THE Bomaderry Tigers 2014 South Coast AFL campaign has come to an end in both first and reserve grade over the weekend.
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The Shoalhaven played host to all this weekend’s games, with the major semis being held at West Street Oval, while the minor semis were at Tom Smith Oval.
Heavy rain during the week certainly didn’t make things any easier for the players out in the middle, but they soldiered on in the mud and the rain.
While the weather was far from perfect, it did not stop strong crowds turning out to watch, but unfortunately there was little joy for the locals.
The Tigers first grade were beaten 64.50 by Northern Districts, while reserve grade went down 82.30 against the Figtree Kangaroos.
Although he was disappointed with the loss, first grade assistant coach Matt Cace said they put in a good performance.
“Obviously conditions were very poor, but it didn’t lower our spirits, we battled on in a hard, tough contest,” he said.
“It was always going to be close, but to Norths credit, they hung in there and probably had a little more in the tank,” he added.
The Tigers looked like they had a red-hot opportunity to take the game at the end of the third quarter, where they held a 43-38 lead.
“We had that momentum going into the fourth quarter, but then a couple of calls didn’t go our way and they managed to capitalise and they held us out,” Cace said.
“It was fairly disappointing, I thought we had the team to do it, but they probably deserve to be there,” he added.
Cace said it was a very good season for them as a whole and they look to be in good stead for the future under the guidance of coach Sean Byrne.
Norths will now take on the Kiama Power in next week’s preliminary final, where they will be fighting for a place in the grand final against the Wollongong Bulldogs.
While Cace still believes the Bulldogs are the team to beat, he said he would like to see Norths go on to make the grand final to break things up from recent years.
In reserve grade, Figtree will play Wollongong in the preliminary final, with the winner to take on Ulladulla, who booked their place in the grand final on Saturday.