It was certainly a dominant day for SJC out at Northbridge A ground today. This was somewhat due to their immense depth, but I thought that Joeys played a tougher brand of footy that forced Shore to make errors and they capitalised well on these turnovers with clinical attack in the ‘red zone’. Here’s how I saw it as part of the Shore faithful.
For me, I was disappointed with a few of the Shore performances today. The 15As went down by 3 converted tries in a much anticipated game, the Joeys and Shore 15As have been regarded as very strong teams in their age group and have had tough battles over the past two years with Shore getting the upper hand more often then not, but today they looked outclassed and will need to improve big before they meet again later in the term. The 4ths really struggled today after promising trial form, going down 48-0, the defence was sloppy and they looked intimated by the Joe-boys who continued to run in for tries. Furthermore, the Shore 2nd XV started their competition season in terrible fashion as they were picked apart by young Hannon at fly-half with a deficit of over 50, the 2s will gather some much needed troops back but even the likes of veterans Grieg and Frape may not be enough for Shore to have a real crack in their competition.
On the other hand, there were many positive for Shore supporters in a sea of losses. The 5th XV were the standout of the ‘non-comp’ lower opens Shore teams, they only went over for 1 try but could hold their line for the majority of the game as Joeys only managed a couples of tries, a valiant effort considering the points against the 4th-8th XVs may have totalled over 300! The 3rds competed with Joeys all game and I think the scoreboard of 17-7 doesn’t do justice to resemble how close the contest was, Shore will definitely be a chance to defend the Col Windon Shield when their comp commences in a few weeks. And finally, I have to say I am impressed with how the Shore 1st XV performed against the competition favourites, I had my doubts after a trial period where Shore went winless but today’s game indicated that the men from North Sydney will not be easy-beats in 2025. In my opinion, if Callaghan plays today, Shore win, even without Bassingthwaighte. Francis’ team didn’t get the win but they haven’t certainly earnt my tip against TSC next week.
