An underdone Seahawks lost 13.8 (86) to 9.5 (59) in Canberra to the front-runners of the competition.

The Juggernauts stamped their authority early against a Seahawks outfit who had not played in three weeks 5.2 (32) to 0.2 (2) in the first quarter. 

The Seahawks managed three goals to Molonglo’s two in the second quarter and at half-time coach Mark Adams told the younger players “it should not be up the older blokes”.

In the third quarter, the Bay kicked five straight to the Juggernauts three and trailed by 10 points at the break. 

At one stage the Seahawks trailed by three points and Adams said it would be have been better if the Bay could kick consecutive goals.

“The kicked some easy goals straight after we would kick one,” he said.

The margin remained close until the final 10 minutes when the Seahawks ran out of legs as the Juggernauts pulled away to win by 27 points.

Adams praised his players for fighting back and kicking a better score than Molonglo after the first term.

“I’m rapt with the how the boys went considering we were missing a few players and were underdone,” he said.

“I could not be more proud especially after the first quarter.

“They could have hung their heads after the first but we clawed it back and were close to taking the lead.”

Adams said the outcome was expected considering the three-week layoff for most players.

“We looked like we had not played football together for a while and we were slow out of the blocks,” he said.

“We were not as clean and crisp as we normally were.”

Adams said the Juggernauts played the way the Seahawks wanted to and deserved the minor premiership.

“They’re just a well-drilled side and hard at the contest,” he said.

“They are the team to beat.

“We can see where we have to improve and fortunately for us we are not far off.”

Billy Alves’ running from the back line was impressive and Peter Thomson’s best on ground performance was “really good”.

“Billy took the ball, had three bounces through the middle of the ground and hit one of our forwards lace-out,” he said.

“For him to do that was exactly what we talked about at half-time.”

This Sunday the Seahawks play Belconnen in Canberra before the final round home game against Eastlake.

Adams wanted his side to “get in the right mindset, get back to our game plan and get another run under our belts”.