Central Coast Rugby League: all the action and takeaways from round five
One team can finally breathe a sigh of relief, young guns have shown they can step up into the top grade, while there were draws galore during round five of the Central Coast Rugby League competition.
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There was plenty of action once again during round five of the Central Coast Rugby League competition, with a drought-breaking come-from-behind victory and a thrilling draw highlighting the weekend’s action.
CCRL Set of Six: all the action and takeaways from round four
TEAM PREVIEWS: your ultimate guide to the 2023 season
Catch up with all the results and key takeaways from round five below with CCRL’s Set of Six.
1) The monkey is off the back
Kincumber players and fans let out a big sigh of relief after their team recorded its first win of the season against Woy Woy on Sunday.
“It felt like the monkey was off the back, that’s for sure,” said coach Brad Bennett.
It’s been a tough start to the season for the young Colts side, who have had their fair share of absences over the first five weeks.
“To be honest, we’ve had a different side on the park each week due to injuries and a few other commitments,” said Bennett. “We’ve also got a young side. We had four 17-year-olds play with us on the weekend, and then the next few players are 20, 21 – we’re a fairly young side, sprinkled with a couple of older heads, so it’s a bit of a learning curve.”
However the captain-coach hopes that the team will take plenty of confidence into this weekend’s clash with Toukley after fighting back from 22-12 down early in the second half to win 28-22.
“When things aren’t going your way, you’re down on confidence and you’re down on luck: the bounce of the ball goes the other way and a call goes against you – just little things like that,” he said.
“So to get that win relieves the pressure and it’ll hopefully make everyone less tense so they can start enjoying their footy.”
2) Sharks show their defensive steel
Terrigal once again showed their defensive resolve in a hard-fought 12-all draw against The Entrance at EDSACC Oval on Sunday.
While captain-coach Dylan McKeown knows there’s plenty of room for improvement in attack, he’s pleased with the way the team has defended so far this season.
“That’s our saving grace at the moment, we’re defending our arses off. But if we can keep doing that, I’ll be happy. We can fix the attack; you can’t fix defensive attitudes.”
Indeed, the team might have only scored 44 points in its first four games, but they’ve only conceded 48, currently the best in the competition, although they have played one less game than Toukley, who’ve conceded 58 points in five games.
With a record and two wins, two losses and a draw, the Sharks face a stern test this weekend in the form of second-placed Erina, who have scored the most points in the competition so far with 146.
“Pretty much every season Erina are the benchmark, so it’s a game that a club like ours really looks forward to because we know that that’s one of the biggest teams of the year,” said McKeown.
“What we’ve got to do better is just stick to the game plan and not panic. We have to trust that our defence will get us through games and just work off the back of that. Our defence has been unreal, so if we defend like that all year, points will come.”
3) Top clubs take out clean sweeps
Some of the competition’s strongest clubs enjoyed a very good day at the office on Sunday, with both Toukley and Erina enjoying clean sweeps of their rivals.
It was a five-star day for the Hawks as they defeated Berkeley Vale in first grade, reserves, open grade and league tag – with an 8-4 victory in a women’s tackle trial game capping off a wonderful day for the club.
It was a similar situation for Erina, who won four from four against Wyong in firsts, reserves, opens and league tag, while the Eagles’ under-19s easily accounted for the bye.
4) It’s tight in the under-19s
The 12-all result between The Entrance and Terrigal in first grade wasn’t the only draw of the weekend, with both the under-19s matches also ending up even.
The Entrance and Wyong finished up 20-all, while Kincumber and Berkeley Vale fought out an entertaining 26-all draw at MacKillop Oval.
The draws highlight just how tight the under-19s competition is, with just two points separating first and last on the five-team ladder.
5) Young guns stepping up amid injury crisis
It doesn’t matter which coach you speak to, the depth of more or less all clubs on the Central Coast is being tested at the moment as injuries and suspensions start to add up after five rounds of the competition.
For example, Erina had six players out in recent weeks, while Terrigal has had eight top graders missing through injury in the first five weeks of the season.
While it is testing the depth of clubs, one of the silver linings is the opportunities that it is providing to talented youngsters to rise up through the grades.
For example, Erina has handed out half a dozen first grade debuts this year to the likes of Rylee Walton, Riley Burke, Lewis Brundrit, Thomas Peters and Emmet Nicholls, while Kincumber had four 17-year-olds in its team for Sunday’s victory over Woy Woy, including debutants Zack Visconti and Tyrone Dorrell.
But it doesn’t stop there. In the Berkeley Vale-Toukley clash at Ted Doyle Oval, Michael Partington-Stewart and Kody Papa both made their debuts for the Panthers and Hawks, respectively.
While there are undoubtedly teething issues that come with bringing so many young players into first grade, Kincumber captain-coach Brad Bennett says he has seen significant improvement over the course of the season.
“Big time. Coming from junior footy, at the start of the year they just didn’t realise the week-by-week, minute-by-minute effort areas that are needed, and how one little penalty can ruin your game,” he said. “But they’re definitely starting to get it and they’ve been massive for us, the young fellas.”
Terrigal’s injury crisis has also helped the club uncover a star in local junior Amyn Hamilton, who has impressed since making his debut against Kincumber in round two.
