Round 7 - Sunday June 2, 2002
Riverina Football League
Venue: Griffith Exies Oval 2.10pm
Umpires: Wayne Tilyard and Peter Ross (RUA)
Griffith ............ 9.3 .. 18.5 .. 25.7 .. 31.11 (197)
Coolamon ...... 1.0 .. 2.0 .. 6.1 .. 6.1 (37)
GRIFFITH: Shawn Conlan, Jonathan O'Dwyer, Damien Scott; Luke Condon, Chris Blanchard, David Kidman; Matt Bunn, Phillip Rowston, Michael Duncan; Matthew Olney, Jeff Mickan, Craig Conlan; Ben Wade*, Danny Beriman, Jamie Bennett; Brendan Giason, Cian Ebert (c-c), Trevor Clarke; David Curran, Matthew Kenny, Kaine Malone
COOLAMON ROVERS: Matthew McKinley, Scott Bradley, Brett Garrett; Pat Edmunds, Leigh Drum, Tim Hilton; Brenton Cook, Matt Hard (c-c), Adam McKenzie; Scott Martin, Francis Furner, Brad Mattingly; Darren Moorhead, James McKenzie, Jeff Talbot; Andrew McCaig, Anthony Breust, Michael Moodie; Daniel Crocker, Hamish Dyce, Glen Rowlands
GOALS
Griffith: B Wade 6, D Beriman 4, M Duncan 4, D Scott 4, Craig Conlan 3, D Curran 2, K Malone 2, M Kenny 2,

L Condon, T Clarke, C Ebert, J Bennett
Coolamon: M Hard, B Mattingly, D Moorhead, H Dyce, A McKenzie, M McKinley
BEST PLAYERS
Griffith: P Rowston, J Mickan, C Ebert, M Duncan, T Clarke
Coolamon: A McCaig, L Drum, S Martin, A Breust, A McKenzie

SENIOR DEBUT: Ben Wade
A summary of match report, with thanks
The Griffith Swans continued their early dominance of the Riverina Football League competition, a 31.11 (197) to 6.1 (37) victory over Coolamon seeing the side through the first round of matches undefeated. With the Wagga Tigers having left the RFL, Swans captain-coach Cian Ebert wanted his side to be the new benchmark in 2002.

Having defeated every other side convincingly in the first full round for seven consecutive wins, the Swans appear to have achieved that aim. "We're really rapt we got through the first round of games and won them all," Ebert said.

He said Griffith started off in a "fantastic" manner, kicking nine goals in the first term. Making his first-grade debut was under-18s captain Ben Wade, who had the perfect start to his senior career with five goals in the first quarter and six for the game, to lead the Swan' scorers.

The side had scored 100 points by half-time, which Ebert described as "something special". "We knew we had to start well because it was a worry last time after we had a week's break ... but we got out of the blocks really well," he said.

However, he said that there is still room for improvement - sure to be an unwelcome statement for the other RFL sides. "On the whole we went well, but it was probably our worst skill day all year," Ebert said.

"We missed a lot of targets and turned the ball over a lot ... there's still plenty of things to work on." 
It was an ideal start for the Swans as they kicked nine goals three behinds in the first term while keeping Coolamon to just one major.

The Hoppers doubled their score in the second quarter, but the Swans added another nine majors for an 113-12 lead at the long break.

A minor comeback in the third term saw Coolamon kick four goals one, but Griffith continued to score easily with seven majors for the quarter for a 120-point lead at the final break.

While the Hoppers did not give up, contesting every kick and pass through the final term the Swans extended its lead by another 40 points. Coolamon was held scoreless in the final term while Griffith added another six majors and four behinds for a 160-point win.

(By Rebecca Kroek - The Area News, Monday June 3, 2002).

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OTHER MATCHES - SAT: East Wagga-K 122 def Mangoplah-CUE 78, Narrandera 62 def by Turvey Park 163; SUN: Ganmain-GGM 101 def by Leeton-Whitton 120

Reserves: Griffith 27.17 (179) def Coolamon 3.2 (20)
Goals: S Ruyg 12, G Foley 4, Myles Bunn 2, B Ford 2, J Way 2, R Simpkin 2, S Driscoll 2, W Armstrong
Best players: Chris Conlan, Myles Bunn, S Ruyg, S Spiers, R Simpkin
Under 18: Griffith 18.4 (112) def Coolamon 9.6 (60)
Goals: A Gardner 6, K Duncan 5, B Hicken 2, B Owen, L Catanzariti, R McClintock, M Smith, N Malone
Best players: W Archibald, B Owen, A Gardner, K Duncan, J Hampel