Preliminary Final Sunday September 17, 2006
Riverina Football League. Gate: $8508 
Venue: Narrandera Sportsground
Umpires: Scott Crowley, Paul Smith and Sam Graham (RUA)
Leeton-Whitton ..... 2.6 .. 8.18 .. 11.19 .. 18.24 (132)
Griffith ..................... 4.1 .. 8.3 .. 15.5 .. 16.8 (104)
LEETON-WHITTON: Travis Doyle, Greg Looby, Matthew Flagg; Daniel Sullivan, Ben Dryburgh, Travis Irvin; David Elwin, Drew Dunscombe, Brad Boots; Daryl Clayton, Danny Baxter, Simon Piltz; Graeme Dale, Damian Lang (c-c), Matthew Lang; Kurt Bullock, Jamie Broadbent, Matthew Sharman; David Harrison, Dale Symes, Bruce Gilmour, Nick Patten 
GRIFFITH: Sam Hickleton, Glenn Vaccari, Daniel Best; Roger Heenan, Brendan Giason, David Pasin; Ben Ford, Matt Bunn, Myles Bunn; Josh Ward, Nathan Petersen-Gray, Michael Duncan; James Toscan, Gary Argus, Daniel Meade; Jeff Mickan, Luke McLean (c-c), Matthew McDonald; Joel Brown, Graham Foley, Jeff Harris, Dean Crack
GOALS
Leeton-Whitton: D Lang 10, G Dale 3, D Clayton 3, D Dunscombe, D Baxter
Griffith: M Duncan 4, L McLean 3, M McDonald 3, J Toscan 2, N Petersen-Gray 2, G Argus, J Brown
BEST PLAYERS
Leeton-Whitton: D Clayton, D Lang, D Elwin, B Boots, D Sullivan, S Piltz
Griffith: M Duncan, M McDonald, J Mickan, Matt Bunn, L McLean, J Toscan
A summary of match report, with thanks
Leeton-Whitton moved through to its first grand final appearance in almost 30 years after producing a courageous comeback to defeat Griffith at Narrandera Sportsground. The Crows slammed home the closing seven goals of the preliminary final to run out deserving victors 18.24 (132) to 16.8 (104). Although the Crows got the result, they made hard work of the win after trailing by as much as 17 points at the six-minute mark of the final term. Earlier in the day, Leeton-Whitton entered the main break with just a 15-point lead after dominating the final 15 minutes of the second quarter but could only manage seven straight behinds.

The Crows continued on their surge after half-time and got out to a 26-point lead midway through the quarter before Griffith kicked seven goals in a space of nine minutes to go into the final change 10 points in front. Griffith utility Joel Brown kicked the first goal of the final term to extend the Swans' lead to 17 points before the Crows got going again to runaway with a remarkable win. Leeton-Whitton's co-coach Damien Lang was best-on-ground for the Crows as the spearhead booted 10 goals in a dominant performance.

Leeton-Whitton's other coach Jameie Broadbent was thrilled to have finally taken the Crows to a grand final. "To the boys' credit, they really had to work hard to win out there today," Broadbent said. "Having won their last couple of close games we knew Griffith was going to come home strong, but we lifted and were able to get there. "Griffith had really got on a roll heading into last quarter but we rallied and rallied and got back on top. "I thought we were very good today and you couldn't pick one standout - it was a very good team effort."

 In a shock move from Griffith, key defender Nathan Petersen-Gray started up forward and was good early, kicking two goals and helping the Swans to a seven-point quarter-time lead. It should have been a bigger lead to Griffith, but the Swans tried to do too much with the football entering the forward 50 and often turned the ball over. Lang used the second quarter to assert his dominance booting four goals to take the team to a 15-point lead at quarter-time but wasteful use of the ball and inaccurate kicking cost the Crows a bigger lead.

Lang started the third term with a further two goals before Griffith began its blitz with midfielders Luke McLean, Matt McDonald and Mick Duncan all kicking multiple goals to suddenly bring the Swans to life. But the Swans simply spent too much petrol getting back into the game and after extending their lead to 17-points early in the final term, the Crows ran over Griffith to set up a rematch with minor premiers Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong. (The Area News - Monday September 18, 2006).

 

Reserves
Narrandera ............ 4.3 .. 5.4 .. 8.5 .. 12.6 (78)
Eastern Hawks ..... 4.1 .. 6.3 .. 9.5 .. 16.8 (104)
Goals - Narrandera: M English 7, D Kenna 2, J Mimmo, J Zac, C Walsh
Eastern Hawks: M Adams 3, R Campbell 3, M McPherson 2, B Limbrick 2, J Grieve, J Nockholds, T Green, S Jones, J Richards, J Macauslan
Best players - Narrandera: C Walsh, S Martin, B Hutchins, M English, L Baumgartner, D Kenna
Eastern Hawks: C DePiazza, D Spencer, D Cheney, R Campbell, J Hack, J Richards

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Under 18
Leeton-Whitton ......... 4.3 .. 7.8 .. 11.12 .. 16.16 (112)
Mangoplah-CUE ........ 4.3 .. 8.3 .. 9.5 .. 12.8 (80)
Goals - Leeton-Whitton: B Dunn 3, S Collis 3, N Doolin 3, S Hillier 2, K Moon, B Elwin, N Schubert, R Dunn, A Gordon
Mangoplah-CUE: J Foster 9, M Finemore 2, J Killalea
Best players - Leeton-Whitton: N Doolin, J Jeffries, P Iannelli, B Dunn, M Vogele, K Moon
Mangoplah-CUE: J Killalea, J Foster, J Cobb, M Smith, D Cooper, K Thompson