Saturday saw a massive convoy of Narooma Junior Devils, their families and supporters make the journey to Eden to contest five out of the six grand final matches to be held there. It was the culmination of a fantastic season for the club to gain that level of finals success.
Finals footy brings a new dimension to games and our youngest team, the U10’s, who were undefeated to this point, had from the outset a real contest against a determined Bega side. Halftime saw them trailing Bega 6–12 but they soon levelled the score only to have Bega score again to put them in front 18–12. With two minutes to go Narooma were in again to send them to a Golden Point decider. Unfortunately Bega crossed first to win the match. Riley Dawson was a standout for this team on the day.
The U12’s were next to feel finals pressure playing Batemans Bay. Coming out of the sheds both sides were intent on gaining the upper hand but it was the Bay that went to the break ahead 12–0. A stronger side on the day saw the Bay surge ahead to post a 24–6 win over our boys. All boys put in a fine effort on the day but Ethan Griffiths’ solid tackling game put him ahead of the pack.
With two losses, Devil hopes of a victory rested on the shoulders of our International Girls League Tag playing Bega and they did not disappoint. Safe in defence and dangerous in attack our girls put together a fine game dominating Bega in a comprehensive 20–0 win. Makayla Morris was awarded Player of the Day securing this Premiership Win with her team, the first Devil success of the day.
The next game was always going to be a “Titanic” battle with our U14 boys going in as “underdogs”, after their loss to the Bay in the Majors. A solid Bay side crossed early and proved way too strong going to the break 20–0. Regaining some Devils pride by putting in two second half tries our boys gave their best but the Bay finished in front 32–10, with Oscar Carr given the nod for his performance in this tough encounter.
In what spectators judged as their best performance of the season, the U16 boys against Bega put in a seamless display of devastating attack and relentless defence. Devils looked strong from the outset with all boys giving 100% effort determined to go out Premiers, for many of these boys, their last year in Junior Football. 20–4 ahead at halftime and finishing 26–4, this was a whole team sensational result after going down in the Majors, defeating the Bay in the Preliminary Final and ending their year as premiership winners.
For all of our players who committed themselves to a season with Narooma Junior League Football Club there were no losers, only winners. They all experienced the discipline of weekly training, being part of a team, and making friends for life.
