Central Coast Rugby League: Clubs assessed with our mid-season review
At the halfway point of the season we’ve taken a look around the competition to see what’s going right, what needs some work and what the story is so far with our CCRL mid-season review.
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With the wet weather round taking place last weekend, most clubs on the Central Coast – with the exception of Terrigal and Woy Woy – had the opportunity to kick their feet up and rest those niggling injuries.
The week off also coincided with almost the middle of the season, with all clubs having now played six out of the 14 games.
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In light of the break, we’ve gone around the clubs to see how they’re all tracking with our mid-season review.
Check out which teams are running hot, which sides have got some work to do and which clubs sit somewhere in the middle.
Erina Eagles
Coach: Dane Allen
Position: Second (five wins, one loss)
Story so far: It has been a fantastic start to the season for Erina, who have been excellent throughout the first six rounds of the competition. In fact, apart from a narrow 18-10 loss to defending premiers Toukley in round two, the Eagles have been more or less been perfect, piling on the points against their opponents week in, week out.
A hallmark of the season so far for last year’s minor premiers has been how some of the club’s young guns have stepped up amid a string of absences.
“I’m very pleased with how things are sitting,” said coach Dane Allen. “We’ve had a few injuries and suspensions, so if you’d have told me at the start of the season that at the halfway point we’d have only the one loss, I’d be ecstatic.”
While there has been some very attractive football from the Eagles, Allen says that it was perhaps Erina’s grittiest win – a 28-16 victory over The Entrance in round four – that was the most pleasing.
“There was a backs-against-the-wall sort of performance against The Entrance that gave us a fair bit of belief, so I was really happy about that – to have so many out and still perform the way they did.”
What has worked: Amassing 186 points, the Eagles have by far been the best attacking team in the competition so far, well ahead of the Woy Woy Roosters who’ve scored 150.
They’ve piled on the points against just about everyone, notching up 38 against Kincumber, 36 against Woy Woy, 34 against Wyong and 28 against The Entrance. However perhaps the most impressive attacking display came just before the wet weather break, when they put 40 points on Terrigal, who at that stage were the best defensive team in the competition.
“The way our new players have fitted into our shapes and structures has been great, and what they’ve offered is certainly some try scoring ability, which is something we lacked last year, so I’ve been really impressed with that,” said Allen.
What needs working on: In light of such an impressive start to the season, it’s a little hard to come up with too many negatives, however Allen says the team has sought to fine tune their performances and improve on fundamental areas.
“We’ve had a real focus on our completion rates over the last month and they’ve gone up considerably, so we need to continue to work on that, and we’re just trying to make sure that everything we do has some purpose about it,” he said.
Standout players: In what has been one of the signings of the season, local junior Finn Douch has been excellent since returning to Erina. The centre has been strong in both attack and defence out wide, while his pinpoint goalkicking has seen him jump to the top of the point-scoring rankings with 60.
“He’s been exceptional for us over the last month or so,” said Allen.
Meanwhile, in what certainly won’t be a surprise to any followers of the competition, fullback Lincoln Tubridy – who last year was named the CCRL’s Player of the Season – has once again been outstanding for the Eagles.
“He hasn’t gone backwards at all,” said Allen. “He’s been fantastic for us, leading from the front.”
Next month: Berkeley Vale (A), Kincumber (H), Toukley (H), Woy Woy (H)
Woy Woy Roosters
Captain-coach: Toby Marks
Position: Sixth (one win, five losses)
Story so far: It has been a case of fine margins and what could have been for the Roosters so far this season, with the team being highly competitive in all but one of its games, however only having one win to show for it.
After kicking off the season with a thumping 54-6 victory over Berkeley Vale, Woy Woy went on a run of near misses, losing their next four games by margins of eight (Erina), two (Toukley), six (Kincumber) and six (The Entrance) points.
The frustrating beginning to the season was then compounded by a disappointing 42-6 loss to Terrigal in the wet weather round.
