Sharks show some preseason bite
The Dampier Sharks narrowly won the North Pilbara Football League's pre-season round-robin carnival, beating the South Hedland Swans on percentage on Saturday.
The league's six clubs travelled to Windy Ridge Oval in Dampier for their first hit-out before the opening round of football this week.
Sharks opened the carnival with a match against last year's premiers, Karratha Kats, in pool A.
Kats ousted the Sharks in last year's preliminary final and fielded many of their new and young players in Saturday's contest.
Kats won the toss in a coin flip by Pilbara Port Authority human resources director Damien Milles.
Sharks jumped out to an early lead in the short-format game and went on to win 8.5 (53) to 1.3 (9).
The two sides will meet again for the season opener back in Dampier on Friday night.
In pool B, South Hedland Swans won a close match against the Wickham Wolves and gave the Karratha Falcons a drubbing.
Along with the Sharks, who also beat Port Hedland Rovers, the Swans were the only unbeaten team of the weekend.
NPFL president Greg Braithwaite said despite the recent downturn, all teams had good numbers at training and were looking forward to the season getting under way.
There are about 500 players across the competition.
New sponsor Aboriginal Family Law Service's chief executive Mary Cowley spoke at the carnival and encouraged players to stamp unnecessary violence out of the game and to do the same with family violence at home.
Other matches in the opening round of football will see Wickham Wolves host Swans in Wickham on Saturday, while the Rovers will play a home game on Cooke Point Oval with the Karratha
Falcons travelling north for the match.
