Gordon Rhodes
Both the Under 12 and Under 14 Tweed Coast Tiger Junior AFL teams travelled south recently to play premiership matches against Byron Bay on their southern brothers’ home turf.
Both teams also went home victorious to cap off a great season of Northern Rivers Junior AFL.
Under 12s
The Tweed Coast Tigers Under 12s were taking on the Byron Magpies.
Normally the Tigers would have been supremely confident, having beaten the Maggies convincingly on both previous occasions this season. However there were two reasons for concern.
First, the Maggies had hit top form and, secondly, the fact that the most important game of the season was going to be held on their home ground in notoriously windy conditions.
The game began evenly with all players throwing their bodies on the line in a bid for the title. It wasn’t until the closing stages of the first quarter that the Tigers finally broke through with full forward Max O’Neill kicking two goals.
In the second quarter the arm wrestle continued with neither team giving an inch, the only difference being the Tigers were able to convert more consistently.
The Maggies continued valiantly in the third quarter with the aid of a breeze, hitting the post twice in what could’ve been disastrous for the Tweed. However lady luck was on the side of the young Tigers who took full advantage and with the aid of a breeze in the last quarter.
The young Byron team appeared exhausted and the Tweed Coast Tigers slammed on four goals to run out comfortable winners by 60 points.
Final scores: Tweed Coast Tigers – 12 goals, 3 behinds, 75 points – defeated Byron Magpies– 2 goals, 3 behinds, 15 points.
Better players:
Flynn McLauchlan, Max O’Neill, Kel Shaw, Callum van den Driest, Ethan Sekac, Will Bernet, Sam Hope, Zane Patience and James Evans.
Congratulations to Sam Hope and Callum van den Driest for being equal Runners Up in the Northern Rivers League Best & Fairest Award and to Ethan Sekac for being awarded the League’s Leading Goal Kicker.
Under 14s
For the Under 14s, in what was a blur in the coaches’ box, Tweed Coast Tigers hit the ground running and never looked back. Every boy contributed to the win by stepping up and using their strength to ensure that at the end of the day, the Tigers would be victorious.
The most satisfying thing of the match was the ability of all of the boys to contribute to the win.
Their passion and excitement during the three-quarter-time rev-up and singing (yelling) the song post match was, as they say – priceless!
Final score: Tweed Coast Tigers – 14 goals, 8 behinds, 92 points – defeated Byron Magpies – 3 goals, 5 behinds, 23 points.
Goal Kickers
Oscar Clarke 4, William Luff, Callum Opperman 2, Conor McDowell, Tom Porter, Kobi Bell, Micah Margieson, Jack Robson 1.