What has worked: The Roosters’ attack has been firing this season, with the team scoring 150 points across its first six games to be the second most potent offensive side in the competition behind Erina.
Centre Wade Hannell has bagged five to be the competition’s joint leading tryscorer, while five-eighth Scott Gowans has also crossed the stripe four times.
And while they might have only recorded one win, the team shown that it truly can match it with some of the competition heavyweights.
They scored 28 points against second-place Erina in their eight-point loss to the Eagles, while the Roosters have come the closest to knocking off undefeated defending premiers Toukley, going down by just two points in their 22-20 loss in round four.
In fact, in both the Toukley game and their round six clash with The Entrance, Woy Woy scored the same tries as their opponents, only for goalkicking to ultimately decide the match.
What needs working on: If the attack has been humming, then the defence is in need of a tune-up, with Woy Woy conceding the third-most points in the competition with 160.
While their games have certainly been entertaining, free-flowing affairs for the fans, the coaching staff will certainly be looking to tighten things up in the back half of the season.
Another thing that has hurt the Roosters has been their inability to close out tight games. The team has been a huge chance of winning all bar one of their five losses, often leading late in the game before being run down late.
For example, Woy Woy led 16-6 at half time against defending premiers Toukley, only for three second-half tries to their opponents – including one in the final 10 minutes – seeing the Hawks home.
It was a similar situation against Kincumber in round five, with Woy Woy leading 22-12 midway through the second half before ultimately going down 28-22.
Standout players: With five tries to his name, Wade Hannell has offered plenty of strike power out wide for the Roosters so far this season. Meanwhile with the team showing that they have plenty of points in them, halves Scott Gowans and Blake Mattei have both provided a spark with the ball in hand.
Moving into the forwards, Lima Teaupa has been a threat on the edges, while the ever-dependable Justin McDermott has once again been rock for the Roosters at hooker.
Next month: Wyong (A), Terrigal (H), Berkeley Vale (A), Erina (A)
Terrigal-Wamberal Sharks
Captain-coach: Dylan McKeown
Position: Fourth (three wins, one draw, two losses)
Story so far: It’s been a solid start to the season for the Sharks, who jumped into the top four on the back of a thumping 42-6 victory over Woy Woy during the wet weather round. That takes the team onto seven points, equal with third-placed The Entrance and a point ahead of Wyong in fifth, with those three teams likely to be fighting it out for two semi finals spots come the end of the season.
It’s been a case of keeping things tight and grinding out games for Terrigal, who in its first four games won by two points and four points, respectively, lost by 10 and then recorded a 12-all draw.
The last two weeks have been somewhat of an anomaly, with the Sharks uncharacteristically belted 40-10 by Erina, before recording a 36-point victory over the Roosters.
Like most clubs, Terrigal has been on the receiving end of a pretty brutal run of injuries, with up to eight first graders out at various stages, while they have also experienced some disruption to training due to wet fields.
“I’m pretty happy with it considering all those factors,” said captain-coach Dylan McKeown. “I would have of course liked less injuries and more training, but you obviously can’t control that. You’ve just got to play with what you’ve got and the boys are doing that quite well. I’m happy with it, but we’ve got heaps of improvement to come, so that’s a good sign.”
What has worked: Outside of their one blow-out game against Erina in round six, Terrigal’s defence has been outstanding this year, with the team currently boasting the second-best defensive record in the competition after Toukley.
Although they conceded 40 against the Eagles, the combined total of points conceded in their other five games is just 54, with the team’s attitude helping them grind out results.
“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,” said McKeown.
What needs working on: While the defence has been huge, the attack has plenty of room for improvement. Despite having the second-best defence, the Sharks’ attack is the third-worst in the competition. Indeed, the figures are almost a reversal of those conceded. While Terrigal put 42 on Woy Woy last weekend, they had only scored a cumulative 56 in their other five games.
