TATHRA Sea Eagles have re-written Sapphire Coast Australian Football League (SCAFL) history after securing their third consecutive first grade title on Saturday.
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The Eagles defeated arch-rivals Batemans Bay 16.10.106 to 9.12.66 at the Pambula Beach Sporting Complex.
Tathra’s victory tasted extra sweet for Luke Mundy as it was his debut season as captain/coach after taking over the reins from duel-premiership mentor Brad McBain, who steered the Eagles to titles in 2010 and 2011.
“It’s huge. We’re the first team in SCAFL to win three in-a-row.
It’s a pretty big feat and I’m very proud of the boys, I could not have asked for any more out of them on Saturday,” Mundy said.
The Eagles dominated from the outset, kicking 5.2.32 to the Bay’s 1.1.7 in the first quarter.
The opening quarter set the scene for what was to come for the Bay, which was unable to bridge the gap on the scoreboard for the remainder of the match.
The Bay’s best quarter came in the second after both sides managed to add 19 points to their first quarter totals, 8.3.51 to 4.2.26.
That was as close as the Sea Hawks came after Tathra kicked further ahead in third, 14-9-93 to 9-5—59.
Batemans Bay saved their best quarter for last, but by then the damage was already done.
Despite matching it with the Sea Eagles on-ground, wayward kicking deprived the Bay of a comeback as it could only manage seven behinds, while the Eagles kicked two goals, one behind.
Mundy said it was the opening quarter that set up the win.
“Our plan over the past few weeks was to start well, which was something we’ve struggled with this season,” he said.
“Batemans Bay put seven goals on us straight away up there about a month ago, and although we came back in the end, we still lost.
“We wanted to be pumped from the first bounce on Saturday to blow them out of the water early, which the boys did.
“I was surprised that Batemans Bay didn’t come out and hit us harder.
“Full credit to our boys as they wanted it a lot more than the Bay players.
“We found that if you go out and hit Batemans Bay hard they tend to put their heads down.
“We wanted to be up in the first quarter, and then really shut the Bay down for the remainder of
the match.
“It didn’t matter what was on the scoreboard, it was nil-all going into every quarter.
“We outplayed them around the ground, from back pocket to full-forward.”
Full-forward Brad McBain proved a tower of strength and was rewarded with the ‘best on ground’ award, while half-back flank Chris Dwyer kept running all day.
Mundy said all his players were ‘best on ground’.
“It’s hard to single anyone out of the side due to such a great team effort,” he said.
“Brad was voted best on ground, and Chris ran his legs off in the backs, but across the board everyone stood out and they all got my points.”
With the work now done, the club enjoyed celebrating their victory over the weekend which culminated in ‘Mad Monday’ bus trip.
“It’s back to the drawing board for next year now. Every year is different for our club as players come and go. There were only seven players on Saturday who were members of the previous two premiership teams,” Mundy said.
“I hope the players stick around so we can chase another title next year.”
