier, told the team the importance of finishing of their good work and not to undo the excellent work, and implored a number of the fit and strong young guns from last years under 16’s premiership side to continue to step up and run and put pressure on the opposition and ensure the side finish of the good work.
As both side got tired the game really opened up and the sides were trading goal for goal, in what was looking to be an epic final quarter – the Lions needed to find some resolve and finish off the great work. While a few late goals by the diggers made the score a tight, overall the 13 point victory to the home team Narooma Lions and true indication of the game..
The song was sung with plenty of gusto in the shed after the games as Narooma collect their biggest win of the year.
Ben McCulloch was a stand out with a Best on ground performance – in a side that everyone did their job and ran when they needed to run , marked, tackled and did all the team things to ensure victory.
Other notable performance included Jai Reed, Jakey and Smithy all having excellent matches.
Jordo Lang continued his solid year performance with another dominating role in the ruck and taking some great marks around the ground, Tom Clarke continued to find the footy, and Luke Talty finding his touch again. The victory as described by some of the good sized crowd as the best team performance for the year , where the whole side contributed evenly around the board and played out the 4 full quarters of football.
The win ensures the Lions of a final berth now – first in a few years and entrenches the Lions in the top 4 of the ladder.
Next Seniors Game at Bermagui Round 14, Saturday, July 30 at Bermagui against local enemies Bermagui Breakers FC – Come down and support your local team
Narooma Lions FC
4.0-24
8.3-51
9.6-60
12.8-80
Merimbula Diggers FC
2.1-13
4.3-27
5.5-35
10.7-67
Narooma Lions FC
Goal Kickers: L. Wiggins 2, N. Carter 2, L. Talty 2, J. Reed 2, J. Lang, D. Smith, B. McCulloch, R. Hawkey
Best Players: L. Talty, J. Reed, J. Clothier, D. Smith, T. Clarke, B. McCulloch
Merimbula Diggers FC
Goal Kickers: D. Adams 3, I. Radford 3, J. Burch 2, W. Stroud, B. MacDonald
Best Players: D. Worden, B. Gordon, D. Adams, W. Edmed, T. Burch, I. Radford
Next week a Bye for the Seniors, U13, U11 and Women Competition
Narooma Lions AFL have being given the rights to Host the AFL Preliminary Final Matches on 13th August , at Bill Smyth Oval 2016 more details has they come to hand.
Development and U16 both played very well in patches but were defeated by a strong fitter Diggers side.
Ladies Side – winners on the day – with new recruit Nan Parker kicking her first goal ever- after a long career as a goal shooter in netball – ensuring the whole family now plays down with the Lions and they all kicked goals over the weekend.
U13 who played the Giants and continued their good form – and start the game very well and started to do the things they have being doing at training , to have an excellent game. The boys played very well but missed a lot of opportunities in front of goals, but still won well by over 90 points.
Under 11’s –Played very well – but meet a very strong giants side and they put them away in a very good performance.
Next game at HOME Round 13 Saturday, July 23 at Bill Smyth Oval
DEVELOPMENT & U16’s only– Come down and support your local team