Injuries, disrupted training schedules and different combinations have all affected the fluency of the Sharks’ attack, although they will be hoping their most recent effort against Woy Woy is a sign of things to come.
“We can fix the attack; you can’t fix defensive attitudes,” said McKeown.
Standout players: With most games being tight affairs, backrower Elih Jackson has been a standout for the Sharks so far this season. “He’s been one of our best week in, week out,” said McKeown.
Elsewhere, although the points haven’t been flowing, halfback Josh Moffitt has been key in steering the team around the park, while his goalkicking has helped get the side over the line in some of the close contests this season.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old local junior Amyn Hamilton has been a revelation since debuting in round one. The junior rep player moved from centres into fullback to cover for the injured Max Mitchell and has handled the transition into the senior grade extremely well.
Next month: Toukley (H), Woy Woy (A), Kincumber (H), Berkeley Vale (A)
Kincumber Colts
Captain-coach: Brad Bennett
Position: Seventh (one win, five losses)
Story so far: It has been a tough season so far for the young Colts’ squad, who’ve recorded just one win from the first six rounds.
While they have been competitive for parts of games, the team has at times struggled to maintain the intensity for the full 80 minutes, and in a trend that is common across the competition, have often compounded their errors in a short period of time to put themselves under the pump.
Like numerous teams in the competition, Kincumber has also been badly affected by player absences in the first half of the season.
“To be honest, we’ve had a different side on the park each week due to injuries and a few other commitments,” said captain-coach Brad Bennett.
This has meant that the club has had to lean heavily on its juniors, with the team featuring four 17-year-olds in the top 17 a few weeks ago.
“We’re a fairly young side, sprinkled with a couple of older heads, so it’s a bit of a learning curve,” added Bennett.
Despite these challenges, there have been plenty of green sprouts. After a narrow two-point loss to Terrigal in round two and a nine-point defeat at the hands of Berkeley Vale in round four, the Colts broke their 2023 duck in round five against Woy Woy, coming from 10 points down early in the second half to prevail 28-22.
What has worked: With a young side, the Colts have troubled their opponents with their energy and youthful enthusiasm throughout stages of the season. And while it has been a baptism at fire at times for the club’s young chargers, Bennett says he has seen plenty of improvement over the first six rounds.
“Big time. Coming from junior footy, at the start of the year they just didn’t realise the week-by-week, minute-by-minute efforts area 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.”
This improvement culminated in the round five win against Woy Woy, which was followed up by a strong performance the next week against defending premiers and competition leaders Toukley.
After leading early, the Colts were locked at 6-all at half-time, only for a couple of late Hawks tries to blow the scoreline out a little to 24-6. With some stronger performances in recent weeks, Bennett hopes these can be building blocks for the second half of the season.
“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.”
What needs working on: For the Colts, the focus will be on maintaining greater consistency throughout the full 80 minutes, and ensuring that they don’t compound their errors with penalties or lost ball.
As seen in the Toukley game, Kincumber has shown they can match it with the competition heavyweights in patches, but have fallen away from the contest throughout the season and allowed their opponents to run away with the game.
In addition, with so many young players in the first grade squad, the club will be looking to continue to develop their skills and ability to match their opponents physically.
Standout players: In a season that has been challenging, hooker Josh Starling has been a standout for Kincumber, inspiring his teammates by competing in every play. Elsewhere, backrower Will Hodder has been strong on the edges, while young halfback Kieran Diamond has shown plenty of flair and potential with his performances in the number seven jersey.
Next month: The Entrance (A), Erina (A), Terrigal (A), Wyong (H)
Berkeley Vale Panthers
Captain-coach: Michael Sullivan
Position: Eighth (one win, five losses)
Story so far: While one win from six might not normally seem like such a great return, when put in context, the first half of the season has been promising for the Panthers. The highlight of course came in round four when the club broke a 1107-day drought by beating Kincumber 17-8 at home in what was the first grade team’s first win for a number of seasons.
