A minor premiership win won’t come easy for Ballina Seagulls
Ballina Seagulls need to beat either Marist Brothers or Mullumbimby — both away games — to stand a chance of winning the Northern Retravision League minor premiership.
With four rounds remaining, Ballina leads the competition on 24 points. Next are Mullumbimby (23), Tweed Coast Raiders (22), Marist Brothers (20) and Byron Bay (19).
Ballina’s final four games are against Brothers this Sunday in Lismore, then a home game against Lower Clarence, an away match against Mullumbimby, finishing with a home match against Casino RSM.
Tweed Coast Raiders have the easiest run home of the top five teams, with matches against Kyogle, a bye, South Tweed and Murwillumbah.
If Tweed Coast win all three remaining games, they will finish on 30 points.
Assuming Ballina win their two home games but lose the two away games, they will finish on 28 points. So it is vital that the Seagulls pick up a win in one of their away games — a tall order
considering that Brothers are hitting peak form and Mullumbimby are extremely hard to beat at home.
And, of course, they cannot afford to lose any of their remaining home games.
If Ballina win all their remaining games, they cannot be beaten for the minor premiership.
But they can afford to lose one match and still be a strong chance to win the minor title because of their superior percentages based on for-and-against points.
Here’s the draw for the top five teams in the remaining four rounds:
Ballina (24 points): v Marist Brothers away, v Lower Clarence home, v Mullumbimby away, v Casino RSM home.
Mullumbimby (23 points): v Casino home, v South Grafton away, v Ballina home, v Byron Bay away.
Tweed Coast Raiders (22 points): v Kyogle home, bye, v South Tweed home, v Murwillumbah away.
Marist Brothers (20 points): v Ballina home, v South Tweed away, v Cudgen home, v Ghosts away.
Byron Bay (19 points): Bye, v Casino away, v Grafton Ghosts away, v Mullumbimby home.
