Narrandera Eagles Seniors took on a strong GGGM Lions outfit at the sportsground on Saturday in their opening hit-out after a solid pre-season.

The Eagles were under the pump early with the Lions winning some clean footy, getting a lot of shots on goal and they took a handy 40-point lead into the first break.

Harry Grintell looked busy in the second quarter and did everything he could to bring the Eagles back into the contest, young Brad Hutchinson was working hard in the ruck giving the Eagles first use but Ganmain continued to pound the footy into the backline.

Angus Durnan, Luke Paterson and Jordan Hedington were working hard to stop a strong Ganmain forward line.

After the break the margin didn’t change much but the Eagles continued to try and get the footy going forward.

Ben Grinter and his brother Joe were working hard through the middle of the ground to get the Eagles back into the game.

At three quarter time the Eagles were behind but were given a goal to win the last quarter, which they did.

A shining light in a tough start to the season for the Eagles with the final score Narrandera 5.4 (34) to Ganmain 16.17 (113).

Overall a disappointing result for the seniors but a bye this weekend will give them a good week of training to turn the result around.

Best Players were Harry Grintell, Ben Grinter and Tom Van Buuren.

In the reserves, a new Narrandera reserve grade side took to the field against Ganmain.

The side full of fresh faces started poorly against a young Ganmain side, however as the game prolonged were able to work together and improve.

Matt Steiger’s first game as an Eagle was outstanding with Andrew Beal and Jarrad Cassamatis running hard all day.

Captain James Sullivan was solid down back. With two weeks before the next game, the Eagles will improve their fitness and skills and come out strong against Turvey Park away.

The final score was Narrandera 2.2 (14) to Ganmain 10.16 (76) and best players were Andrew Beal, Matt Steiger, Jarrad Cassamatis, James Sullivan, Matthew Dillon and Logan Smith.

Goals were kicked by Lachlan Kerr 1, and D’Andre Williams, 1.

Goal kickers for the Lions were Brent Fennessy 2, Cameron Linsell 2, Bryce Connellan 2, Blake Larkin 1, Dominic Newnham 1, Isaac Noble 1 and Jake Angel 1.

Also, on Saturday the Under 17 boys took on the Lions on home ground with the Eagles pretty keen after a year’s layoff from the game.

The first quarter was even considering the 21-7 end of quarter score line. Through Lachlan Kerr in the ruck, the Eagles were able to get plenty of the ball from the centre but were unable to use this to their advantage.

The coaches at quarter time could not fault the endeavour and toughness from every single player, the message was to keep scrapping and moving the ball forward at every chance.

The second quarter went very similar to the first, with dominant performances in the middle of the ground.

The forwards became more con dent as the game went on and were able to find more space but unfortunately couldn’t apply scoreboard pressure. The half time the score was Lions 37-14 Narrandera.

The second half was a hard fought out contest, the coaches at half time had asked for pressure on the ball when not in possession and they got it.

The young Eagles side which was made up of a handful of under 15 players and some players who haven’t played for a while, showed great promise and effort throughout the whole game.

With players to come back into the side there are definitely promising signs for the year ahead.

The final score was Lions 9.15 (69) to Eagles 6.5 (41) with goal kickers Heath Wasley-Reilly 2, Louis Deen, Xavier Davis, Cody Eade and Reid Hitchens and best players Lachlan Kerr, Louis Deen, Xavier Davis, Tyler Mohr, Heath Wasley-Reilly and Cody Eade.