Eagles survive late scare to win

By ROBINSON LEKA
THE West Eagles reclaimed top spot in the Port Moresby AFL competition after toppling Kokofa-Cats with a 42-31 win in the senior men’s division at the Colts Oval on Saturday.
The Eagles dominated possession early with ruckman Kila Iga and follower Greg Ekari setting the pace for the defending champions to score four goals and four behinds for a 28-9 lead at halftime.
The Eagles then had a few hiccups in their centre combinations which allowed Kokofa-Cats to take advantage with the Eagles only managing two goals in the third quarter.
Kokofa-Cats, through skipper Bena Michael and centre Glen Saniong, led a strong third and fourth quarter for their side with four goals and seven behinds, keeping the Eagles scoreless in the last quarter but the reigning champions managed to see out the win.
Eagles coach Danny Meli said he was happy with his side reclaiming top spot.
“We’re back again on top of the ladder and we all were really eager to play this game and we managed to claim a win,” he told The National.
“We played our normal style of footy all game except for the final quarter where we let them back into the game.
“But we’re fortunate to have put up a big score in the opening quarters so that’s what got us through.
“We placed our focus on our backline leading into this game but despite leaving out a few players due to injury, the guys played well.”