It was a wet Saturday for our opening round to the season, but thanks to our surface at Gore Hill, our ground remained open. Gipps Road also remained open, and all six of our scheduled games went ahead while some other AFL Sydney venues were closed. A successful opening day saw five of our teams take the chocolates; with Mens Seniors, Reserves and Under 19s unfurling their premiership flags in style.
.Our three premiership flags at Gore Hill
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MENS:
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Last year our Mens Premier Division team took out the premiership for the first time since 2007. Mark Livy, who captained our 2007 premiership, was on hand to unfurl our 2024 premiership flag.
The title defence was a tightly-contested affair, with Pennant Hills putting on plenty of physical pressure. The Demons levelled the scored during the third quarter, but were never able to take the lead; and we were able to build up enough of a buffer to hold them out and take a 10-point win in a low-scoring contest. Mitch Rogers, James Tidemann and Finn Chalmers were the standouts as we made our way to a first-up win.
Our Reserves also are defending their title from last season, with former Reserves captain Tim Weston unfurling the 2024 flag before their match against Pennant Hills. From start to finish it was a dominant performance; with Tom Gillis, Charlie Silvester and Sam Milligan running rampant as we powered to a 117-point win, holding the Demons to just one scoring shot for the day.
The Under 19.5s Division One team also unfurled their flag before the first match of their title defence. The lights were on under dark skies, but the play was bright and cheery from our young Bombers as they controlled proceedings to record a comfortable 48 point win. Lewis Jones, Zach Duane and Matt Folkes featured prominently as the Bombers got the flag defence off to a flying start.
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Mens Premier Division (Seniors)
| North Shore | 3.2.20 | 5.4.34 | 6.8.44 | 7.12.54 |
| Pennant Hills | 2.0.12 | 3.4.22 | 5.7.37 | 6.8.44 |
Goals – M Buskariol 2, N Campbell, F Chalmers, E Grace, F Rogers, J Tidemann.
Best – M Rogers, J Tidemann, F Chalmers, W Giacometti, T Drum, M Toohey.
At Gore Hill Oval, Saturday 29th March 2025.
Ladder (Match Ratio) – UNSW-ES (100, 237.50%), South-West Sydney (100, 207.69%), North Shore (100, 122.73%), Pennant Hills (0, 81.48%), UTS (0, 48.15%), St George (0, 42.11%), East Coast (DNP), Inner West (DNP), Manly (DNP), Sydney Uni (DNP).
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Mens Division One (Reserves)
| North Shore | 5.5.35 | 9.10.64 | 14.13.97 | 18.15.123 |
| Pennant Hills | 0.0.0 | 1.0.6 | 1.0.6 | 1.0.6 |
Goals – T Gillis 5, J Cubis 4, J Larkey 3, C Silvester 2, W Carlaw, A Rankin, G Warmbrunn, T Zeeman.
Best – T Gillis, C Silvester, S Milligan, A Kourakis, W Carlaw, T Zeeman.
At Gore Hill Oval, Saturday 29th March 2025.
Ladder (Match Ratio) – North Shore (100, 2060.00%), Camden (100, 106.48%), Parramatta (0, 93.94%), Pennant Hills (0, 4.88%), Inner West (DNP), Southern Power (DNP), St George (DNP), Sydney Uni (DNP), UNSW-ES (DNP).
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Mens Under 19.5s Division One
| North Shore | 3.2.20 | 5.5.35 | 7. 7.49 | 10.7.67 |
| Pennant Hills | 0.1.1 | 2.4.16 | 2.4.16 | 2.7.19 |
Goals – J Blazey 3, C Clarke 2, S Clancy, Z Duane, C Hawton, N Howson, H Milne.
Best – L Jones, Z Duane, M Folkes, L Whiley, H Charles, J Blazey.
At Gore Hill Oval, Saturday 29th March 2025.
Ladder (Match Ratio) – UNSW-ES (100, 1222.22%), North Shore (100, 352.53%), UTS (100, 134.21%), South-West Sydney (0, 74.51%), Pennant Hills (0, 28.36%), St George (0, 8.10%), East Coast (DNP), Inner West (DNP), Manly (DNP), Sydney Uni (DNP).
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WOMENS
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If you’re looking to make a statement and exert your dominance early, our Womens Seniors showed how it’s done as they made light work of Pennant Hills at Gore Hill. From start to finish, the Bombers were in total control of the game. Plenty of targets presented themselves on the forward line, with Adrienne Keeffe booting five goals and Heidi de Saxe four. Around the ground, Charli Tidemann, Lucy Yates and Sophie Kavanagh were ball magnets; but everyone in the team played their roles to perfection as we kept the Demons scoreless to record a 134-point triumph.
Womens Reserves was the first game of the day at Gore Hill, and copped the wettest and most slippery conditions. It wasn’t easy controlling the ball in the wet, which made for a low-scoring contest. It was a gallant fighting effort, but the Bombers went down by two goals in the wet. Liv O’Donnell, Grace Thomas and Cordelia McLeay were best for the Bombers.
Our Womens Under 20s team had a road trip to Gipps Road to take on the Goannas. In a spectacular reversal of last year’s Grand Final result, our young Bombers dominated from start to finish. Willow Orsini, Eliza McLeod and India Gilbert were best on ground; but it was a solid team effort to get the job done by 53 points in difficult wet conditions.
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Womens Premier Division (Seniors)
| North Shore | 4.4.28 | 7.14.56 | 11.19.85 | 18.26.134 |
| Pennant Hills | 0.0.0 | 0.0.0 | 0.0.0 | 0.0.0 |
Goals – A Keeffe 5, H de Saxe 4, G Fowler 3, A Horneman 2, M Eder, S Kavanagh, C Tidemann, L Yates.
Best – C Tidemann, L Yates, S Kavanagh, H de Saxe, A Keeffe, G Fowler.
At Gore Hill Oval, Saturday 29th March 2025.
Ladder (Match Ratio) – North Shore (100, infinity%), UTS (100, infinity%), UNSW-ES (100, 590.91%), St George (0, 15.92%), Parramatta (0, 0.00%), Pennant Hills (0, 0.00%), East Coast (DNP), Manly (DNP), Sydney Uni (DNP).
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Womens Division One (Reserves)
| North Shore | 0.1.1 | 1.1.7 | 1.1.7 | 1.3.9 |
| Sydney Uni | 0.1.1 | 1.2.8 | 2.3.15 | 3.3.21 |
Goals – B French.
Best – L O’Donnell, G Thomas, C McLeay, L Watkins, Z Milligan, B French.
At Gore Hill Oval, Saturday 29th March 2025.
Ladder (Match Ratio) – Randwick City (100, 1650.00%), Sydney Uni (100, 233.33%), North Shore (0, 42.86%), Newtown (0, 5.41%), Camden (DNP), Manly (DNP), South-West Sydney (DNP), UTS (DNP).
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Womens Under 20s
| North Shore | 3.0.18 | 6.1.37 | 8.4.52 | 9.7.61 |
| Parramatta | 0.2 .2 | 0.2.2 | 0.2.2 | 1.2.8 |
Goals – A Prentice 3, E Byrne 2, S Chiara, I Edmunds, E Halloran, S Smale.
Best – W Orsini, E McLeod, I Gilbert, S Chiara, K Galea, H Charles.
At Gipps Road Oval, Saturday 29th March 2025.
Ladder (Match Ratio) – North Shore (100, 762.50%), Parramatta (0, 13.11%), Manly (DNP), Sydney Uni (DNP), UNSW-ES (DNP), UTS (DNP).
