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1979 SEASON
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GRIFFITH NOTES: "The Sou'Wester" May 6, 1979 - No. 4

By Swan: While we showed we could match their football for brief periods, we could not sustain the effort and we were well and truly beaten by a superior side last Sunday.
Narrandera appear certain to play on grand final day if they can maintain their top running of the moment.
Our best players were some of the smallest players afield and one of the reasons why we were beaten was our inability to counter the long reaching Narrandera opposition with our own tall timber.
However, Robbie Owen, Per Dwyer, Dennis Schmetzer, Kelvin Turner and Greg Hill did their best to make up the lee-way and packed plenty of sting in their play.
Our Reserve Grade hardly deserved their narrow win when you consider at one stage we had a mammoth match winning lead of six goals only to see our side slumber their way through the third quarter and place the game at near risk.
We looked good in the first half. John Seidel and Stephen "Sticks" Brand deserved the bulk of the credit to help retrieve the position and salvage our pride. The rest of the boys played too spasmodically to be happy about our form.
Our young Swans in the Under 19's have a fair way to go to challenger the superiority of Narrandera and Turvey Park.

George Beltrame showed by example how we can begin to do this and while we may not play in the finals, we still have much to do to go further.

Notes No. 5 >>>I

SWANS GET POINTS ON THE BOARD
By Jack Luhrs

The Griffith Swans played well enough to defeat Ganmain last Sunday at Ganmain 11.15 (81) to 5.10 (40) but left a nagging doubt had they been matched against a stronger South West team the result may have been different.
However, for a team not wishing to fumble their first win of the season and reshuffled in an effort to wipe out the memory of three previous defeats, the result was quite creditable.
It has been a chilly football year for Griffith.
They went to Ganmain without the injured Glenn Harrison and Sid Robins ... struck the maroons in their best form for the season and had to contend with drizzling rain and a bleak snow wind that contributed towards reducing the winning margin.
Their reshuffled team had many changes with Allan Hicken, Ian Minchin and Laurie Saunders relegated to reserve grade from the beaten team against Narrandera, and promoted Terry Bennett, Drew Luhrs and Stephen Brand to the seniors.
The Swans had further difficulties during the day.
They also lost two of their driving forces during the game when both Peter Dwyer and Ian Wade had to be replaced in the final quarter through injury.
A week of upset within the club was another obstacle to be cast out to show up the win at Ganmain to be substantial and a solid foundation for tougher games ahead.
Despite their desire to win convincingly the Swans struck a trouble spot early in the game where a frustrated Phil McGarry was curtailed at centre half forward by Ganmain coach Barry Nolan.
Nolan, centreman Trevor McPherson and full forward David Carroll with two goals in the first quarter, appeared as though they would resurrect the Ganmain of the past and their history of proving a bogey to visiting Griffith teams.
However, the maroons three goals for the quarter were their best for the day when they were held goalless for the next two sessions and had to wait until the final term before they struck goal dirt again.
Griffith were given a big boost on the day by Peter Matuska with his strong marking around the ground and his palming from the rucks.
Matuska, assistant coach Garry Smart and youthful rover Robbie Owen helped to swing the control back to Griffith where the Swans increased their three-point lead at quarter time to 25 at half time and 34 points on the last change.
Ganmain continued to win plenty of the ball through Barry Nolan and Trevor McPherson but elsewhere the Swans showed clearly, they would run out winners.
Rover Peter Dwyer stood out as one of their best players with another dynamic effort and also finished kicking three goals.

(The Area News - Tuesday May 8, 1979)