Starting team:

1. Ed Moss 2. Ash Hall 3. Angus Whitehead 4. Jon Missingham 5. David Holt 6. Josh Clifton 7. Jeremy Bird 8. Henry O’Flynn 9. James Stokes 10. Felix Buddee 11. Juiuta Siata 12. Tom Lee 13. Ed Lee 14. No Player 15. Tom Burnett

With a couple of late withdrawal due to illness, Northern Suburbs were forced to take the field with only 14 men. The late inclusion of Dave Holt certainly helped us field a forward back, but Norths would start down 1 winger. Manly are the only side Norths haven’t defeated this year, so they knew it was going to be a tough assignment. The start of the game reinforced this.

Manly kicked off and after only a couple of phases, Norths turn the ball over. Manly immediately saw space down the short side and crossed over for a try within 2 minutes. The conversion was successful to make it 7 – 0. The crowd consisting of a few die hard fans and people still making there way home from a large Friday night on The Corso thought it would be one way traffic from here.

Norths dug deep and began attacking the Manly line. Some excellent running off the fringes by Holt was creating metres for Norths. However Manly stayed strong and would eventually turn the ball over. Defence was the highlight of the first half, with Norths also demonstrating excellent line speed to cut down any further raids by Manly.

Not long before half time, North’s received a penalty about 25m out. Norths opt for goal and it is successful by Buddee. Norths trail 7 – 3 going into half time.

Norths aim going into the second half was to continue with the excellent line speed in defence, while creating a good platform in the forwards for the backs to play wide after the 4th phase. The Norths side remained unchanged going into the second half. This was partly due to the good first half performance, but mostly due to Norths having no reserves.

The 2nd half began much like the first ended, with a tough defensive battle going on. A bit of niggle began and you could see the game was ready to explode. With 15 minutes to go, the Manly Strength & Conditioning coach Paul Collins came over and generously offered to play the remainder of the game on the wing for us. Norths were very grateful and put Paul straight on with immediate impact.

A great kick chase from Ed and Tom Lee saw Tom charge down a kick from the Manly fullback. This was regathered, passed through the hands of his brother Ed and finished with Paul Collins scoring in the corner. Norths were ecstatic and so was Paul, with the crowd suspecting he had some money on himself for first Norths try scorer at very generous odds. There is a market for any sport these days. Conversion was unsuccessful to take the score to 8 – 7.

This was the changing of the tide, with Norths controlling the game from here until the whistle. An excellent driving maul from a lineout saw Ash Hall crash over in the corner. Finally a great box kick from Stokes, followed by a sensational chase from Buddee saw him cross over for the final try of the game. The whistle was to blow with Norths in front.

Final Score: Norths 18 Manly 7

Best and Fairest:

3. David Holt

1. Tom Lee, Ed Lee and Felix Buddee

Coach''s comment:

Coach Dave Goulter said “A fantastic performance by Norths. To play most of the game with 14 men against a Manly side with a squad of 22 and win was a huge effort. These boys continue to show up each week and leave nothing in the change rooms. Bring on the finals!”