Central Coast Rugby League: Round six wrap, photos, key takeaways
Two teams remain favourites, one keeps getting cruelled by fine margins, while one sharpshooter is streaking ahead in the point scorers’ race after round six of the CCRL.
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The competition leaders have maintained their favouritism, one side has continued its run of hard luck, while some free-flowing footy and sharp goalkicking has seen one player race ahead in the pointscoring charts after round six of the Central Coast Rugby League.
As we head into the wet weather weekend we’re taking a look at the key takeaways with the CCRL Set of Six.
CCRL SET OF SIX: all the action and takeaways from round five
WOMEN’S TACKLE: History made as competition kicks off
Meanwhile, with our snappers catching some of the action at Darren Kennedy Oval and Morry Breen, catch up with some of the best shots from round six below.
1) Leaders emerging at the top
As we head into the wet weather round, which almost constitutes as a mid-season break, two teams have emerged as the standouts after the first six rounds of the competition.
Unbeaten with six straight wins, defending premiers Toukley has taken its game to another level this year and sits in outright first on 12 points.
Particularly impressive were the Hawks’ first three weeks of the season when they defeated Wyong, Erina and The Entrance in tight encounters to lay the platform for their tilt to go back to back.
Meanwhile second-placed Erina has also been incredibly impressive. Despite suffering a huge injury toll and blooding half a dozen youngsters in first grade so far this year, the Eagles have lost just the one game – in round two against Toukley – and sit on 10 competition points.
The constant changes to the team don’t seem to have hampered the Eagles’ attack, with Erina comfortably leading the points-for standings with 186 in six games, a whopping 42 points clear of the next best in Woy Woy.
2) Hawks not the only high-flyers
While Toukley are flying high in first grade, they aren’t the only undefeated team heading into the wet weather weekend.
In reserve grade, The Entrance have been the standout team so far, with a record of five wins and a bye. While they’ve won every game, it hasn’t necessarily been easy, narrowly getting over the line 6-4 against Ourimbah on the weekend and defeating second-placed Erina 22-18 in round two.
Elsewhere, St Edwards are leading with a perfect record of six and zero in open grade, while in league tag, The Entrance have been completely dominant over the first six weeks of the season. The team has won all six games, scoring a whopping 230 points and conceding just 32 to leave it with a points difference of 198.
3) Fine margins hurt Woy Woy
It’s often said that football is a game of fine margins, and that certainly seems to be the case for Woy Woy in first grade.
While the team is sitting in sixth position on just two points, the Roosters have been very competitive in all of their games, and could well be much higher up the ladder if some big plays had have gone their way.
After thrashing Berkeley Vale 54-6 in its first game of the season, Woy Woy has lost four on the trot – but all by fine margins.
It started with an eight-point loss to last year’s minor premiers Erina (36-28), then a heartbreaking two-point defeat at the hands of last year’s premiers and the current ladder leaders Toukley (22-20).
The Roosters then followed up with back-to-back six-point losses to Kincumber (28-22) and The Entrance (26-20).
4) History made as women’s tackle kicks off
It was a historic weekend for the Central Coast Rugby League, with the launch of the inaugural women’s tackle competition.
Three games were played across the weekend, with Berkeley Vale defeating Budgewoi 60-0, Terrigal coming from behind to beat Erina 32-18 and Woy Woy edging out The Entrance in a nailbiter. Toukley had the first round bye.
And while all teams were gunning for the win, Terrigal fullback Elysia Atkins said there was a sense that they were all playing for something much more than two competition points.
“In our little huddle before we went out our coach said, ‘Girls, no matter what happens when you go out there, you are making history today. We can look back in 20 years’ time and remember when we played this first game, and all of you are a part of that moment, so no matter what happens, enjoy it, because you’re making history.’ It was a really cool, Goosebumps moment.”
5) Douch moves ahead in pointscoring race
With Erina comfortably leading the competition for points scored, it’s probably no surprise to see one of its players, Finn Douch, leading the first grade competition’s pointscorers’ list.
The goalkicking outside back, who returned to his junior club this year after a few years with Wyong’s Denton Cup team, has scored 60 points so far this season, 20 ahead of his nearest rival, Toukley halfback Josh Kessler.
The weekend was a prime example of how Douch has accumulated points, kicking five conversions and a penalty goal as the Eagles ran in seven tries against Terrigal.
6) No rest for the wicked
Not all teams will be able to kick their feet up and rest those niggling injuries this weekend, with Terrigal to host Woy Woy at Duffys Road on Sunday.
The catch-up match comes from round one of the season, when a heavy dumping of rain on the Saturday night meant that the only Sunday game of the opening round was washed out.
Terrigal go into the game in fifth position, with a record of two wins, one draw and two losses from their first five games, while Woy Woy are in sixth, with one win and four losses.
Wyong is also expected to have some regular first graders in action this weekend as the club takes on the Northern Hawks in Newcastle’s Denton Engineering Cup.
Round six wrap and photos
The defending premiers have maintained their place at the top of the ladder, a main contender has sounded off a warning to other clubs, while there were plenty of lead changes in another match during round six of the Central Coast Rugby League over the weekend.
