Merimbula v Batemans Bay
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The Marlins mosquito fleet pulled off yet another astounding victory when with enthusiasm and purpose they out-ran, out-hustled and out-bustled their more fancied opponents.
Marlins coach, Darren O'Donnell says he's not getting at all excited yet, he's telling his players they have a lot of improvement still to make.
He points out that three of their wins against Diggers, Eden and Batemans Bay have been close and in each instance those clubs have been missing several key players, any one of whom could make a match-winning difference.
But for fitness and sheer persistence the Marlins have not put a foot wrong this year.
In every game this season they have finished over the top of their opponents in the final quarter.
Even on Saturday, when Batemans Bay kicked four goals in ten minutes in the final term to edge within ten points, the Marlins regained their composure and drew away again, not allowing the Seahawks to put their noses in front.
Obviously, their central midfield is the key to their success so far.
Only Sam Ferguson and Jason Edwards play as permanent forwards and have been multiple goalkickers each week.
The rest all rotate through the middle as on-ballers with quick changes that leave opposition coaches and players struggling to locate their match-ups.
The Marlins conversion rate so far this year has pleased O'Donnell greatly, but not this week.
With sixteen scoring shots to four at half time the game should have been over and their inaccuracy only worsened in the third term.
Bay coach Brad Sinclair said his team didn't go there to play.
They appeared flat and lacking enthusiasm before the game and for the most part could not get any rhythm happening.
His younger players, and he has a lot of them, highlighted their inexperience by taking all the wrong options.
Looking for positives to come from the match Sinclair was pleased with Sean Mercer's work at centre half forward, Mercer finished with two goals and was probably the only forward to get more than a handful of touches.
Garry Art played well in defence and became a goalkicker when moved into the forward line for the last quarter.
Shaun Green spends equal amounts of time in attack and defence and this week was one of the Bays few good players as was Jesse Boyle running off the half back line.
With a leaky defence you can't win games.
Jarred Doughney has taken on the role of backline general.
Ian McBain has come into the side in the past fortnight and brought with him a lot of enthusiasm.
Daniel Pinne has been developing as a senior player and had an outstanding game.
Two of the most pleasing performances for the coach came from Carl Mitchell and Kyle Glover across half back.
As these less experienced players each put up their hand and have a red hot go the task of kicking a winning score each week becomes that little bit easier.
This is the improvement O'Donnell thinks he can still get from his team.
Final score: Marlins 12.16:88, Batemans Bay 9.5:59.
Pambula v Eden:
Pambula have been searching unsuccessfully for some magic, some sort of spark to kickstart a season, that has not looked like even getting off the ground.
Lo and behold the magic elixir arrives and their fortunes turn around immediately.
One word, one player - Goldspink!
Yes, Todd Goldspink, straps on the boots again and suddenly every Pambula player thinks he's a foot taller then he was last week.
Pambula have struggled to penetrate their forward fifty all year and their highest return was back in Round 1 when Ian Franchi kicked six goals from about the same number of opportunities and the team finished with seven goals for the day.
But put Goldspink in the goal-square and all the Panthers want to be the one that gets the ball into the zone, confident the team will score.
Goldspink kicked the first two goals and Shane Crowe's game plan gets tossed out the window and Heath Chester, their prime midfielder gets sent back to the last line of defence and what's been working for the Whalers all year, stops working.
Brad Searle, Simon Bacash, Ian Smith, Rob Stranieri, Joe Cincotta and Daniel Stirling all want a piece of the action and get plenty of the ball.
Goldspink kicks eight goals and Pambula are on the winners list for the first time this year.
Eden's midfield made too many mistakes turning the ball over time and time again.
A lot of this was due to pressure applied by Pambula and the belief