The Bega Roosters have ended Cooma’s 19-game win spree and even if they bounce back to the same form they boasted last year, the club can’t keep the same momentum it had with a loss-free season. 

While at the polar opposite end of the spectrum, the Bay Tigers have put on some astonishing early rounds to card wins over the Roosters and the Merimbula-Pambula Bulldogs in round two.

A recruitment drive and new leadership appears to be doing wonders for the club that sat as the cellar dwellars for the last two seasons. 

There are already claims that one of the inclusions is a good shot at the Group 16 player of the Year award – a title not claimed easily. 

And then there is the Moruya Sharks who had something of an anomaly in last year’s season – the Sharks were never quite out of the picture, but certainly weren’t as menacing as they were when they secured the Clayton Cup just a year earlier. 

But the Sharks are back and will certainly not be satisfied with anything less than a top-four finish in the senior grades. 

The Narooma Devils haven’t yet posted a win in the top grade, but they came within two points of upsetting last year’s grand finalists Bombala – at Bombala – and that is no small feat given how much of a fortress the Bombala Showground is to the Blue Heelers. 

And that close competition could make life difficult for clubs. 

The first grade outfits will have just 12 rounds to prove their worth before the finals campaign.

And that plays into why both David Armstrong from Bega and Merimbula-Pambula coach Nathan Heffernan agree that it is imperative to win home games and see if they clinch a few of the results on the road. 

The Roosters will be looking to do exactly that when they face the Narooma Devils in Narooma this Sunday at Bill Smythe Memorial Oval.

The Bega Chicks defended their territory twice last weekend, but will look to steal the ‘away’ points from the Devils as the Tri-Colours aim to assert some dominance early in the season. 

The Bega Chicks open the day at 11am.

Meanwhile, the Candelo-Bemboka Panthers will look for the points in their first home round when they host Batemans Bay at Bemboka’s Colombo Park on Saturday. 

Pink Panthers on at 11am and reserves at 1.30pm. 

The Tathra Sea Eagles and the emerging Tathra Phoenix league-tag outfit will both feature against the Merimbula-Pambula-Eden combine in Pambula on Sunday.