But aside from the cold-hard results, the Panthers have been far more competitive this year even in some of the games they’ve lost, going down by just two points to Terrigal in round three and losing by six to another top-four side in The Entrance on the opening weekend of the season.
“There are two games where we’ve scores the same amount of tries: the Terrigal game and also The Entrance game, and it just came down to goal kicking,” said captain-coach Michael Sullivan. “Unfortunately we didn’t kick the all-important goals, but we’ve been competitive.”
What has worked: At the beginning of the season, Sullivan emphasised the need to change the mentality of the playing group and club at large, as well as break certain habits that had crept in over the years. And while there hasn’t been a complete overhaul, some positive progress has certainly been made.
“You don’t change bad habits overnight, but we’re getting there,” he said.
With a host of new players coming from Sydney and the junior rep system, the Panthers have been far more competitive and have stayed with their opponents for far longer this year – something the coach only expects to continue as the season goes on.
“If you bring one or two in, it’s quite easy to morph those players in. But we’ve brought six to eight players in, so obviously it takes a while for those relationships to grow,” Sullivan said.
“I think our best work is to be done at the back end of the year, because when we get our strongest team on the park and play a bit of footy we’ve shown a bit of promise,” he added. “I think we can cause a lot of sides some problems at the back end of the year if we keep with the progression we’ve got.”
What needs working on: While there has been plenty of improvement for the Panthers, it’s a case of continuing to work on their discipline and concentration, as well as ensuring that they maintain their standards for the whole 80 minutes.
“In a couple of games the scoreline probably hasn’t flattered us,” said Sullivan. “But other teams have even said that we’ve threatened them early and it’s just probably been some poor disciplines that creep in in the second half,” he added.
“I’m a pretty impatient bloke and gauge our success off wins, but it’s good to get some positive feedback and not to be known as the easy-beats. But I’d really like to get a couple of results at the back end of the season to really put a punctuation mark on the year, get a couple of juniors back and start to build for next year.”
Standout players: In a sign of the progress made throughout 2023 so far, there have been plenty of players in black jerseys who have performed well over the first six rounds.
In the backline, fullback Michael Cheer has been impressive, as his captain and centre Josh Martin.
“What he brings to the group is pretty vital,” said Sullivan.
In the forwards, middles Christian Castles and Mark Tepu-Smith have added some extra steel to Berkeley Vale’s pack, while edge forward Blake Mulhare has been another strong performer.
Perhaps most pleasing for the Panthers has been the performances of some of their up-and-coming locals, with Pacey Crutcher leading the charge.
“He has been outstanding for us,” said Sullivan. “His leg speed around the ruck has been great.”
Next month: Erina (H), The Entrance (A), Woy Woy (H), Terrigal (H)
Toukley Hawks
Captain-coach: Jake Fitzpatrick
Position: First (six wins, zero losses)
Story so far: It’s been a perfect start to the season for the defending premiers, who’ve gone six from six to be leading the competition outright on 12 points. An excellent opening three weeks helped set the platform for the Hawks’ tilt at winning back-to-back titles, with the team overcoming leagues club sides Wyong, Erina and The Entrance. But just because they’ve won every game, doesn’t mean they’ve always done it easy, with Toukley getting home in tight matches against the Roos (12-4), Eagles (18-10), Tigers (16-12) and Woy Woy (22-20) to show they don’t mind knuckling down and grinding out results.
“At the start of the year if someone had have said that we’d be six from six, I’d have taken that any day of the week,” said captain-coach Jake Fitzpatrick.
What has worked: It would be tempting to say ‘everything’, but the Hawks’ pack in particular has been immense once again this season, with Toukley’s forwards consistently winning the middle and making life easy for their playmakers.
