THE Lake Cathie-Bonny Hills Raiders under 18s took on the Port City Breakers at Regional Stadium on Sunday, 16 June.

The game saw the lead change several times before finishing 22-18 in favour of the Raiders.

Adam Drewitt wasted no time stamping his authority on the game, ripping through the Breakers defence to score Lake Cathie’s first try in only the second minute of the game.

Cohen Model was successful with the kick, taking the score to 6-0.

Bailey Asbury was next to score for the Raiders, just minutes later, using his speed to outpace his opposition number across the line.

The conversion was unsuccessful however, leaving the score 10-0 in favour of the Raiders.

Just as it looked like the Raiders would run away with it, Port City’s Kyle Donovan found some room to move and put his foot down, scoring the first try for the Breakers right between the posts.

A successful conversion by Jalin Downey followed, bringing the score to 10-6.

With only four minutes remaining in the first half, a beautiful Bailey Kelsey pass sent Sam Watts into a gap and across the line for the Breakers’ second try.

This was followed by another successful conversion from Jalin Downey, which placed the Breakers in the lead just before halftime, 12-10.

The Breakers drew first blood in the second half when Sam Watts ploughed through the Raiders defence for his second try and his side’s third.

Jalin Downey was again successful in the kicking department and lengthened the Breakers lead to 18-10.

The Raiders soon refocused however and were rewarded with a trio of tries, one each for Rocco Byrnes, Noah Model and Timothy Broderick.

The strong finish led the Raiders to a 22-18 win.

Raiders coach Jason Ferris was pleased with the win, but stressed his side’s need to improve.

“The boys were a little flat today having missed training sessions due to field closures and wet weather but every club is in the same boat.

“It wasn’t our best game and we found a way to get the job done, however, we need to improve upon our performance today if we want to be competitive.”

Raiders captain Tayte Gibson was impressed with his team’s start to the game.

“We started out well but then we made too many errors which the Breakers were able to capitalise on.

“We lost our focus but then we got our heads back in the game and we locked in the win.”

Breakers coach Tim Donovan was highly impressed with his side, which featured six under 16s players debuting in senior football.

“This is part of the Port City Breakers two to three year development plan.

“The Port City Breakers are in a rebuilding stage and this is part of our system to connect the junior league with the senior league as part of the transition process.

“The younger boys represented the club extremely well today and I am very proud of their efforts.”

Donovan said Lake Cathie were the “benchmark team for the Under 18s competition”.

“They have been dominating this age group for the last few years, so to see the boys go out there and put it to them was a really good indication of the future of the Port club – we are in good hands.”

By Kim AMBROSE