Saturday 11 August 2012 saw the return of winter to Bon Andrews Oval with freezing South-Easterly winds and driving rain. The covers on the cricket pitch were removed at the last moment before play commenced.

Norths went into this round with an increasing injury toll of players unavailable for the match against Eastwood and a further list of players carrying injuries from week to week. Injuries were also spread amongst the supporting grades causing Coaches Arch and Hallie to call an eligible reserve from grade and causing several players to play multiple games throughout the afternoon. In addition, the heavy loss to Manly in the preceding round may have impacted on our confidence in 1st grade Colts moving into this match.

Possibly the loss of confidence combined with the weather had a visible effect on the defence and handling of both sides that saw Norths and Eastwood trading ties throughout the first half. Uncharacteristically Norths tackling was deficient and that resulted in an inability to maintain pressure against the cocky Eastwood team and allowed the Woodies to respond with their own score after each Norths try. Both teams retired to the sheds at half time with the score 22-20 in favour of Eastwood, after Norths allowed a soft try just before the bell rang to signal the break.

The 1st half also saw Norths incur another serious knee injury for the second week in a row when open-side flanker Jack Walters was carried from the field in extreme pain clutching his knee. Jack left the ground on crutches and will see the specialist through the week for a full diagnosis.

The second half saw a continuation of the poor handling by both sides and more missed tackles by our team than the die-hard Norths supporters had seen in the preceding month. The try scoring continued by both sides with Eastwood outscoring Norths by 3 tries to 2 in the second half.

Norths captain, Michael Freeman, suffered two head injuries through the second half but refused to leave the field.

At full time Eastwood had scored 7 tries in a final score of 43 to defeat North Suburbs 32 that included 5 tries.

Injury management and replacements will become a major factor moving into the final series.

Due to this disappointing result against Eastwood, Norths will meet Sydney University early in the final series and now face a far more difficult and longer road to the Grand Final.

Final Score: Eastwood 43 def. Northern Suburbs 32

Try Scorers: Hobden, Figg, Grant, Dowsett & Cameron
Goals: Grant (2)
Pen. Goals: Grant

Best & Fairest: Hobden (3), Figg (2) & Irons (1)