“I can’t fault my forward pack,” said Fitzpatrick. “I said at the start of the year that our pack is tough to get on top of, so I have to give a massive wrap to the forwards: they lay the platform and they’re very hard to break, which is a positive for us.”
On top of that, the team’s mentality and attitude has once again stood out over the first six rounds.
“When the game’s there for a side to fight for the win, we just seem to be fighting that little bit stronger. It’s no disrespect to the other clubs because they’re fighting just as hard, but I just feel as though the attitude of the guys is exactly where it needs to be,” said Fitzpatrick.
“It’s easy as a coach to coach structures and game plans, but one thing you can never coach a team to do is have a good attitude, that’s an individual thing and I think my side has that individually – they have the attitude.”
What needs working on: With a record like Toukley’s, it’s hard to come up with too many criticisms, however Fitzpatrick believes his side has plenty of room for improvement.
“We are six from six, and I don’t want to sound arrogant, but we still haven’t been playing that great. We’re consistently winning, but from the way we’re playing, we’re in and out of the game, every game, and I think the results kind of show that.
“In some of our games we’re winning by two and four and things like that, and those are the games where we’re good for 20 minutes and then poor for the next 15. So we’re six from six, but we’ve got a lot of work to do to get consistent.”
Standout players: In an excellent pack, Blake Carter has been huge for the Hawks so far this season. And it’s not just his metres and work in defence, with the big forward also crossing the stripe for some important tries to help get his side home in a couple of games. He’s been joined by Brady Barwick in the front row, who has been rock-solid for Toukley.
Elsewhere, young outside back Kiran Page has gone to another level this season and has performed well since moving to fullback.
Next month: Terrigal (A), Wyong (A), Erina (A), The Entrance (H)
The Entrance Tigers
Coach: Kyle Whiteford
Position: Third (three wins, one draw, two losses)
Story so far: It’s been somewhat of a mixed bag for the Tigers this season, who’ve beaten the teams below them, lost to the teams above them and drawn with Terrigal, who sit on the same competition points. The team has been competitive in all of its games, losing by just four to competition leaders Toukley and 12 to Erina.
“I think you’d give us a pass mark at the moment, but there’s definitely some improvement in us,” said coach Kyle Whiteford.
“I would have liked to have won a few more of those games – both in the Toukley and Erina games we were in it up to our necks and obviously in the draw we were very close to winning that as well, had a field goal hit the upright.”
What has worked: With strong performances against the top sides in the competition, The Entrance has shown that it can match it with the premiership contenders. The results have been all the more impressive given that the side has used 28 players in the first six rounds due to injuries and players being called up the club’s Denton Engineering Cup side.
“I think we’re building,” said Whiteford. “I think in the two losses and the draw we were definitely in positions to win those games, but it was probably a case of making an error, or when we got ourselves back on the front foot and scored a try we would in the next set put ourselves under the pump again. So I think a big thing for us is not to compound those errors.”
Indeed, in a team that has made plenty of handling errors this season, the coach said the Tigers’ defence has been a cornerstone of their performances.
“A strength of any team is being able to defend your errors and I think we’ve done that quite well. Against Erina I think we had only completed five sets in the first half, and if we didn’t have decent defence that day we would have been down by 20 at half time, so it kept us in the game.”
What needs working on: Handling, plain and simple. The Tigers have been their own worst enemy at times, with poor ball control and errors putting the team under immense pressure, highlighted by their aforementioned round four clash with Erina, where they completed just five sets in the first half.
“As a coach and a footy fan you can cop when someone puts a good shot on you and the ball pops out; you’re disappointed, but the defence has sort of earned that error,” said Whiteford. “But with some of the errors we’re making at the moment, we’re just gifting the opposition field position and we’re wasting all our petrol.”
He added: “It’s something we really need to focus hard on, the fundamental skills and our balls skills. Just back to basics, really. The attention to detail and the players being more accountable and having more concentration, because a lot of the errors are unforced errors.”
