West Canberra Lightning, safely ensconced in the top four, added another three points to their tally as they defeated Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 8-2 at Daramalan College on Friday night.
The result meant that the Power would be reliant on ANU Apex dropping points to North Canberra Fire in the Sunday match if they were to take their top four hopes into the final week of the campaign.
They were always chasing the game in this one once Michael Nolan and Brett Forward had scored twice within the space of a minute to establish a lead. James Wilson pulled one back for Power, but that was as close as they got as further goals before the break from Nolan, Forward and Michael Sydney had Lightning four to the good.
Arnold Choi managed to pull on back for Power, prompting brief hopes of an unlikely comeback but a double from Nicholas Subasic, either side of Nolan completing his hat-trick, sealed the Lightning victory.
South Canberra Swift sealed top spot with the quintessential game of two halves as they defeated UC Stars 10-7 on Saturday evening in testing conditions due to the heat in the college hall.
Swift were 8-2 up at half-time, showing the quality that had seen them storm to the top of the table and having only lost one match, on the opening day of the season. Phakedi Manda was in particularly devastating mood, netting a hat-trick, whilst Alen James had also scored twice.
With a six-goal lead, the Swift elected to play fifth man and, that decision, coupled with a newfound fire in the hearts of the Stars, made a game of it in the second stanza as UC came roaring back.
Johnny Hajdu struck a pair of classy goals, whilst Jayde James-Ward went one better, helping himself to a hat-trick of his own, the third a belter that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.
Having got back to 9-7 they went searching for more and paid the price as Alen James intercepted to run the ball into the empty net, his twelfth goal of the season, and one that secured the three points and the number one spot on the inaugural men’s CFL League table.
North Canberra Fire took over second place after the Sunday matches, leaving the battle for the fourth placed spot open until the final weekend of the season after a Maxx Green treble helped Fire to a 10-2 win over ANU Apex.
Apex are part of a three-horse race, along with Power and Stars, in the fight for the semi-finals places, but had a brief moment when they were on track to get the win they needed after Ryan De Vries hammered home a strike after only two minutes.
That merely poked the bear and before the interval the Fire had struck half a dozen times. Brandon Hawker equalised just after Jonathan Wilson had made a crucial save to deny De Vries a second, before goals from Luca Florez, a Green brace, Brad Malone and Elie Darwich had North Canberra in total control.
Luke Stevens thrashed in a free-kick for a much-improved Apex after the break, but Fire were never in doubt of losing and Alistair Davis scored twice before Green completed his treble, Darwich completing the scoring.
MEN
Friday 27 January
Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 2 (Wilson 10’, Choi 28’) West Canberra Lightning 8 (Nolan 6’, 13’, 38’, Forward 7’, 16’, Sydney 19’, Subasic 31’, 38’)
Saturday 28 January
South Canberra Swift 10 (Manda 2’, 5’, 15’, James 4’, 16’, 40’, Ospina 9’, Alcazar-Stevens 13’, 34’, Paesler 16’) UC Stars 7 (S. Guo 7’, Moscaritolo 17’, Hajdu 30’, 37’, James-Ward 32’, 36’, 39’)
Sunday 29 January
ANU Apex 2 (De Vries 2’, Stevens 29’) North Canberra Fire 10 (Hawker 5’, Florez 7’, Green 10’, 17’, 34’, Malone 14’, Darwich 15’, 37’, Davis 25’, 27’)
TABLE
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | Swift | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 77 | 37 | +40 | 24 |
| 2 | Fire | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 77 | 40 | +37 | 19 |
| 3 | Lightning | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 47 | 26 | +21 | 17 |
| 4 | Apex | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 47 | 68 | -21 | 6 |
| 5 | Stars | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 47 | 67 | -20 | 5 |
| 6 | Power | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 31 | 88 | -57 | 5 |
LEADING SCORERS
22 Maxx GREEN (Fire)
13 Alen JAMES (Swift)
12 Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Edward MCCARTHY (Swift), Samuel THOMSON (Fire)
11 Jackson PAESLER (Swift)
10 Luca FLOREZ (Fire), Luke STEVENS (Apex)
9 Juan Sebastian OSPINA (Swift), Patrick SHORE (Apex), Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
7 Daniel FULTON (Lightning), Johnny HAJDU (Stars), Blaise VLAZLOVSKI (Apex), Own GOALS
6 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Power), Michael ADAMS (Swift), Riley BROWN (Fire), Marco GAYER (Power), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), Bailey SORENSON (Fire)
5 Vinnie BRASIL (Stars), Alistair DAVIS (Fire), Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Brett FORWARD (Lightning), Sherab GUO (Stars), Clyde HOLO (Stars), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Stars), Phakedi MANDA (Swift), Brad MALONE (Fire), Michael SYDNEY (Lightning), Kai THORNTON (Apex)
4 Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Michael MOSCARITOLO (Stars), Michael NOLAN (Lightning), Daniel ROBERTS (Swift), James WILSON (Power)
3 Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Jenno CERUTI (Apex), Arnold CHOI (Power), Elie DARWICH (Fire), David JENKINS (Power), Marko RATHOUSKI (Stars), Michael RINAUDO (Stars)
2 Andrew AITCHISON (Stars), Julian BRITTON (Apex), Sam CARTERS (Lightning), Jason FARRELL (Lighting), Connor FALUSI (Stars), Lachlan HARRINGTON (Stars), Hamed JADEER (Stars), Braulio MELO (Apex), Bruno MELO (Apex), Vanh NGUYEN (Swift), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Power), Will SHEPPARD (Lightning)
1 Michael CAHILL (Power), Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Nic DAHL (Swift), Grant DAVOREN (Lightning), Ryan DE VRIES (Apex), Daniel FELIZZI (Power), Marco GAYER (Power), Mahmoud HALAWANI (Power), Robert MCKAY (Fire), Zach PRITCHARD (Stars), Martin SANTOS (Power), Jordan SELEMS (Power), Robert TKATCHENKO (Swift), Herbert YEUNG (Apex)
