Round 8 - Saturday May 29, 2004
Riverina Football League
Venue: Mangoplah Sportsground 2.10pm
Umpires: Pat O'Donoghue, Scott Crowley and Daniel Furner (RUA)
Mangoplah-CUE .... 0.3 .. 3.6 .. 7.6 .. 13.10 (88)
Griffith ..................... 8.2 .. 12.5 .. 16.10 .. 19.12 (126)
MANGOPLAH-COOKARDINIA UNITED-EASTLAKES: Adam Howard, Geoff Spriggs, Mitch Balding; Chris Higgins, Dale Cameron, Casey Godde; Xavier Higgins, Dean Howard, Shaun Nelberding; Travis Richards, Rodney Simms (c-c), Peter Treloar; Andrew Mahoney, Mitchell Heydon, Trent Balding; Jai Warden, Mitch Reberger, Neil Lawson; Luke Kendall, Graham Pike, Stace Creasy 
GRIFFITH: Dominic Giorgi, Simon Spiers, Trent Bradley; Rick Frkovic, Ben Wade, Simon McClure; Ben Ford, Matthew McDonald, Jason Hampel; Michael Duncan, Jeff Mickan, Rodney Duncan; Mathew Crack, Ashley Gardner, Jamie Bennett; David Curran, Adrian Burns (c-c), Shane Pound; Chris Conlan, Damien Scott, Brett Lanyon
GOALS
Mangoplah-CUE: M Reberger 4, R Simms 4, P Treloar 2, N Lawson, M Heyden, T Richards
Griffith: M Duncan 8, J Bennett 4, A Gardner 3, B Ford, D Curran, M McDonald, M Crack
BEST PLAYERS
Mangoplah-CUE: R Simms, J Warden, M Reberger, D Howard, M Balding, A Howard
Griffith: M Duncan, S McClure, S Spiers, B Wade, M McDonald, D Curran
A summary of match report, with thanks
Griffith further widened the gap in the Riverina Football League on Saturday following a first quarter demolition of Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes. The Goannas battled hard to remain competitive with the premiers at Mangoplah Sportsground, but the damage had already been done after Griffith booted 8.2 to just three points in the opening term.  From there, MCUE actually outscored Griffith by nine points, with the Swans finishing 19.12 (126) to 13.10 (86) winners.

Swans coach Adrian Burns said the two halves of the game proved to be poles apart in terms of form with Griffith dominating the first half but Mangoplah fighting back in the second half. "We played pretty good in the first half, but after half-time it was a pretty ordinary game, the standard really dropped off," Burns said. "The skills weren't pretty after half-time."

They did fight back a bit (in the second half), but it really wasn't a really good game. "But it was good to go there and get the win and the four points and get out of there." While the loss pushed the bottom teams further away from the leaders, Goannas captain-coach Rod Simms was adamant Mangoplah was not far away from toppling one of the leading teams. "We gave them three or four easy goals in the first quarter and that really hurt us," he said. "But from there we fought on well. We're not going to get disillusioned because we are not that far away."

Simms, who was a stand-out in leading the Goannas back from the first quarter deficit, booted four goals. "They picked up three or four easy goals in the first term and that killed us," he said. "You just cannot afford to let teams have a run of eight goals." Michael Duncan, who booted eight majors, and Jamie Bennett were the stand-out for Griffith, while Simon McClure and Ben Wade were also instrumental.

(By Tim Barrow - The Area News, Monday May 31, 2004).   

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OTHER MATCHES - SAT: Narrandera 21.17 (143) def Eastern Hawks 7.12 (54); SUN: Coolamon 10.8 (68) def by Ganmain-GGM 15.18 (114), Turvey Park 19.11 (125) def Leeton-Whitton 18.11 (119)

Reserves: Mangoplah-CUE 26.20 (176) def Griffith 0.0 (0)
Best players: G Ceccato, K Duncan, J Codemo
Under 18: Mangoplah-CUE 21.9 (135) def Griffith 3.3 (21)
Goals: D Catanzariti, T Matheson, T Wade
Best players: P Bugno, D Catanzariti, K Duncan, K Hicken, L Habel