Central Coast Rugby League: results, takeaways, photos, standouts from round nine
The CCRL’s entertainers were in fine form with some incredible individual performances, while one stalwart brought up a truly remarkable milestone that may never be seen again.
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There were plenty of headlines to come out of round nine of the Central Coast Rugby League, with some of the competition’s strike players putting in some incredible individual performances as one local stalwart brought up a milestone that we may never see again.
Elsewhere, the race for the minor premiership took a decisive turn, while the battle for the top four was well and truly brought to life after some upsets results.
ROUND EIGHT: All the action and key takeaways
MID-SEASON REVIEW: See how the teams are travelling
With our snappers on hand at Erina Oval and Duffys Road, catch up with a slice of the action, the key takeaways and the best shots below with the CCRL Set of Six.
1) Toukley hold the edge
Toukley’s 34-16 victory over rivals Erina in Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash was crucial for a number of reasons.
Not only did the win put the Hawks two points clear in the race for the minor premiership, but it was also the third time in a row that the defending premiers have defeated the Eagles, in a run that includes last year’s 20-10 grand final victory and the 18-10 win in round two of this season.
While pleased with the impressive hat-trick, Toukley captain-coach Jake Fitzpatrick isn’t reading too much into it.
“It’s funny, because we have won the last three, but I’m pretty sure they had us the three before that, so it’s kind of done a complete 180,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve got the measure over them as such. I think we’ve just created this steely attitude where we tend to hang in there no matter what the scenario is.
“We don’t go into games with the mentality that we’ve got them wood over teams in this department and that department; we just make sure our own backyard is alright and back that if we’re good in our own areas then we should come out on top.”
With Erina having scored the most points and Toukley having conceded the fewest, the match was billed as the ultimate battle between attack and defence, with the Hawks ultimately coming out on top.
“I’ll always back our defence,” said Fitzpatrick. “The guys are just so full of energy.
“I could see why Erina do put a lot of points on teams because they do move the footy really well. But defence wins comps and I’ll always back our defence.
“We probably did do a lot more scrambling on the weekend than we’ve had to in previous weeks, which is credit to Erina’s attack. But our defence was once again rock solid.”
2) Roos flip the script
Another hugely important result from the weekend came from Wyong, who snapped a two-match losing streak to defeat The Entrance 30-18 at Morry Breen Oval.
Coming off the back of some disappointing results, Wyong captain-coach Todd Lewis said a midweek reality check helped spur his side into action.
“We just let the boys know that we only had six games to go, and if we want to be playing semi-finals come August then we’ve got to win either four of the six and wait on other results or win all of our games to confirm our spot in the semis, and I think that was a bit of a rev up of what they needed,” he said.
“All week our theme was: ‘No talk, just actions’, because I’ve sort of been saying the same thing since round one.
“And as much as we’ve been close, we’ve been getting the same results. It was just about saying enough with talking and time to start leading, and the boys just got on board with that.
“I think we completed nearly at 90 per cent, and that’s something – with our errors and penalties – that has been killing us throughout the year, so it was nice to see the completion rate improve.”
In what was a classic ‘four-pointer’ in terms of the ladder, the win brought the Roos to within three points of the Tigers, and keeps their hopes of playing semi-final football alive.
“The last month of footy will be good for us because we’ve got a tough run home, we’ve got a lot to fight for but that’s exactly what I love moving into the semis – to know that we’re playing that standard of footy and not cruising in and knowing that we’ve got a couple of results up our sleeve.”
3) Terrigal turns the screws
Another team that racked up a big victory was Terrigal, who thumped Kincumber 50-10 to move into outright third position with 12 points.
Crossing for nine tries would have been particularly pleasing for the Sharks, who have struggled with their attack at times this season.
The win has stretched the team’s unbeaten run out to four games – currently the longest in the competition – with the Sharks knocking off defending premiers Toukley, Woy Woy and Kincumber, as well as drawing with the Roosters over the past month.
It sets the team up well, with the race for the finals spots set to heat up over the last five weeks of the regular season.
4) Roosters starting to crow
Outside of Terrigal, there is an argument to be made that Woy Woy is the form team in the comp, with the Roosters continuing their impressive second half of the season with a 48-6 victory over Berkeley Vale.
While they were competitive in most matches early in the season, Woy Woy finished the wet weather round with a record of just one win and five losses, which was capped off by a disappointing 42-6 loss to Terrigal.