The weekend featured defending premiers Toukley hosting Kincumber, while just down the road Wyong welcomed Berkeley Vale to Morry Breen Oval.
WOMEN’S TACKLE: Central Coast prepares for inaugural season
In the other fixtures, Woy Woy took on The Entrance at home while Erina faced off against Terrigal.
With our snappers catching some of the action at Darren Kennedy Oval and Morry Breen, catch up on a wrap of the action as well as some of the best shots from round six below.
Hawks overcome gallant Colts
Toukley has recorded its sixth-straight win to start the season with a 24-6 victory over a stubborn Kincumber side at Darren Kennedy Oval.
Despite coming into the game eight points ahead of their rivals on the competition ladder, the Hawks found themselves down in the first half after Colts’ halfback Kieron Diamond opened the scoring.
Coming off their first win of the season last week against Woy Woy, the visitors were playing tough, stubborn football and threatened to take that lead into the break, however Toukley scored just before halftime to level things at 6-6 going into the break.
The Hawks carried the momentum into the second half, crossing just after the halftime and then again midway through the half to set up an 18-6 lead.
Perhaps the ultimate sign of respect for the opponents came in the final 10 minutes when Toukley decided to take the two points from a penalty, rather than push for another try, to extend their lead out to 20-6 and finally put the Colts to bed.
To top things off for the home side, interchange player Zack Robb received the perfect birthday present, scoring a try at the death on what was his 21st birthday to seal the 24-6 win.
The win ensures Toukley will remain in outright first position heading into the mid-season wet weather break, while Kincumber’s strong performance will give the team confidence that they can improve on their seventh place in the back half of the season.
Toukley 24 def Kincumber 6
Tigers edge past Roosters in seesawing clash
The Entrance has jumped into third place on the ladder after tight 26-20 victory over Woy Woy on a wet and windy Woy Woy Oval.
The goalkicking boot of Tigers halfback Jake Slee proved to be the difference in the end as both sides scored four tries a piece in a game where the lead changed four times.
The Entrance got off to a strong start and raced out to a 12-0 lead early in the game.
However a series of errors let the home side back into the game and they duly capitalised with three tries towards the end of the first half to take a 14-12 lead into the break.
From here it was a case of tit-for-tat, with The Entrance retaking the lead early in the second half, only for the Roosters to hit back again and lead 20-18 midway through the half.
However the Tigers improved their handling late in the game and went on to score a try and penalty goal to seal the six-point win.
“We were just happy to get away with the win in the end,” said Tigers coach Kyle Whiteford, who noted that there was plenty of room for improvement for his team.
“We started off quite well and got out to a 12-point lead, but we just made some compounding errors that put us in bad field position,” he said.
“We kept turning it over and they were able to score. I thought our defence was really good until about 10 minutes before halftime, when we just turned it over way too often and they were good enough to scrape in front just before the break.
“We definitely did more good things than poor things, but the poor things we did were in a large clump 10 minutes either side of halftime. We’re going to make errors in games, but we need to try and limit the amount of times we compound them with back-to-back-to-back-to-back errors.”
The Entrance 26 def Woy Woy 20
Roos skip past Panthers
Wyong has climbed into the top four for the first time this season after a convincing 32-8 victory over Berkeley Vale at Morry Breen Oval.
Winger Richard Clegg bagged a double as the Roos ran in seven tries to two to secure their third victory of the season.
“Berkeley Vale were super strong for the first 20 minutes, they’ve got a brand new team from previous years, so it took us a bit to handle them, and once we did we started to play better footy,” said Wyong captain-coach Todd Lewis.
“But it was 16-8 at halftime, so it was a tough 80 minutes and I’m just glad that we got the whole job done instead of clocking off.”
Welcoming back junior rep player Cooper Bigeni, who just one week earlier played in the Newcastle Knights’ SG Ball grand final against Parramatta, Wyong also handed a first grade debut to young Central Coast Roosters and NSW Country hooker Zac Gillett, who came off the bench for the Roos.
With some fresh faces in the squad, Lewis was happy to see some improved fluency in the Roos’ attack.
“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
The win sees Wyong move above Terrigal into fourth place on the ladder, with a record of three wins and three losses.
Meanwhile the Panthers remain in eighth position, equal with Woy Woy and Kincumber with one win for the season.
Wyong 32 def Berkeley Vale 8
Eagles make statement against Sharks
Erina have showed why they are the most potent attacking force in the competition, piling on the points with a 40-10 victory over Terrigal at Erina Oval.
Riley Burke continued his good try-scoring form with a double, while fellow winger Luke Maljevac marked his return to the side with a hat-trick.
The 40-point haul takes Erina’s points-for total to 186 so far this season, 42 clear of the next best team in Woy Woy on 144.
The result was particularly pleasing considering that the strong Terrigal defensive unit had only conceded 44 points in their first four games of the season.
Erina continues its strong run, maintaining second place on the ladder. Meanwhile Terrigal, who will play its postponed round one clash against Woy Woy next Sunday during the wet weather weekend, sits in fifth.
Erina 40 def Terrigal 10
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