Robert McLay, Narrandera Argus
Narrandera seniors came up against a desperate Turvey Park Bulldogs side on Saturday at Maher Oval, with the Eagles keen to put a better performance after a round one loss to Ganmain.
The Bulldogs started hot kicking the first couple of goals in a row and the Eagles were under pressure from the get go.
On-ball duo of Van Buuren and Grinter tried getting the Eagles back into the game after the quarter time break and big Isaac Bunge kicked two to try and rally Eagles going into half time.
After the break the Bulldogs again showed their class, age and experience running the younger Eagles off their feet and racking up some easy possessions through the middle of the ground.
Angus Durnan worked hard all day presenting at the footy but then went down with a lower leg injury.
Luke Paterson down back playing his 100th game battled on all afternoon and never gave in.
Bulldogs ran away with the game late and piled on the goals as the young Eagles did everything they could to stem the flow.
A disappointing result for the seniors overall and hopefully some more promising football is on the horizon for the Eagles. The final score was Narrandera 32 Turvey Park 153
Meanwhile, the Narrandera Reserves took on a strong and fit Turvey Park outfit on Saturday.
From the start Turvey Park were clearly the better side, although that did not stop Narrandera from giving a good contest, especially in the midfield with Reece Borg, Andrew Beal and Michael Melon fighting all day long.
Unfortunately, the more skilled Turvey overran Narrandera, winning every quarter, however the Narrandera Reserves can hold their head up high as there were some key personal missing including captain James Sullivan.
The Reserves have fought hard in both of their first two games, however the boys will need to hit the training track in order to keep on improving and look at banking their first win in the coming weeks.
The final score was Narrandera 5 to Turvey Park 153.
The Eagles U17s played their second game of the year away to Turvey Park, the boys knew it was going to be a fierce tough battle due to lack of numbers and a strong Turvey side that has very rarely lost a game over the last few years.
In the first quarter the boys in the middle had to work extra hard to keep the ball from surging forward on every occasion, they tried hard but to no avail.
The coaches’ message at quarter time was simple, lift the aggression and work rate and we will become more competitive.
The second and third quarters saw major player changes to try and stem the flow of goals and try and get some of our players into the game, it worked for a while but the forward movement of the Turvey boys was just too much to handle.
The fourth quarter brought with it a little more aggression which seemed to spark our boys up a bit, in this quarter we scored our first goal for the game.
Credit goes to each player who battled all game and did not give up, the final score was Turvey 166 Eagles 7. Best players were A. Irons, L. Kerr, X. Vearing, T. O’Mahoney.
This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 6 May 2021.
