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Bombers get stuck into Pints

04 February 2015

Barkley Cooper looks to pick out a teammate up the ground. Barkley Cooper looks to pick out a teammate up the ground.

By IAN DOUGLASS 

The Jabiru Bombers played out a thrilling draw against Pint FC in front of an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers and sponsors on Saturday 17 January in its last home game for the season.

Pint fielded a strong team on its visit to Jabiru and at quarter time held a slim 2-point advantage, with the highlight for the Jabiru Bombers being Josh Heatlie’s checkside goal on the run, ala Buddy Franklin without the speed! The arm wrestle between the two teams continued in the second quarter as Pint were able to sweep the ball out of the Bombers forward line, seemingly with relative ease, although the Bombers did score 3 goals to 2 for the quarter to lead by 5 points at the main break 5-4-34 to 4-5-29.

Anthony Reid was having a day out in the ruck and was a dominant figure for most of the game, soaring above his opponents, but Jabiru were unable to take full advantage of his centre bounce dominance as Pint outscored Jabiru 2 goals to 1 for the quarter to lead by 1 point as three-quarter time came around.

Bombers' Anthony Reid stands his ground to receive a well-justified free kick. Bombers' Anthony Reid stands his ground to receive a well-justified free kick.

Scott Gurruwiwi uses his Pint opponents as stepladders. Scott Gurruwiwi uses his Pint opponents as stepladders.

The last quarter was an exciting affair, with Pint kicking the first 3 goals of the term to open up an 18 point advantage. With less than five minutes to play, Jabiru staged a remarkable comeback, kicking the last 3 goals of the quarter, including a desperate snap from Dillon Guymala with what was to prove to be the last kick of the game, earning Jabiru a hard-fought draw! 

JABIRU TAKES OUT TOP TEAM 

The previous week, the Bombers recorded a stirring 4-point win in its return Round 13 clash against top-of-the-table Waratah at TIO Stadium on Saturday.

The Bombers team featured 14 different players to the squad that lost to Waratah in Round 1 by a whopping 95 points. In what were at times near-cyclonic conditions, on a very heavy ground, and despite missing several big names from the team, the Bombers started well enough to be just one goal down at quarter time, with Waratahs leading 3-1-19 to Jabiru 2-1-13. The first quarter was to prove the highest scoring stanza of the game as conditions steadily deteriorated.

The second quarter saw Jabiru play smart possession football, but despite their dominance, Jabiru found itself unable to get the ball between the big sticks, finishing with 2-4 to Tahs 1 goal to inch ahead by 4 points at half time. In what then became a real slog - at times resembling more of a game of rugby than a game of Australian Rules Football - the Tahs kicked the only goal of the quarter to lead by 2 points at the three-quarter break 5-2-32 to Jabiru 4-6-30.

With Jabiru down another player due to serious injury, and with their backs to the wall, the Bombers played inspired football to keep Tahs goalless in the final term, with full forward Scott Maralngurra kicking what proved to be the last goal of the game with his trademark left foot snap in the last five minutes. The final score was a real nail-biter for those watching from the sidelines, with Jabiru ahead 5-7-37 to Waratah 5-3-33.