“He’s handled everything that’s been thrown at him, which for an 18-year-old is pretty impressive,” said Sharks captain-coach Dylan McKeown.
“He’s getting used to versing men. He said it’s a lot different, his body is a lot sorer, but he hasn’t shied away at all.”
6) Tigers prevail in Denton Cup derby
It was a Central Coast derby in Newcastle’s Denton Engineering Cup over the weekend, with The Entrance defeating Wyong 20-8 at EDSACC Oval.
The win, which is The Entrance’s fourth straight, made up for Wyong’s round one victory over the Tigers and was in fact the Roos’ first loss of the season.
Both sides are travelling well in the competition after six rounds. Wyong are in third place, two points behind leaders Cessnock, while The Entrance are in fifth, two points further back behind the Roos.
Round five wrap
The Entrance hosted Terrigal at EDSACC Oval, Kincumber took on Woy Woy, competition leaders Toukley travelled to Berkeley Vale to face the Panthers while Erina hosted its first home game of the season against Wyong.
Tigers and Sharks split points in thriller
The Entrance and Terrigal have played out the competition’s first draw of the season, with an entertaining 12-all draw at EDSACC Oval.
Both teams came into the game on four points, however it was the Tigers who started the stronger and led 6-0 at the break thanks to a Josh Walsh try.
The home side then extended their lead after the break through Hayden Ritchie and led 12-0 with around 20 minutes to go.
But just when it seemed like The Entrance might be cruising home, Terrigal hit back with two quick tries of their own to Ben Mooney and Daniel Lotu to level things up at 12-all and set up a grandstand finish.
Both sides had chances to win the game with field goal attempts, before a crazy last play had everyone on their feet.
In the dying stages The Entrance took a field-goal attempt, only for the ball to hit the post. Terrigal then picked up the ball and attempted go the length of the field themselves, before kicking it forward and giving the Tigers one last chance at winning the match.
“It went for about 30 seconds after the bell,” says Terrigal captain-coach Dylan McKeown. “It was a pretty entertaining finish, but heart-in-the-mouth sorta stuff.”
The result takes both teams into equal third place on five points, with the Sharks skipper noting that while he is happy with parts of his team’s game, there is plenty of room for improvement.
“12-all shows that it was a pretty tight game. We struggled with our attack at times, which was probably due to the fact that we’ve only been able to train once on a Thursday in the past four weeks. That’s not really helping our cause,” he said.
“But our defensive attitude in the game and all year has been outstanding. That’s what’s keeping us in it and I’m happy about that, to be honest.”
Kincumber secures breakthrough win
Kincumber has climbed off the bottom of the table, defeating Woy Woy 28-22 for the team’s first victory of the season.
Colts’ captain-coach Brad Bennett was the hero for his side, scoring two tries to seal victory in what was a seesawing contest at MacKillop Oval.
Kincumber, fresh from losing to Berkeley Vale last weekend, started the brighter of the two teams and led 12-nil thanks to tries to Luke Heather and Tyson Potger.
However the Roosters hit back, scoring two tries of their own through Joe Williams and Cam Sheppard to tie things up at 12-all at half-time.
Woy Woy had all the momentum after the break, with Lima Teaupa scoring a quick-fire double to put the Roosters in front 22-12 with half an hour to play.
But just when it looked like that the visitors would run away with, Kincumber staged a stirring comeback, with tries to Curtis Naughton and a double to Bennett pushing the Colts ahead and securing their first victory of the season.
“It felt like the monkey was off the back, that’s for sure,” said Bennett.
“We started with energy. We trained well through the week, everyone just turned up, and you could sort of see that in the sheds and during the warm-up before the game that they were ready to go.”
Particularly impressive for the Colts’ coach was how his young side rebounded after initially leading before falling behind early in the second half.
“It was massive. They all turned up and you could tell they were all up for a good game. We kept positive, everything is about the next job and we just got on with it instead of dwelling on what happened. It worked in our favour in the end.”
Eagles take down the Roos
Erina has cemented its position in second place on the competition ladder after second half clinic secured a convincing 34-12 victory over Wyong at Erina Oval.
Scores were actually locked at 12-all at half-time of what was the Eagles’ first home game of the season, before Erina put on a show after the break to seal the points.
Thomas Peters, Toby Elliott, Josh Martin and Nick Newman all crossed for the home side in the second half, with the victory the Eagles’ third straight and fourth of the season.
The win maintains Erina’s spot in second on the ladder behind unbeaten leaders Toukley, with the club having opened up a three-point gap over third- and fourth-placed sides The Entrance and Terrigal.
As for Wyong, they sit in fifth position with a record of two wins and three losses from their first five games.
Hawks too strong for the Panthers
Toukley has extended its record to five wins and zero losses to kick off the season following a convincing 44-12 victory over Berkeley Vale at Ted Doyle Oval.
Wingers Ben Neville and Harrison Packham, as well as prop Brady Barwick, scored doubles in the eight tries to two victory, which extended their Hawks’ perfect start to the season.
The Panthers, who were coming off their first win of the year against Kincumber last weekend, briefly led 6-4 early in the match, but were never really in the contest as the defending premiers once again showed why they are the team to beat this season.
Toukley take on Kincumber at home next week while Berkeley Vale travel to Morry Breen Oval to play Wyong.
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