High praise for South Coast carnival

High on the list was the Nowra Blues, the host club, who ensured that plenty of volunteers were on hand to keep things running smoothly throughout the weekend.

South Coast Regional Coordinator John Dyball, organizer of the junior interleague carnival, was extremely grateful for the efforts of the Nowra club, overseen by Tony and Cindy Johnston. Along with their dedicated band of workers, this dynamic duo worked hard to allow some 250 junior AFL players to strut their stuff on the Showgrounds and West St Ovals. Teams from Shoalhaven, Illawarra, Sapphire Coast and Central West/Riverina played games across the weekend at under 12, 14 and 17 levels, putting on a wonderful display doing what they do best, playing on instinct with the ball the number one object.

Each team played lead up matches over Saturday and early Sunday to determine the finalists, with Shoalhaven’s win over Central West on Sunday ensuring their spot in the final against Sapphire in the under 14s. After going down to that region by 37 points on Saturday, the locals needed to find something to turn the tables. And that they did, in no uncertain terms, by jumping out of the blocks with a three goal to nil first term in the final proving decisive. This advantage had been reduced to 14 then 11 points at the second and third breaks, then 5 points early in the last quarter, but the boys rallied with two late goals to hold out their highly fancied opponents.

The defence held firm throughout the match, and with Harry Harnwell and Lochie Bailey working hard, and the whole backline combining well, the boys were able to hang on. Midfielders Jonty Kelly and Liam Nelson provided great pace and drive, and Corey McAlpin, Adam Ison and James Eagleton were to conjure up crucial goals and withstand a late push by Sapphire. Coach Col Lawrence was high in his praise of a team effort, and the boys were rightly chuffed with the win.

The under 17s title was won by Sapphire, who kicked out to a handy lead, one which they were able to maintain, to run out 20 point winners over Central West in a fast, highly entertaining match. The Shoalhaven weren’t represented at this age group, and Sapphire dominated, being undefeated over the weekend

The under 12 age group was taken out by an impressive Illawarra outfit, who showed the benefit of having been together over some weeks. They were far too strong for Central West in winning by 36 points. Our boys weren’t able to win a match, but gained some valuable experience against a couple of strong outfits.

Some interesting sidelights to the junior matches were the exhibition youth womens match, where the Hawkettes defeated the Angels by 10 points in an entertaining encounter, and the 100 mtr sprints and tug-of-war held on Saturday during the lunch break.

At the conclusion of the carnival, trophies and GWS Giants jerseys were handed out to participating leagues by Steve Maher, Manager South Coast/ACT, and Peter Riley, Chairman South Coast AFL, and all leagues indicated that they would be back next year. John Dyball commented that this carnival will go from strength to strength, and plans were in place to include two more leagues next time around.

The successful under 14 squad was: Jonty Kelly, James Eagleton, Dayne Johnston, Luke Godfrey, Shannon Craig-Timbs, Kyle Fortier, Brodie McNally, Ryan Burns, Dale Lovatt, Lockie Bailey,Mitch Lawrence, Adam Ison, Ethan Ford, Tom Roach, Liam Dooley, Harry McGill, Harry Harnwell, Blake Hauser, Liam Ryan, Issac Anderson, Peter Griffiths, Rory McDonald, Corey McAlpin, Liam Nelson, Tristan Nye, em-Jae Gleeson, coach-Col Lawrence.

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