East Lismore’s Karen Eakin tries to get the ball past Mullumbimby’s Sherri East in their JH Williams women’s Premier League clash at the Ballina Hockey and Sports Complex on Saturday.
East Lismore’s Karen Eakin tries to get the ball past Mullumbimby’s Sherri East in their JH Williams women’s Premier League clash at the Ballina Hockey and Sports Complex on Saturday. Jay Cronan

Leaders ready for tussle with Stars

AFTER two rounds in the Women's JH William's Premier League there's not much between the teams.

Casuarina sit out in front on six points, closely followed by Mullumbimby and Kingscliff on four with Ballina, Northern Star and Waratah Falcons all sitting on three, while Glee and East Lismore are yet to register points.

The weekend's action begins when the Falcons take on Ballina at 1pm, a game which will sort out that mid-section of the table.

Falcons appear to be struggling to maintain good form, so this will be a test of their character to see if they can dig deep to produce a win.

Falcons are a very experienced outfit and they will need to draw on this to get back in the winning circle.

They will rely on their senior players Perra Martain, Stacey Butters and Amy Paron to get the team to regroup if they want to stay close to the leaders.

Casuarina could have a tight tussle knocking over Northern Star (2.25pm), who beat a strong Ballina side last week.

Casuarina will be without Maddie and Savannah Fitzpatrick, but they will look forward to the return of Maddie James, who will inject her speed into the mid field.

Mullumbimby are up against last year's FNC Premiers Glee at 3.50pm, and Mullumbimby will be hoping they can carry on from last week, where they played solidly to beat East Lismore.

Glee are a new outfit this season, and if Mullumbimby can hold their composure for the entire game they should come home winners.

The other women's game will see Kingscliff play East Lismore.

In the JH Williams Men's Premier League, Murwillumbah host East Lismore at 5.15pm, where Murwillumbah can bounce back from their game last week.

They are still missing their main striker Brendan Iwanuscha due to injury and have had to restructure their forward line.

Chris Stuart and Shane Johnston have been solid in defence and will need to lead their team from behind.
Waratah Bobcats and Kingscliff play at the late time slot of 8.05pm.

This could be a close game. Both teams have good ball carriers – James Walker and Tim Willis for Bobcats and Henry Prichard and Liam Munro for Kingscliff.

Bobcats will need to keep a tight rein on Tim and Marcus Holt, who both possess great stick work.

Kingscliff need to end Bobcats winning streak as Bobcats are gaining an advantage ahead of the other teams by not dropping a game.

Other JH Williams Men's Premier League games will be played in Ballina, where Redbacks are going to have their work cut out for them against Coraki from 2.55pm.

Redbacks have lost player coach Stuart Maloney to a knee injury and he will be sorely missed in defence which is going to make their job that much harder.

Ballina and Northern Star clash at 4.20pm.



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