The Grafton Tigers AFL side has retained its spot at the top of the North Coast AFL ladder in round 9 after a solid 47-point victory over the Sawtell Saints on Saturday afternoon at a heavy Richardson Park in Sawtell.
The Tigers were met with some strong competition in the opening stages of the match and neither side showed it was prepared to give points easily, despite some gutsy and determined defence by the Saints, the skilful play from the Tigers midfield of Ronald Davis and Dale Beaver, allowed the forwards of Evan Duryea and Shawn Purton to boot 6 goals to Sawtell’s 1 and a 32-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
After a strong dressing down by their coach at Quarter time, Sawtell forward line of Ben Hooke and Alex Pearson fought back into the game and pressured the Tigers defence constantly adding 4 goals to the Saints total while the Tigers only scored one major which narrowed the gap to 12 at half time.
Grafton fired into attack mode in the third quarter and pinned the ball in the Saints backline for most of the quarter, Tigers captain Dan Zacek dominated the attacking play providing the waiting hands of Purton and Duryea plenty of possession up front to add another seven goals to the Saints one to lead into the final quarter with a 49-point advantage.
With both teams showing signs of fatigue in the final term, both teams dug deep but the Saints were only able to add another 2 goals to their tally due to some spirited defence by Grafton’s backline of Will Darby, Sean Duroux and Ryan Sheather while up forward, Shawn Purton added another 2 two goals for the Tigers to run out victors by 47-points.
The match was the second straight victory over last years premiers this season for the Tigers who will be looking to continue the momentum heading into next Saturdays match up against the Nambucca Valley Lions at Ellem Oval.
Final scores: Grafton: 6.5 7.6 14.10 16.10 (106) S. Purton 6, E. Duryea 5, S.Duroux 2, l. Hayman, D. Gordon, D. Beaver 1.
Def
Sawtell: 1.3 5.6 6.9 8.11 (59) B. Hooke 2, A. Pearson 2, E. Kelly 2, T. Matthews 2.
Best for Grafton: Ron Davis, Will Darby, Ryan Sheather, Dan Zacek, Dale Beaver and Sean Duroux.
Best for Sawtell: Patrick Gillingham, Dan Pritchard, Todd Matthews, Ben Hooke and Angus Burkitt
Last Modified on 26/06/2011 17:06