Standout players: In a team that has used plenty of different spine combinations, young playmaker Jake Slee has been impressive for the Tigers this season, as has half Haydan Ritchie, who recently returned to the club after finishing up with the Roosters’ SG Ball team.
“He’s only a few games in but has looked good and really sharp, and has plenty of confidence for a young kid coming into a side part way through the year,” said Whiteford.
Meanwhile the forwards have also been a rock for the side throughout the first six rounds, with front rowers Brodie Green and Brandon Shoveller leading from the front when the team has been under pressure.
Next month: Kincumber (H), Berkeley Vale (H), Wyong (A), Toukley (A)
Wyong Roos
Captain-coach: Todd Lewis
Position: Fifth (three wins, three losses)
Story so far: With a three-and-three record, it’s also been somewhat of a mixed season for the Roos, who’ve put in some excellent performances along with some slightly underwhelming efforts. This was probably best highlighted by the opening rounds, with Wyong putting in an almighty effort in their 12-4 round one loss to defending premiers Toukley, in a game that captain-coach Todd Lewis described as having a semi final-like intensity.
“Against Toukley, the effort that we put in for that is just something that you can’t do week in, week out – it was probably one of the gutsiest efforts that I’ve been a part of in my whole career in terms of defence,” he said.
Unfortunately for the Roos, the game took plenty out of them, and they backed that up with a disappointing 26-6 loss to The Entrance in round two.
However since that tough start Wyong have bounced back well by winning three of their past four to be on the verge of the semi-final spots.
This comes amid the backdrop of constant player change, with injuries, as well as others being called up the club’s Denton Cup side, ensuring that Lewis has not had the same team two weeks in a row.
What has worked: While the results might have been a little up and down, Lewis says the attitude of his squad hasn’t wavered over the first six rounds.
“It’s a bit of a buzzword and a lot of people talk about culture and people buying in, but they’re the things you can’t coach,” he says. “I think at the moment we’ve just got a really good, tight-knit group, especially with boys coming in and out each week.”
Meanwhile, with three wins in the past month – including strong performances against Kincumber and Berkeley Vale, and an important 16-6 victory over fourth-placed Terrigal – Lewis is confident that his side’s attacking fluency is starting to click.
“At the start of the season we sort of struggled to find some points and we made some key changes in certain positions, and I think we’re now just starting to get out of that pre-season grind and things are starting to click together, which is pleasing to see,” he said.
What needs working on: In what is a common theme throughout the competition, the Roos have been cruelled by their handling and consistency at times throughout the season.
“Our ball control has been killing us,” said Lewis. “In most games we’re not putting in 80 minutes of clean footy but hopefully that’s something that we can clean up coming into the back end with the more minutes and games that we play.
“That’s probably been the biggest killer for us at the moment. Once we make an error, in the next 10-15 minutes we sort of go back-to-back with errors or give away back-to-back penalties. As a coach that’s definitely frustrating, but they are things that we can definitely improve on.”
Standout players: As a player with more than 50 NRL games under his belt, Terence Seuseu has been key to the Roos’ season so far with his experience. “He has been an absolute blessing for our squad,” says Lewis. “Obviously his leadership, but also just how calm he stays on the field, breaks it down to basics, our set-to-set processes – he’s really been a shining light over the last few weeks.”
Utility player Kye Leaudais is another to standout in the early stages of 2023. “He’s someone that everyone wants in their team. As a coach, it doesn’t matter where I put him, he plays 80 minutes, he puts his best foot forward and has a team-first mentality, which is the best thing about him.”
Meanwhile, with the battle for the middle so important every week, forwards Jake Dawe and Brae Verheyen have been very impressive for Wyong.
“They’re our two enforcers at the moment. I never thought I’d see the day where a middle wants to play 80 minutes, but they’re both screaming at me to play full games,” laughs Lewis.
Next month: Woy Woy (H), Toukley (H), The Entrance (H), Kincumber (A)
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