Sea Eagles make a statement at home

INVERLOCH KONGWAK have made a bold statement in front of a huge home crowd at the Inverloch Recreation Reserve on Saturday, dominating the reigning premiers Tooradin Dalmore with another defensive masterclass. 

In a massive day for the club, the Sea Eagles were celebrating their 1973, 1983 and 2013 premierships and with past players from over the years in attendance, a brand-new career was blooded.

Jarvis Harvey became the eighth IK debutant from the under 18s this season and he wasted no time announcing himself, taking a tremendous diving mark inside 50 and kicking truly for the game’s first major, joining the first kick first goal club in the process. 

The home side were inaccurate at times though and that let the Seagulls settle in to the contest, as the sun beamed down Trent Adams extracted the ball from a stoppage at the top of the goal square and snapped truly to get his side on the board. 

The game evened up for the remainder of the quarter, the only breakaway in the end was Corey Casey’s goal on return, a nice snap off the crumbs. 

Casey’s goal gave the hosts an 11-point lead heading into the first break in what was a very even contest. 

Brent Macaffer got scoring underway in the second was a snap, just touched over the line by Lewis Rankin, but the ‘Gulls looked much better in the second, lifting their pressure around the contest.

The visitors were able to apply pressure and get out the back, moving the ball well through the middle to score, this was ignited by Lewis Hill who was having a fantastic game in defence. 

The visitors started to press hard through Lumby but out of nowhere the Sea Eagles were able to reply, thanks to some clever work on the boundary line from Will Turner and Oscar Toussaint and some incredible skill from Marcus Toussaint to get it to Harvey for his second. 

The home crowd were finding their voice, particularly the large contingent of under 18s behind the goals cheering on their beloved full forward.

The game then turned back into an arm wrestle as 
neither team were able to put any more goals on the board, and the Sea Eagles took an even three goal lead into the main break. 

After a strong fightback in the second term, closing the gap within a goal and looking ominous throughout, the reigning premiers were remarkably held goalless in the premiership quarter. 

The hometown Sea Eagles were superb in defence behind their star recruit in Short and were able to kick four goals for the term, as their trademark coast to coast movement was on full display even through a light rain shower. 

The Seagulls continued to work hard to counterattack the IK drives, but it all came undone by some costly 50 metre penalties, one of which handing Marcus Toussaint his first major. 

The sun reappeared and Tooradin Dalmore were able to win the final term, booting five goals and finally finding their trademark ball movement kicking towards the town end, but three goals to the hosts were enough to stay easily out of reach. 

The Sea Eagles making it two on the trot since their shock loss in Nar Nar Goon and now see themselves go 10-points clear on top of the table with a 28-point win over the Seagulls.