Macksville’s Steven Kim ran in five tries as the Sea Eagles won the right to host their third Group 2 grand final in five years by defeating the Sawtell Panthers by 56-22 at Rex Hardaker Oval last Sunday.
With the Eagles having defeated the Panthers twice in the regular season, Macksville supporters were entitled to be confident, but as the Panthers had won the minor premiership, this was expected to be a harder game than it turned out to be.
The Panthers were the first to score after 10 minutes, but the Eagles were quick to respond.
An attacking raid by the Eagles saw Neville Donovan pass to Michael Ronan, who then sent the ball to Garry Jarrett. Jarrett quickly got the ball out to Duane Button who crossed out wide.
The game see-sawed for 10 minutes, but gradually the strong defence of the Eagles began to frustrate Sawtell into errors.
Button swooped on a dropped ball to race 30 metres before being brought down on the line. Donovan went to dummy-half and sent the ball to Jarrett, who found a charging Chris Martin on his inside. Martin carried three defenders over the line and Ronan converted for the Eagles to lead 10-4.
Kim scored his first try soon after a scrum win to the Eagles 30 metres out saw Donovan float across field and step through two defenders to race to the line. As the cover defence closed, Kim scored the try in the
corner. Ronan converted from the sideline and the Eagles led 18-4.
Right on half time the Panthers crossed for their second try of the day to see the Eagles lead 18-10 at the break.
Afterwards a scrum win to the Eagles 30 metres from the line saw Ronan pass to Donovan who sent a long ball to Kim. He broke through one defender then stepped around a second to score his second try. Ronan’s conversion gave the Eagles a 22-10 lead.
The Eagles went on a scoring blitz from there, the next try going to Luke Cartwright. Kim’s third try came after Donovan sent Djaan Jarrett on a long run out wide. Jarrett sprinted 40 metres and sent a pass that seemed to go through two Sawtell players to Kim who left the opposition standing with pure speed. Ronan converted and the Eagles were in front 34-10.
Djaan’s next run resulted in a Kim try, this time after a behind-the-back flick pass that fooled the Sawtell players. Ronan converted for the Eagles to lead 40-10.
The Eagles relaxed a little and Sawtell capitalised, scoring two converted tries to reduce the Eagles’ lead to 40-22. Then the Eagles clicked into gear again.
Glen Weatherall charged and was brought down metres from the line, and from the play-the-ball Donovan quickly passed to a rampaging Ed Vale-Tighe, who carried two Sawtell players and planted the ball. Ronan converted.
Kim’s fifth try came after another great run by Weatherall, offloaded to Jesse McEwen, who quickly passed to Kim. Kim gave the Eagles a 50-22 lead.
The final try of the match came right on full time on the back of a big break by Bobbie Jarrett. After the play-the-ball Garry Jarrett chipped ahead to see the ball land in the in goal.
The ball bounced backwards to find Nigel Hookey following through to ground the ball. Ronan converted as the siren sounded, and the Eagles had won the right to host the grand final at Allan Gillett Oval on September 20.
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