By Gary Stocks
It’s a fine line between pleasure and pain; particularly in a competition where promotion and relegation are at stake.
In the WA Amateur Football League, the senior team for every club carries with it the fortunes of the rest of the organisation. Every game has an impact, winning fuels the dream of playing finals, perhaps even the ultimate achievement while losing builds pressure on maintaining a club’s standing.
In the A-Grade competition, it’s tight through the middle portion of the table. North Beach is on the fringe of that cluster where finals are possible, but there is also half an eye on what’s happening below them.
Tomorrow at Charles Riley Reserve, when the O’Rourke Realty A-Grade team clashes with West Coast, it is a game of pivotal proportions. A line in the sand game if you like between two clubs based on the coast.
It is not make or break, but victory would be sweet. The Beach sits in seventh position, West Coast is sixth – just a game ahead and victory for the Tigers would take it within striking distance of the top five.
There are a couple of teams in that upper portion with the staggers, so David Hynes and his team will be desperately keen to get over the line against West Coast and apply some pressure for one of those bottom positions in the top five.
The Beach would need to reverse the result from earlier in the season when West Coast dominated at City Beach Oval. But this is a vastly different Tigers team and they are playing at home. All season the young Tigers have responded to the urgings of a parochial home ground crowd, the biggest advantage in the competition.
They will rise, play with pride, unity and commitment and that will take them a long way towards victory.
They will do it with a few new faces in the line-up – Jacob Cooper will make his senior debut at the club, Michael Italiano and Andrew Nunan return, while Michael Schofield will resume in defence after missing a couple of games.
It is a well-balanced line-up and with a couple of key players finding form in recent weeks and if they lead from the front again an important, possibly season-defining victory, is within reach.
The Credent Financial Services A-Reserves and Coast to Coast Imports Phil Scott Colts face similar situations against West Coast where it will be all about consolidation in the top three, where a double chance come finals time is guaranteed.
The A-Reserves sit in second position while West Coast is sixth. The Beach will need to be on their mettle, having been forced to work for victory the first time around.
The Phil Scott Colts are in second position as well and play West Coast, who sit ninth. These games can prove a mental challenge for the young players, but hopefully they are switched on and can get the job done.
Intriguing matches loom in other grades, with the Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade confronting Trinity Aquinas in a top-of-the-table clash at Percy Doyle. The Beach has lost just one game and that was the battle of these teams earlier in the year.
The Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves face a similar foe in s third versus second battle and the Red Hill Brett Jones Colts are pitted against the seventh-placed Trinity-Aquinas outfit.
On a day when North Beach hosts all seven matches, the Express Bins E1-Grade will also face an important clash against Yanchep at Aintree Reserve. The Beach is sitting in sixth position, just percentage behind the fifth-placed Coolbellup and will need to beat teams sitting above them.
Yanchep is sitting in third spot, so opportunity knocks!
Fixtures
O’Rourke Realty A-Grade
North Beach v West Coast, Charles Riley Reserve, 2.30pm
Credent Financial Services A-Reserves
North Beach v West Coast, Charles Riley Reserve , 12.35pm
Coast to Coast Imports Phil Scott Colts
North Beach v West Coast, Charles Riley Reserve, 10.40am
Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade
North Beach v Trinity Aquinas, Percy Doyle Oval, 2.30pm
Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves
North Beach v Trinity Aquinas, Percy Doyle Oval, 12.35pm
Red Hill Brett Jones Colts
North Beach v Trinity Aquinas, Percy Doyle Oval, 2.30pm
Express Bins E1-Grade
North Beach v Yanchep, Aintree Reserve, 2.30pm
Results
Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade
North Beach 15.9 (99) def Fremantle CBC 4.5 (29)
Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves
North Beach 5.2 7.2 10.5 12.8 80
Frem CBC 1.0 4.4 5.4 8.5 53
Goals – North Beach: Potts, Csar 4; B Boys 2; Bryce, Hutchison.
Best – North Beach: Turner, Collins, B Boys, Csar.
Red Hill Brett Jones Colts
North Beach 3.3 6.6 6.9 9.10 64
Frem CBC 0.0 0.2 2.4 2.7 19
Goals – North Beach: Dwyer 3; McCarthy 2; Baty, Frawley, Manor, Reidy.
Best – North Beach: Kavangh, Dwyer, McCarthy, Hoffman, Mesiti, Stranger.
Express Bins E1-Grade
Coolbellup 13.9 (87) def North Beach 9.4 (58)
