The East Coast Eagles kept their finals hopes alive with a solid 55 point win over the UNSW/Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs. With both teams going into the game on the same points, a loss would almost certainly have spelled the end of the finals dream for the loser, so it was a pleasing result for the Eagles. It means the club can look ahead to this week’s game against Wests with some confidence after the way they played on the weekend.

It was a good first quarter which set the tone for the rest of the day. The Eagles won the ball out of the middle and looked to have too much leg speed in the midfield. This enabled the running players in Craig Robinson (pictured), Jon Vlatko and Luke Stanford to constantly set up play, or score goals themselves.

Darren Chapman and Brad Ure were also showing plenty of strength and providing great run from the half back line which was also setting up many forward opportunities. Rowan Bilkey was marking everything in sight in the last line of defence and up front, Ben Rogers was fantastic (even with seven stitches in the back of his head) and ended up with five goals for the day.

Coach Rohan Graham would have been pleased with the commitment and skill level displayed by the Eagles, but also knows that this has to be shown throughout all four quarters to have any chance of beating sides above the Eagles on the ladder. Hopefully next week they will improve another 10% and the finals dream will still be alive after next week. The final score on the day read the Eagles 22 8 (140) to the Bulldogs 12 13 (85).

Reserve grade returned to the winners' list with a dominant display after half-time against the equal third placed Bulldogs. After a close first half East Coast ran out convincing winners by 41 points which could have been greater if the Eagles had kicked straight. The final score was 12 19 (91) to 8 2 (50) in the Eagles’ favour.  It was the Physick family who dominated the day with Tim his usual dominate self down back and Ben taking everything that came his way in the forward line. They were ably supported by strong displays from Brad Whale and James Ford. Carl Doering continues to play above his weight in the ruck with another wholehearted effort. It was just the tonic the “Twos” were looking for after an indifferent display last week.

The Under 18 Challenge Cup boys took on a much bigger and stronger outfit in the Bulldogs and struggled to match up physically and skill-wise against UNSW/ES. They never gave up trying however, as the young team has done all season, but the final scoreboard read the Bulldogs 18 9 (117) to 7 7 (49). Alex Perkins, Max Pobihuska and Daniel McBride all put in a great effort as did all the players.

The Under 18 Premier Cup boys had the bye.

Next week the club heads back to the Sydney Showgrounds with all four teams playing at the one venue. The Challenge Cup boys start the day at 8.15am against Macquarie Uni and then the other three teams follow at 10.15am, 12.15pm and 2.15pm against the Western Suburbs Magpies.