Eagles seal finals berth with nail-biting win over Bulls, Towns never in doubt with strong win over Saints

The Looma Eagles have snuck into finals footy in the West Kimberley Football League after a nail-biting final round win over Broome Bulls — which saw them soar into fourth position and Bulls drop to fifth.

With the weather warming tensions were high in the do-or-die clash at Father McMahon Oval on Saturday afternoon, with the Bulls taking a small lead at the end of the first quarter, Eagles 1.4-10 to Bulls 2.0-12.

In similar fashion to the first quarter, it was the Eagles who dominated play in the second, but their inability to finish in-front of goal was their downfall with a whopping eleven behinds seeing them remain a point behind at half time, Eagles 2.11-23 to Bullls 4.0-24.

The third quarter saw some more precise shooting from the Eagles, but a fired up Bulls side kept Looma flightless, with both teams managing two goals and a couple of behinds to see the Eagles head into the final break one point ahead, Eagles 4.16-40 to Bulls 6.3-39.

With just one quarter of regular season footy left, both teams could smell the proverbial finals footy pie on the window sill — and the Eagles were the ones to swoop in and sink their claws into it.

Three goals and just a single behind — compared to Bulls’ two goals and two behinds — was enough to seal the deal for Looma, who moved up into fourth position on the ladder.

The win meant they’ll face Broome Towns in an elimination final this week, after Towns were able to dominate sixth placed Broome Saints in their final round clash, Saints 6.11-47 to Towns 13.12-90.

Elsewhere in the league, Cable Beach Football Club were able to complete the perfect regular season after a forfeit from the Bidyadanga Emus.

Beach sit top of the table with fourteen wins, zero losses — ten points clear of second placed Derby Tigers, who were also handed a win over the weekend after the Peninsula Bombers forfeited their clash.

The top two will face off in a qualifying final to book a grand final berth — and a week of rest — while the loser will face the winner of the elimination final in two weeks’ time.

In the individual awards, Cable Beach’s Keifer Yu sits atop the goalscorer count with a whopping 62 goals in ten games, while Towns’ Sean Gregory is second with 44 goals in 13 games.

Benjamin Goldie from Towns received the most best on ground awards — taking the gong in eight of the 11 games he played this year.

Heading into the finals anything can happen, but Cable Beach will be hoping they can back-up last year’s premiership, and their performance this regular season gave no reason why they can’t.