Narrabri Eagles Moree Suns joint venture teams play first of back-to-back Leitch Oval fixtures

AFLNW competition football finally returned to Leitch Oval on Saturday when Narrabri hosted the Narrabri Eagles Moree Suns two joint venture sides’ round four matches.

It was the clubs’ second home round in 2021, but their first in Narrabri after Moree hosted the round one matchday.

The Eagles-Suns teams challenged the Tamworth Kangaroos in the men’s and women’s fixtures at the ‘Eagles’ Nest’ on Saturday and it was the visitors which returned home with all of the points.

The Narrabri-Moree women’s team went down 13.16 (94) to 2.1 (13) in the first game of the day.

The hosts were scoreless at the final break as they trailed 7.13 (55) to nothing at three-quarter time, however, they refused to go down without a fight and kicked two goals and a behind in the final term.

Narrabri’s Sophie Donatini was a standout for the home side and was named best on ground for the Eagles-Suns, while Kristy Toomey and Lucy Suttor also lined up for the joint venture side.

In the AFLNW men’s competition match, the Narrabri-Moree men went down 13.10 (88) to 12.7 (79).

Narrabri’s Daniel Hughes, Ray Nixon, Benny Crawley, Callum Craigie and Corey Robinson combined to kick 10 of their side’s 12 six-pointers. Hughes and Nixon kicked three each and Crawley kicked two while all three of those men were among the best on ground votes. Robinson and Craigie kicked a goal each.

The joint venture side trailed 4.3 (27) to 2.1 (13) at quarter time before rallying in the second term to outscore the Kangaroos 5.2 (32) to 2.2 (14) to go into half-time with a two-point 7.3 (45) to 6.5 (41) lead.

The Kangaroos found their rhythm in the third quarter and kicked away to go into the final break leading 10.10 (70) to 9.5 (59).

The Narrabri-Moree men outscored the visitors 20 points to 18 in the final term but it was too little, too late as the hosts went down by nine points.

The joint venture side’s player-coach Dan Nixon, who was sidelined on Saturday with a rib injury but watched from the sideline, said that it was great to have footy back at Leitch Oval.

“It’s really good to have Saturday footy back, there’s nothing better especially when you’re a young fella, there’s not much better than coming down and playing in front of a home crowd,” Nixon said.

“There was actually a pretty decent turnout for us, it was good to see so many people supporting us.

“As a team we are slowly getting better and starting to gel.

“We still have a lot to work on but we are getting there, and at least we gave it to the Kangaroos, remembering they beat the Tamworth Swans the week before and the Swans are favourites to win the comp this year

“It was a good contest on Saturday, it was end-to-end footy and it could have gone either way.

“We were pretty unlucky in the end to get done by nine points.

“We started slow in the first quarter which ended up hurting us at the end.

“The Kangaroos were a bit light but their core players still came over so they still had a very good team there.

“I’m happy with how things win but just disappointed for the boys that we couldn’t get the win.”

The Eagles-Suns team will return to Leitch Oval this Saturday where it will host 2021 Crossroads Cup champions and current ladder leaders Tamworth Swans.

The Swans scored their third win in four matches on Saturday when they hosted the competition’s defending champions Gunnedah Bulldogs and prevailed 22.15 (147) to 11.7 (73).

Nixon said that the Narrabri and Moree men would need to focus on the basics of the game and be better in those areas if they were to beat the Swans.

He encouraged players to get to training and said that any success this season would only come off the back of hard work which starts on the training paddock.

The other round four match on Saturday was won by New England Nomads which downed Inverell Saints 16.14 (110) to 9.5 (59).

That was the Nomads’ second win in as many weeks following two losses to start the season.

They will now travel away from home in round five when they take on the Kangaroos in Tamworth, while the other round five match will see round four losers Gunnedah and Inverell look to bounce back when they go head-to-head.