The start of the game was like a scene from Lord of the Rings, the nippy little Tigers overrunning the Dockers like a pack of Orcs, with the home side in total disarray, before two towering purple Ents, later revealed to be Jimmy and Mitchell Hancock arriving 10 minutes late, came lumbering over the western hill to bring a bit of stability to the chaos unfolding on field. The Dockers somewhat stopped the bleeding at the back end of the first quarter, going in to the first break trailing 14-0.

Coach John Dyball called on his troops to muscle up and his backmen to take more responsibility in the second stanza and they did just that. Luke Evans and the backline were mosquito like in their ability to annoy and harass the Tigers forwards while at the other end of the field Shayne ‘Dear Leader’ Leffley was finding plenty of footy and getting into excellent positions, only to find the overwhelming crowd support too much pressure to stay composed in front of goal, spraying what looked to be a certain goal.

Fortunately for Shayne he was surrounded by the cool heads of Cody Smith and Tyler who were more than up to the task of adding a few majors. The game threatening to erupt in to some fisticuffs heading in to the main break, with the Tigers leading the Dockers 20-19.

The third quarter was probably the best from the home side; new recruit Brian ‘b-boy briz’ Travers used every bit of his gold medal winning AFL 9’s experience to get plenty of footy on the flanks and Aidan MacGregor showed poise beyond his years using the footy at a high efficiency. Skipper Adam Clough provided a strong, if wayward, target up front adding a goal and a couple of behinds, while Tyler McCabe yet again showed his class slotting a screamer from 50 out, giving the Dockers 2 goals 4 behinds for the quarter to take a 14-point lead in to three-quarter time.

The fourth quarter was a real arm wrestle with the Tigers refusing to lie down. Just when it looked like they may be staging some kind of fight back, ‘Dear Leader’ Leffley stood up, putting his second quarter choke behind him to win the footy, step three would-be Tigers tacklers and calmly put a goal of the year contender through the sticks, to rapturous applause from the 300 plus strong crowd. Shayne was ably backed up by Cody, Tyler and Harrison Donohue who all put their hand up when the game was there to be won.

The final score a very important 50-35 point win to the Dockers, sending them to the top of the 3rd grade table. It was a great win for the team and it was so good to see such good numbers turn up for the purplehaze. It’s been quite some time since an Ulladulla side had the luxury of 3 emergency players spare.

Don’t forget August 25 is Dockers past players and family day from 12 noon at Ulladulla sports park. There’ll be a jumping castle, face painting, bar service and two cracking games of footy. Also Preso is at the Milton Ulladulla Ex Servos club on Friday, October 12. The Dockers night of nights is one not to be missed with 100 club tickets selling now. If you want to nab one contact us through the Facebook page!