Agnes Water took on Avondale at Gary Larsen Oval with the Marlins short of numbers on the bench again going into the match with 17 men.
Aaryn Lowcok is his new home at half back has settled in well pairing with Timothy McIntosh and the new combination wreaked havoc in the first half taking the Marlins up 24-14 at the break.
Tigers coach Michael O’Sullivan must have chosen the right words at the break as his team came out firing putting on two quick tries then lock Viliami Tufulele skilfully sucked in a dummy before passing to Bek onto five-eighth Tevita Fonua to score under the posts taking the score to 26-14 to the Tigers.
Young winger Nickolas Lorenz scored a thriller in the corner adding another four, making it 30-14. Agnes Water was not done yet with momentum swaying the Marlins way with 13 minutes to go.
A classic chip over the top and regather by McIntosh saw him pass out to hooker Dylan Still on to Sykes for him to score under the posts bringing the Marlins within two points of the Tigers. With only minutes to go both teams scored again with Tiger Clayton Saunders dazzling the crowd with his outside, inside passing to see the Tigers cross again, only to have the Marlins fight back scoring in the dying seconds but it was not enough for the Marlins to secure a win. Tigers got up in a close match 44-40. Another loss to the Marlins sees them sitting on the bottom of the ladder.
In the main game Miram Vale took on Gin Gin with the Magpies running out in pink jerseys in support of Women in League with both side spulling on purple socks supporting Domestic Violence Awareness.
Due to injury and work commitment Gin Gin travelled with only 15 boys and it looked evident early on that this was going to cost the Hawks dearly. Steven Brookes opened the scoring for the Magpies early on but following on from a rare Aaron Causton error, fullback Matt Boardman scored in the corner levelling at 4-all.
The Pies ran in two quick tries with Jake Gower and Kara Gardner crossing, taking the score to 14-4 in the 26th minute. Gin Gin was heading outwide to score again after a pass from Brandon Galea onto Matt Boardman.
Boardman was tackled 25 metres out but did not move. Tackler Steven Brookes stayed with his opponent realising something was not right. Matt, in his first game back for the Hawks after fracturing an eye socket in March, will be out for the rest of the season with a broken leg.
After an hour delay the lights were switched on and played resumed well after the final siren should have been blown. Hawks resumed making a pile of errors and that frustration boiled over with two Hawks players spending time in the bin.
Jake Gower again crossed the line taking the Pies to 20-14 but Gin Gin’s forward Phil Lindsay scored back to back tries reigniting the Hawks who through some solid defence were able to keep the Pies out. Front Rower Andrew McKay made a brilliant 65 metre run from the kick off allowing the Hawks easy metres to cross again. Kurt McKeown ran over to put the Pies 26-24 up with only minutes to go but the never say die attitude of the Hawks saw them score twice ending the game with a 32-24 result with only 14 players.
