Starting Team:
Gus Whitehead, Ash Hall, James Knight, Keith Coassin, Rory Collins, Tom Cameron, Joey Mcelhone, James Fitzgerald, Joey Jenkins, Sam Palmer, James Nakkan, James Bender, Nick Marshall, Patrick Nakkan and Scott Barnes.

For the first time in 2012 Fourth Grade graced North Sydney Number One and looked to improve on a lack-luster performance against Uni the week before and consolidate their position at number two on the table.

Norths won the toss and elected to run into the breeze in the first half, after lengthy discussions took place pre game on the pros and cons of running with or into the wind. With a simple game plan in mind we managed to build pressure and field position in the first 10 minutes. That, coupled with some cheap penalties Easts gave away, allowed Scott Barnes (fresh off his Tour de Lounge fundraising efforts) to slot a couple of penalty goals (the first only just clearing the cross bar into a semi stiff breeze) taking the score to 6 – 0.

More applied pressure and some sustained possession enabled us to control a few phases in Easts twenty two with Keith Coassin bumbling over the try line from about 5 metres out clearly disregarding two support players to his left [still scarred from previous offloads to Simon Johnson (vs Souths 14/07/12) and Tom Lee (vs Parra 15/08/11) who both dropped the ball over the line when gifted certain tries]. The conversion took Norths out to a 13 – 0 lead and things were looking up for the Shoremen.

Norths waned from the game plan in the last 10 minutes of the half and this provided Easts with enough of an opening to crack what has been one of the sterner defences in the Fourth Grade competition, rolling in a maul from 5 metres out, making the half time scoreline 13 – 7. To a degree this scoreline probably flattered Easts but regardless Norths were still going to have to work if they wanted this win.

As discussed pre game (as a con of running into the wind in the first half) the wind fell away as Norths went to run with it. However a good pep talk and redirection and focus to our game plan saw Norths camp in Easts half for the first 5 to 10 minutes. Constant pounding of the try line (with three consecutive tries held up over the line) was finally rewarded on the fourth attempt when James Fitzgerald touched down in the north eastern corner for a five pointer (he’s just so big and strong). Another conversion as well as a penalty took Norths to a 23 - 7 lead with 15 to play in the game.

To this point in time there were some excellent efforts on field summarised below:
- Joey McEhlone (competing in the Bantamweight division) was mixing it with the best putting big hit after big hit on in defence and repelling anything Easts through at us!
- Tom Cameron, back from an exotic holiday to Tasmania last week, added the all-round play needed in the forwards against his old club.
- James Bender kicked for gold and managed to keep Easts camped in their own twenty two.
- Nick Marshall’s defence was exemplary at outside centre, saving many a raid on the outside.

With the game all but in hand with 15 to go Norths bombed a couple of tries which would have not only secured the bonus point but likely wrap the game up at the same time. As it was we didn’t come away with the points and slowly but surely we diverged from the successful game plan we had implemented over the initial 45 minutes. Couple that with an all-too-sudden injection of fresh reserves at one time and Easts were right back in the game.

Over the last 10 minutes Easts dominated possession and territory, once again scoring from a rolling maul from a line out (something the forwards will need to work on leading into the finals) and again with some enterprising forward play with a minute to go, which brought the game to 23 – 21. Some trusty butter fingers from Easts looking for some quick ball on the outside Norths managed to come away with a much more narrow victory than needed.

While heads were slightly down after the victory due to the lack luster finish, probably mostly attributable to fitness, all in all it was a good step in the right direction toward the finals with a good win over a solid team. At 23 – 7 up we could have quite easily have scored one or two more tries to take the game out of their grasp with a bounce or pass here or there going our way.

Two games to go against Manly then Eastwood with a bye this week. Things are looking positive coming into finals with a few things to build on leading into the finals with a likely encounter with Gordon, Round 1 of the preliminary finals.

Story of the week: Dave Allsopp, fresh back from a trip in a Tuscan villa with his missus, was spotted at Charcoal Charlies with what was queried as his daughter?! While Dave’s salt and pepper (more salt than pepper) head of hair has been well documented, it must be noted that (a) the woman seen with Dave is his girlfriend (b) she is over twenty years old (c) Dave is under thirty (d) to his knowledge Dave did not father any children between the ages of 5 – 10 (e) he is uncertain of having fathered any children from the age of 10 onward.

Best and Fairest:

3: James Bender
2: Nick Marshall
1: Scott Barnes

Crowey’s Comments:
This was a huge game for us and the boys showed that they were pumped during the week at training. Solid hit outs on both Tuesday and Thursday was great to see from their coach. It was one very windy day indeed and we talked as a group how we had to focus on territory and improve our kick and chase.

Easts were very well drilled outfit, especially in the forwards, with many ex first grade players to say the least. This team stretched our defence more than any team thus far, especially on the hard side.

We were very solid in the first 40 minutes, and then we became quite disjointed. We spoke about this after the game and I will not be making the wholesale changes that have occurred in recent times. It is taking us out of rhythm and could have proved to be fatal on the weekend. The boys will now have to fight for their spots which will make it interesting at training with the surplus we have.

We are focussed on our fitness levels at present and the boys will be completing an extra session each week leading up to the finals. We will enjoy the week off, have a well-deserved team feed on Thursday night then focus our attention on Manly.

Final Score:
Norths 23 (K Coassin, J Fitzgerald tries; S Barnes 2 goals, 3 pen goals) beat Easts 21.

Norths maintain second place on the competition table on 55 points. Sydney Uni is first on 57 points and Gordon third on 51 points.