Coffs Harbour PS win Northern NSW Cup
Even with 10mm of rain falling in a fifteen minute period, the spirits of all the players couldn’t be dampened.
The eventual winners were Coffs Harbour Public School who certainly had some stories to tell on their return to school.
Coffs Harbour PS played Sawtell PS, winners of the 2012 Tony Lockett Shield, in their first pool game and lost by over four goals.
With only a couple of regular AFL players on their side despite a number of students currently participating in the AFL NSW/ACT multicultural program, teacher and coach Scott Murphy used their first break to further develop the teams understanding of how to play the game.
The Coffs Harbour PS team listened well, managing to win their next two pool games scraping through to the semi finals.
The young team played against Bellingen PS who were undefeated in the previous pool but the Coffs Harbour team continued to improve and won their way through to the grand final.
The Grand Final was a replay of the first pool game between Coffs Harbour and Sawtell Public schools.
Murphy was optimistic before the Grand Final.
“I’m not sure if we can win but it will be closer than last time,” he said.
Coffs Harbour started positively jumping to a three goal lead in the first half with the multicultural students, predominantly from Sudan, having improved incredibly over the day.
Although Sawtell came back well, Coffs Harbour PS hung on to win 5.1.31 to 4.1.25.
Regular training sessions will be organised in the lead-up to the Regional Final for the Paul Kelly Cup in Northern NSW which is to be held at BCU International Stadium on Monday May 27.