To say the senior Sapphire Coast AFL grand final was a bruising affair would be an understatement.
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Play broke down and verged on a brawl more than once as the Sea Eagles piled on a crushing finish to the year for the Merimbula Diggers.
The host club held pace early, but couldn’t hold down the Tathra-Bega attack in later stages with the Eagles running out winners 16-9-150 to 6-6-42.
The Diggers had led at the first break, but the Sea Eagles began to take control of the marking game with some accurate kick passing up the field.
One of the strongest areas for the Sea Eagles was through the mid field with Troy O’Loghlin leading clearances off ruckman Rick Spink’s work, while the club was getting great service from it’s flankers Kel Evans and Nick Forester.
Earlier games had not been as straight-forward, with the development grade Eagles getting up by just a pair of goals, while the ladies went down in a surprise last minute loss to the Eden Whalers.
In the ladies fixture, the ladies were trailing by two goals for the second and third quarters with play hitting a frantic pace in the last stanza.
The Eagles were moving the ball quickly and looking to outrun their strong and tall rivals, with a couple of handy kicks levelling the scores in the dying minutes of the game.
However, the Whalers mounted increasing attacking pressure in the final two minutes and the Sea Eagles were unable to clear the ball with Eden firing a late goal seconds before the siren.
The reserve fixture was immensely close with the sides heading to the final quarter separated by two points.
Scores were dead-locked for moments throughout the last period of play in a heated physical match, but the Sea Eagles upped the ante in the final minutes to pile on a pair of unanswered goals, winning 8-4-52 to 6-3-39.