Round 15 - Saturday August 3, 2002
Riverina Football League
Venue: Mangoplah Sportsground 2.10pm
Umpires: Paul Guthrie and Rob Davidson (RUA)
Mangoplah-CUE .... 1.4 .. 2.6 .. 3.8 .. 4.8 (32)
Griffith ..................... 1.4 .. 2.7 .. 6.8 .. 9.11 (65)
MANGOPLAH-COOKARDINIA UNITED-EASTLAKES: Adrian Short, Mitch Balding, Graham Pike; Neil Lawson, Chris Higgins, Peter Byrne; Brad Roberson, Brad Sanbrook, Mick Byrne; Trent Balding, Geoff Spriggs, Wayne Schultz; Aaron McVilly, Stephen Wheeler, Casey Godde; Stephen Lawrence, Xavier Higgins, Scott Allen (c-c); Ben Killalea, Nathan Woods, Grant Bruce
GRIFFITH: Shawn Conlan, Jonathan O'Dwyer, Matt Bunn; Damien Scott, Brendan Giason, Jason Malone; Michael Duncan, Phillip Rowston, Kaine Malone; Craig Conlan, Jeff Mickan, Jamie Bennett; Andrew Hill, Danny Beriman, Brett Owen; Matthew Olney, Rodney Duncan, Cian Ebert (c-c); Ben Ford, Chris Conlan, Michael Johns
GOALS
Mangoplah-CUE: S Wheeler, Mick Byrne, S Allen, D Pike
Griffith: M Johns 2, Craig Conlan 2, D Beriman 2, M Olney, A Hill, J Bennett
BEST PLAYERS
Mangoplah-CUE: M Balding, B Killalea, A Short, Brad Roberson, C Higgins, N Lawson
Griffith: P Rowston, M Olney, A Hill, J Bennett, C Ebert
A summary of match report, with thanks
Griffith captain-coach Cian Ebert made a sparkling return from injury as the Swans brought down Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes by 33 points at Mangoplah on Saturday. Ebert showed little effects of being sidelined since July 17 with a groin injury by consistently pumping the ball forward under pressure. The Swans big guns all stood up when it counted.  Phil Rowston directed traffic from the midfield, Matt Olney called the shots in the ruck and Jamie Bennett was a constant headache up forward for the Goannas defence.

Only several costly turnovers prevented MCUE from leading at half-time as each time the visitors made them pay on the scoreboard.

But there was no stopping Griffith in the third term when it broke the shackles in the centre and gave Danny Beriman and company an abundance of one-out opportunities. The Swans added seven goals to two after half-time to gain another of confidence ahead of this weekend's epic battle with Turvey Park. Turvey Park embarrassed rival's East Wagga-Kooringal by 114 points.

With star centre half back Dane Campbell making a grand return from injury, the Bulldogs soon put a stamp on the match and showed the difference between second and fifth on the ladder.  Nigel Clarke, Blair Campbell and Michael Wheatley also helped to restrict last year's grand finalists to two goals. East Wagga's coach Kerry Brain was speechless in summing up the performance and would have been horrified to see his team had 29 less scoring shots than the opposition. Coolamon edged out Leeton-Whitton by 21 points at Woodstock Oval.

The Hoppers trailed for most of the first half but Matt Hard, Greg McKelvie and Andrew McCaig kicked clear in the dying 15 minutes. Defender Kurt Bullock valiantly tried to lift the Crows and only fell short of clinching one of the upsets of the season.  Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong proved too strong for Narrandera. (By Brett Kohlhagen - Border Mail, Monday August 6, 2002).

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OTHER MATCHES - SAT: Leeton-Whitton 55 def by Coolamon 76, Turvey Park 136 def East Wagga-Kooringal 22; SUN: Ganmain-GGM 65 def Narrandera 59.

 
Reserves: Griffith 27.16 (178) def Mangoplah-CUE 3.1 (19)
Goals: P Thornton 5, S Ruyg 4, S Driscoll 4, R Simpkin 3, G Foley 3, D Curran 3, L Condon, Myles Bunn, T Bradley, D Best
Best players: L Condon, D Best, R Hill, D Kidman, S Spiers
Under 18: Mangoplah-CUE 10.12 (72) def Griffith 5.5 (35)
Goals: A Gardner 3, M Fyfe 2
Best players: M Fyfe, B Wade, L Catanzariti, T Webb, E Gilbert