For AJ McNiven though, that dream became a reality as his Emus took care of business against the cross-town rival Orange City in the Blowes Clothing Cup first grade competition on Saturday.

"It was good to have the boys around me. They've been great since I moved to the club. Everybody supports one another and I think it shows on the field," McNiven said of his second half five-pointer.

"There were a lot of memoires (with Orange City) and it was good to play against them and I enjoyed the challenge.

"It was a challenge like everybody expected and it was always going to be a hard game, but very happy with the win.

Although the round four score would finish 28-7, it was the visitors who laid on the pressure early on at Endeavour Oval.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, City's Nathan Ahkee barged over to open the scoring.

The next 20 minutes would be dominated by the Lions, with the kicking game a big reason why.

But while the visitors were dominating on the field, the scoreboard remained at 7-0. That left the door open for Emus to swing the momentum.

Tries to Emus' George Jackson and Nigel Staniforth saw the home side head into the break up 14-7.

"The intensity was awesome and I think we were the better side for the first 20 or 30 minutes," City coach John Nunn said after the game.

"I was very happy with the effort they put in and we're really close to getting over the line."

It was that forward back, combined with the kicking game of Jamil Khalfan, which saw Emus stop their opponents in their tracks.

Tries to McNiven and Charlie Steele-Park saw the home side extend their lead to 28-7 in the second half, which is where it would finish at the final whistle.

Emus coach Pete Bromley said the momentum swing all came down to attitude.

"They were suddenly up for it and everyone fed off a couple of big hits. There was a bit of emotion out there and they followed that up with a bit of skill," he said.

"They're always tight struggles at the start in local derbies. They're always up for the first 10 or 15 minutes, but you have to try and weather that storm and then play football after that.

"The boys did that well and even though it was a bit scrappy, we got into the pattern of play that we wanted."

While Bromley praised the performances of Ollie Harvison, Simon Uphill and the forward pack as a whole, it was McNiven who came away with the three player of the match points.

"He's been putting it in at training and he was up for the game," Bromley said of McNiven's performance.

"He wanted to push himself for this local derby. Being a young bloke, it was an aim of ours to look after him and we did that really well."

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