Round 15 - Saturday July 24, 2004
Riverina Football League
Venue: Mangoplah Sportsground 2.10pm
Umpires: Jason Fisher, Peter Ross and Daniel Furner (RUA)
Mangoplah-CUE .... 1.3 .. 4.8 .. 4.11 .. 6.15 (51)
Griffith ..................... 2.5 .. 4.7 .. 5.7 .. 5.9 (39)
MANGOPLAH-COOKARDINIA UNITED-EASTLAKES: Geoff Spriggs, Chris Higgins, Stacey Creasy; Mitch Balding, Mitch Heydon, Adam Howard; Jai Warden, Rod Simms (c-c), Shaun Neiberding; Grant Bruce, Jeff Millar, Trent Balding; Zavier Higgins, Dean Howard, Craig Websdale; Dale Cameron, Casey Godde, Mitch Reberger; Adam Skow, Paul Rutherford, Sean Bennett
GRIFFITH: Trent Bradley, Simon Spiers, Damien Scott; Reece Hill, Ben Wade, Matt Bunn; Ben Ford, Adrian Burns (c-c), Michael Duncan; Brett Owen, Rodney Duncan, Jamie Bennett; Mathew Crack, Phillip Rowston, Ashley Gardner; Jeff Mickan, Shane Pound, Matthew McDonald; Chris Conlan, Jason Hampel, Rick Frkovic
GOALS
Mangoplah-CUE: M Balding, M Balding, P Rutherford, T Balding, S Neiberding, R Simms, G Bruce
Griffith: S Pound 2, J Bennett, A Gardner, J Hampel
BEST PLAYERS
Mangoplah-CUE: M Reberger, R Simms, T Balding, C Higgins, G Bruce, X Higgins
Griffith: B Wade, M Bunn, S Spiers, J Bennett, S Pound
A summary of match report, with thanks
A lack of hunger and slippery conditions is what Griffith Swans coach Adrian Burns is blaming their loss against Mangoplah-Cookardinia-United-Eastlakes at Mangoplah Sportsground on Saturday. Burns was less than impressed with his side's performance against MCUE, saying they just didn't want it enough. "As a team we didn't play well, a lot of players just didn't play well at all," he said.

"They (MCUE) pretty much wanted the ball more than us and that made the difference."  The Swans went up by eight points at quarter time but lost steam going into the second, going into half-time down by one point. According to Burns the Swans simply didn't have what it took to come back through the muddy and slippery conditions. "No, we really didn't handle the wet conditions too well at all."

Burns said the team was at less than full strength with some late injuries being called in. "We had a couple of late withdrawals due to injury, Dave Curran, our ruckman was out too," Burns said. MCUE dominated in the second half and managed to beat second placed Swans.

MCUE captain-coach said the win over the premiers was a massive boost for the Goannas finals campaign. "The young blokes absorbed the pressure well, they are going to get the same sort of pressure in the finals," Simms said. "Every game for us is like an elimination final for us now, but this win was another step forward. (By Amelia Elliston - The Area News, Monday July 26, 2004).

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OTHER MATCHES - SAT: Eastern Hawks 3.8 (26) def by Narrandera 5.18 (48); SUN: Ganmain-GGM 6.11 (47) def Coolamon 2.12 (24), Leeton-Whitton 11.16 (82) def Turvey Park 6.6 (42).

Reserves: Mangoplah-CUE 11.13 (79) def Griffith 6.5 (41)
Goals: N Creevy 2, P Bugno, N Hetherington, R Simpkin, G Dreyer
Best players: N Campbell, D Catanzariti, G Dreyer, R Simpkin, B Lanyon, K Duncan
Under 18: Mangoplah-CUE def Griffith on forfeit