The undefeated Grafton Tigers continued their impressive start to the season with a dominant win over the North Coffs Kangaroos in a one sided match at J J Lawrence on Saturday.
In a match up for the current top and bottom teams, it was a game the Tigers went into as red hot favourites, and the final scoreline confirmed Grafton are the benchmark of the North Coast AFL competition.
The start of the game looked promising for the visitors, although Grafton were the first to score, the Roos hit back and the contest was a real tussle in the middle with both teams going goal for goal in the first 15 minutes, after which, the Tigers found their stride and booted 3 unanswered goals to finish the quarter leading by 25 points.
From there, the Tigers were never headed, starting the second quarter strongly with the midfielders of Ron Davis, Joel Sword, Sam Morrison and Tim Whalan totally dominating around the ruck to easily hit the forward lines of Evan Duryea, Shawn Purton, Dan Zacek and Dale Beaver who were consistently finding room inside 50, by the end of the quarter, the Tigers had shot clear and lead at the main break by 68.
During half time, Coach Adi Campbell was pleased with the performance of his side but emphasised the importance of finishing the game strongly and to not become complacent with the lead, feeling the team could play better and asking for 10 more goals from the next quarter.
...and that was exactly what he got, the Tigers opened the third term with a immediate goal and continued to add points at ease, adding another 10 for the quarter while the Grafton backline of Ryan & Josh Sheather, Justin Darby and Dion McGreagor shut down any ball that came near them, only the talent of Roo’s ruckman Kirt Connelly and forward Brad Giri able to penetrate the Tigers defence to add 2 goals to the Roo’s total.
Starting the fourth quarter with a 124 point lead, the Tigers outfit were determined not to get lazy and play to the finish, rover Ron Davis ripped the Roo’s midfield apart displaying some great skill to find space to kick deep into the forward line to the waiting hands of Duryea, Purton and Zacek who had a field day with the boot adding another 7 goals to the final tally while North Coffs could only add 1 through the boot of Giri.
Final score, Grafton Tigers: 33.17. (215) to North Coffs Kangaroos: 8.6. (54)
Goal Kickers for Grafton: S. Purton 8, D. Zacek 6, E. Duryea 5, S. Morrison 3, S. Duroux 3, D. Beaver 3, and J. Sheather, R. Sheather, L. Hayman, D. McGregor, T. Whalan with 1 each.
Goal Kickers for North Coffs: B. Giri 5 and T. Christie, J. Wilson, J Landsdowne 1 goal each.
Best Players for Grafton: Dale Beaver, Josh Sheather, Sam Morrison, Evan Duryea, Dan Zacek and Ron "Hooky" Davis.
After the game, coach Adi Campbell was a pleased man saying, “the boy’s were outstanding today, they did everything I asked of them, It was important for us to play all 4 quarters and that’s what they (Grafton) did”
The Tigers will carry momentum into next weekend’s game against the second placed South Coffs Swan’s who are also coming off a win over Port Macquarie, both teams will be focused and desperate to show their strength in their first encounter of the year due to round 2 being washed out.
Last Modified on 31/05/2011 11:12