Tough win for Beach at Curtin
Winning at some venues seems to be tougher than others. No rhyme nor reason for it, but it does occur.
That could be said of South Oval, home to Perth Football League club Curtin University Wesley. Maybe because it seems a little desolate, even soulless as the clubrooms sit at the southern end of the ground which generally houses the majority of spectators.
Not much happens on the wings, where the two benches sit on the western side and cars circle the eastern boundary.
What ever the cause, North Beach has tended to struggle a little in recent times. Clearly the quality of the opposition has something to do with it, but victories have been rare of late.
Last Saturday, however, the O’Rourke Realty A-Grade endured in a four-point thriller. Going in without a recognised ruckman, the Beach still endured 9.2 (56) to 8.4 (52).
Running half-back Dan Leishman and midfielder Mitch Gill shared those responsibilities in the absence of several injured big men and performed admirably under the circumstances.
Wingman Nic Wells also provided plenty of energy and run, Steve Mansfield’s thirst for the contest was evident while Patty Ambrose and Nic Reid again worked nicely in tandem for five goals.
Lachlan Scurria was also lively as the Beach established a solid three-goal cushion in the third quarter but need to stave off a sustained fightback from the Tigers in the final term.
Unfortunately, the Lifenet A-Reserves could not quite seal the deal in their encounter. Right in the game at three-quarter time when holding a slender advantage, they were overrun in the final term and lost by 15 points.
Similarly, the Plasterwise Phil Scott Colts were in the hunt in the first half but could not stay with the Tigers and lost by 20 points.
O’Rourke Realty A-Grade
North Beach 2.0 4.2 8.2 9.2 56
Curtin Wesley 2.1 4.3 5.3 8.4 52
Goals – North Beach: Reid 3; Ambrose 2; Webster, Deegan, Prior, Bottechia.
Best – North Beach: N Wells, Reid, Mansfield, Ambrose, Leishman, Gill, Scurria.
Lifenet A-Reserves
Curtin Wesley 3.2 4.3 5.5 9.6 60
North Beach 2.1 3.8 5.9 6.9 45
Goals – North Beach: Wheelahan 3; Brooks 2; Campbell.
Best – North Beach: N/A
Plasterwise Phil Scott Colts
North Beach 3.1 4.2 6.5 8.8 56
Curtin Wesley 1.0 3.3 3.5 5.6 36
Goals – North Beach: Rowell 3; McDonald, Annert, Dunlop, Siano, O’Dea.
Best – North Beach: N/A
Young opponents out-run Beach
Depending on the club and their circumstances there can be a diverse range of opponents in the lower grades of the PFL.
Sometimes, a big club like North Beach can find its third grade team combatting a much more physical and mature opponent and often they are the senior team from the opposition.
Or it can unfurl as it did on Saturday when the Hybrid Linings C3-Grade confronted a youthful and enthusiastic outfit from Winnacott.
The Beach led for entire day, up until the five-minute mark of the last quarter, and unfortunately the score blew out as the boys ran out of legs.
Izaak Mortimer bounced back from a tough game the week prior, playing key back and chopping out in the ruck. George Pullinger was best on ground at half back in his 3s debut.
Dion Cownie and Joel Brown worked tirelessly through the midfield on a hot day, while Nathan Adler was man-handled all day with little assistance and still managed to kick four.
It was a completely different tale for the Beast Carpet Cleaning C3-Reserves who went on a scoring rampage against Winnicott, piling on 27 goals on the way to a massive 157-point victory – 27.10 (172) to 2.3 (15).
Tom Elliot and Mitch Tobin kicked 13 goals between them as they feasted upon the opportunities presented.
The Indian Ocean Hotel Brett Jones Colts struggled to get going against Fremantle CBC in the first half, but after going scoreless to the main break they rallied before going down 5.3 (33) to 8.13 (61).
Reece Anderson kicked two goals while the revival was again kick-started by Harry Corderoy with Hudson White and Jackson Park also strong contributors.
The Progressive Materials E2-Grade had a strong win over Bullcreek Leeming while the GJ Osplumb E3-Grade was too strong for Kingsley.
Hybrid Linings C3-Grade
Winnacott 13.6 (84) def North Beach 9.3 (57)
Goals – North Beach: Adler 4; O’Malley, F Rose, Sawyer, O’Gorman, O’Shea.
Best – North Beach: G Pullinger, Adler, Cownie, Brown.
Beast Carpet Cleaning C3-Reserves
North Beach 8.4 14.7 18.8 27.10 172
Winnacott 1.1 1.1 2.2 2.3 15
Goals – North Beach: Elliott 7; Tobin 6; Perejuan-Thornton 3; Nichols, Uglow 2; Greaves, Persichitti, O’Sullivan, D Webster, De Rosa.
Best – North Beach: Elliott, Tobin.
Indian Ocean Hotel Brett Jones Colts
Fremantle CBC 2.4 4.8 6.13 8.13 61
North Beach 0.0 0.0 3.2 5.3 33
Goals – North Beach: Anderson 2; Whelahan, Shinners, Tayler.
Best – North Beach: Corderoy, White, Anderson, Park.
Progressive Materials E2-Grade
North Beach 2.0 4.1 5.3 9.5 59
Bullcreek Leem 2.1 3.3 5.6 6.8 44
GJ Osplumb E3-Grade
North Beach 18.9 (117) def Kingsley 4.9 (33)
I-Grade kick into 2024
After patiently waiting for their opportunity to kick into action the Build Now Foundation Integrated Rules team found the going tough against Coolbinia.
The Beach could not pull off a win, but it was a good opportunity to shake off the cobwebs and get their 2024 campaign up and running.
Liam Sweeney made his NBFC debut with a strong display of his quick skills that resulted in a goal for the first gamer. While Ben D Agaiston pulled off a specky mark that caused a huge cheer from the sidelines.
Strong performances were also put in from Mailey Kelly, Julian Miller, Chris Willers and Lewis Swan.
The team is pumped to take on their friendly rivals at Wembley this week,
The women’s team had mixed results against Melville, with the Hillarys Beach Club A-Grade finding Melville a little too slick, going down 1.4 (10) to 4.8 (32).
The Hair Affair A-Reserves had earlier despatched Melville 6.8 (44) to 3.1 (19).
Hillarys Beach Club A-Grade Women
Melville 1.6 2.6 4.6 4.8 32
North Beach 0.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 10
Goals – North Beach: Oakes.
Best – North Beach: N/A
Hair Affair A-Reserves Women
North Beach 2.3 2.3 4.5 6.8 44
Melville 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.1 19
Goals – North Beach: Brindal, Armstrong 2; Lantzke, Monaghan.
Best – North Beach: N/A
