The past weekend saw 78 of the best male and female junior footballers from the Sapphire Coast AFL travel to Nowra to take on the best players from the Shoalhaven, Illawarra, Central West and the Southern Power. The Sapphire Coast AFL Stingrays were dominant at the carnival with wins in the under 14.5’s and the Youth Girls whilst the Stingray’s fell short against the Illawarra Storm in the grand final in the under 12’s and 17’s.
‘It was a great weekend for our four teams with all four sides highly competitive across the weekend. It was a huge boost for the league with the under 14.5’s and youth girls claiming carnival championships whilst the under 12’s and 17’s came close in tight finals against the Illawarra’ Sapphire Coast AFL Operations Coordinator Jarrod Moore said.
The weekend started off well for the under 12 side with a convincing 52 point win under lights against the Central West. The side were convincingly beaten by the Illawarra in game two by 37 points meaning the Stingrays needed a win against the Shoalhaven to book their place in the final against the Illawarra. In a tight contest across four quarters, a late fourth quarter goal by Digger Beau Bennett saw the Stingrays claim a heart stopping 3 point win booking their place in the final. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for the under 12’s against the Illawarra going down by 22points against a professional outfit.
‘Coach Doug Martyn had the team playing some good football across the weekend with standout performances from Will Kellar, Jem Ryan and Jonathan Harkins-McMahon. The side played some really good football in the final with extended pressure but unfortunately were not able to hit the scoreboard to capitalise’ Moore noted.
Over the course of the weekend’s play the under 14.5’s were dominant with Coach Glen Baker claiming his third carnival victory in succession. Under lights the Stingrays were inaccurate although still run away with a 78 point win against the Central West. The Sapphire Coast didn’t let up the following day with midfielders Finley Cooke, Caleb Higgins and Jedd Martyn leading from the front to claim at 49 point win against the Illawarra and a 101 point win against fellow finalists the Shoalhaven. A fast start in the final and 3 goals from Higgins, 2 from Martyn and Flynn Cook saw the Stingray’s claim the carnival with a 54 point win.
‘This side has been together for a number of years now and has grown year by year. The team possesses a number of great footballers with bright futures at club and representative level. The side’s dominance over the weekend is testament to their hard work, teamwork and leadership from Coach Glen Baker’ Moore said.
After the Stingray’s dominated the under 17 division in 2015 the remaining teams were out to catch the Sapphire in 2016. The Stingray’s like the other grades started well under lights against the Central West with a commanding 77 point win with Jackson Taylor and Jeremy Sly combining well off half forward. Throughout the Sapphire’s two games on the Saturday the Stingray’s were unable to hit top gear going down to the Illawarra by 39 points before grinding out a 35 point win against the Shoalhaven. During their final against the Illawarra the Stingray’s were unable to take advantage of the breeze in the first quarter going down to the Storm by 47 points.
‘The boys battled hard all weekend for coach Danny Adams and we saw some of the boys in Will Regan, Angus Kennedy-Carvalho and Billy Stubbs take their game to the next level with all the boys set to star for their clubs in the senior grade in future years’ Moore noted.
With the Youth Girl’s being involved on all three days for the first time during the carnival, the Sapphire Coast showed the strength of their local women’s competition going unbeaten throughout the carnival on route to the championship. The Stingray’s claimed a convincing 102 point win under lights against the Illawarra Saints whilst also claiming a 36 point win against the Central West and 71 point win against the Southern Power to go through pool play not conceding a goal. In the final against the Central West the Stingrays conceded their first goal of the carnival but were still to strong to remain undefeated and claim the championship by 13 points.
‘The results of the weekend are testament to the establishment of the local women’s competition with the girls able to play some really attractive hard free flowing football against some quality opposition. Hopefully this result will enable the region to enter a team into the state youth girl’s championships later in the year’ Moore concluded.
Scores
Under 12’s
Sapphire Coast 8.11-59 D Central West 1.1-7
Illawarra 6.8-44 D Sapphire Coast 1.1-7
Sapphire Coast 3.1-19 D Shoalhaven 2.4-16
Final: Illawarra 4.10-34 D Sapphire Coast 2.0-12
Under 14.5’s
Sapphire Coast 12.12-84 D Central West 1.0-6
Sapphire Coast 8.14-62 D Illawarra 2.1-13
Sapphire Coast 15.12-102 D Shoalhaven 0.1-1
Final: Sapphire Coast 10.8-68 D Shoalhaven 2.2-14
Under 17’s
Sapphire Coast 12.13-85 D Central West 1.2-8
Illawarra 9.6-60 D Sapphire Coast 3.3-21
Sapphire Coast 8.10-58 D Shoalhaven 3.5-23
Final: Illawarra 10.9-69 D Sapphire Coast 3.4-22
Youth Girls
Sapphire Coast 15.12-102 D Illawarra 0.0-0
Sapphire Coast 4.14-38 D Central West 0.2-2
Sapphire Coast 11.6-72 D Southern Power 0.1-1
Final: Sapphire Coast 4.6-30 D Central West 2.5-17
Last Modified on 06/07/2016 21:50