PORT Macquarie Magpies bowed out as Sawtell-Toormina Saints progressed to their seventh-straight AFL North Coast senior grand final.
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The Saints proved far too strong for the Pies at Coffs Harbour on Saturday in a 14.15 (99) to 6.4 (40) victory.
Following the match, Magpies coach Tom Marmo was already looking to next season.
"This season we've introduced young guys such as Kye Wilson, Ed Smith, and Marraki Kilpatrick to the team,” he said.
“Next year we'll be bringing through the next crop including Dom Byrne and Layton Gray.
“I'm really positive that these players can raise the standard of our team and help us to go further in next year's competition."
Both teams started strongly with the first term exchanges indicating that a monumental battle was on the cards.
This was reflected in the scoreline at the first break which saw the Saints with their noses in front by seven points.
Sawtell turned up the intensity in the second quarter and found that Port weren't able to match them.
A six goals to one term saw the lead blow out to 39 points at the long break and Sawtell were never troubled for the remainder of the match.
Port's third term was drastically improved following sage advice at the break from coach Tom Marmo.
They narrowly outscored Sawtell in the quarter but could only reduce the deficit by three points.
Having topped up their numbers with several reserve grade and under-17 players, the Magpies ran out of legs in the last quarter to see the Saints ease out to a comfortable 59 point win.
Veteran Jim Angel led the way for Sawtell with four goals.
He received great support from the younger brigade with Mitch Napier kicking three, whilst Jordan Perks and Josh Little both added two.
Brendan Badenoch was Port's main avenue to goal with four majors for the match. Lachie Philpott and Brice Hayward rounded out the scoring for Port with one goal apiece.
Sawtell coach Brandt Lee was more impressed with the performance than the scoreline.
"Last week our effort was great but our distribution let us down,” he said.
“This week we've managed to maintain the intensity level and have improved our efficiency by both hand and foot to deliver the type of performance we expect of ourselves."
Earlier in the day, the Magpies under-17 and women’s teams all progressed to the grand final.
The Magpies were able to hold Coffs Harbour scoreless in the first half to look comfortable at half time with a 35-point lead.
However a spirited fightback by the Breakers in the third term saw Lisa Flick and Casey Miosge post goals to wrestle the momentum from Port.
The Magpies steadied in the final term through goals to Anishah Burnes and Cambridge McCormick to ease away to a 41 point win.
The under-17s bounced back from last week's disappointment to record a 37 point victory over the Grafton Tigers.