However since then the team has turned its season around, beating Wyong 24-14, drawing 18-all with the in-form Sharks and now thumping the Panthers to be unbeaten in three.
And while the Roosters are still four points outside the top four, with this form and their excellent attack (the second best in the competition), could they make a late charge towards the finals?
5) Tryscorers run riot
Speaking of Woy Woy, one of the Roosters’ stars had an absolute day out on Sunday, with winger Ashton Carroll crossing for four tries and kicking four goals for an incredible personal haul of 24 points in his team’s 48-6 victory over Berkeley Vale.
He has moved up to second in the competition’s try scorer’s list with nine, three behind Erina’s Riley Burke, while he has moved to equal first in the pointscoring charts, racking up 76 to sit level with Eagles’ outside back Finn Douch.
Carroll wasn’t the only one getting in amongst it, with Terrigal’s Beni Valu also crossing for four tries in the Sharks’ rout of Kincumber, which sees him move up to third with eight for the season.
Meanwhile Toukley’s Aaron Heaven had a match made exactly there with a hat-trick in the top-of-the-table blockbuster against Erina.
6) Ourimbah legend celebrates 500-game milestone
While four tries in a game is a serious effort, by far the most remarkable personal achievement of the weekend came at Bill Sohier Park, where Ourimbah’s Brent Radburnplayed his 500th game for the club.
Having started in the under-7s in 1992, way back when Paul Keating was the prime minister and the Brisbane Broncos won their first premiership, Radburn has spilt plenty of blood – as well as rupturing his ACL three times – for the club he loves over the course of the past 31 years.
In what doubled as a reunion for the 1993 under-18 and 2003 under-19 premiership-winning sides, the 38-year-old led his team out in the reserve grade competition as the Magpies took on Woy Woy.
However sadly not everything ends in a fairytale, with Radburn’s Magpies narrowly going down to the Roosters 16-12.
Regardless of the result, Radburn was celebrated by all for his achievement which, given the nature of modern football, may never be seen again.
Round nine wrap
Two of the competition heavyweights certainly didn’t disappoint with a seesawing contest that saw the lead and momentum change multiple times during round nine of the Central Coast Rugby League.
Meanwhile one contender solidified its spot with a strong win, while another closed the gap on the top four with an upset result in what was a big weekend of footy.
Berkeley Vale hosted Woy Woy, while Wyong hosted The Entrance in a clash of leagues club teams. Elsewhere, Terrigal welcomed Kincumber to Duffys Road, while Erina hosted Toukley in the match of the round.
With our snappers on hand at Erina Oval, catch up with a slice of the action and the best shots below.
Hawks prevail in top-of-the-table clash
Toukley has jumped back into outright first on the ladder after a second-half blitz helped the Hawks to a 34-16 victory over Erina at Erina Oval.
Winger Aaron Heaven claimed a hat-trick in the seesawing contest, with the lead changing four times as the competition heavyweights threw everything at each other.
In a match full of swings and shifts in momentum, Toukley bounced back from conceding two quick tries early in the second half to come from behind to take the two points against their rivals.
“The first half was a bit of a grind,” said Hawks captain-coach Jake Fitzpatrick.
“I’m on repeat – we were in and out of the game in the first half. We started the second half poorly, but then responded really well and ran away with it in the end.
“But it was a tough game, the scoreline probably doesn’t reflect how tight the game was.”
With both sides going into the weekend equal first with a record of seven wins and one loss, much of the talk going into the clash was about who would prevail in what was a meeting of two very different football sides.
On the back of some excellent ball movement and magic from their outside backs, the Eagles were by far the best attacking team in the competition. Meanwhile led by their experienced pack, the Hawks were comfortably the competition’s strongest defensive outfit.
“I thought we managed their back five really well,” said Fitzpatrick of Erina’s attacking threats.
“I noticed very early on that they wanted to shift the ball, which I think may have been a way to get away from our middle as such. And early on they were making quite a lot of yards down our right edge.
“I felt when we were good, our middles were playing really direct and running through the guts of them. And when we were poor, we were trying to move the footy a bit too much, which isn’t really our style.
“I feel like the longer the game went on, our middles really started to dictate that middle third of the field, and when they’re doing that we play really well off the back of it.”
Things started well for Toukley, who scored first through Heaven to lead 4-0.
They then bombed a golden opportunity shortly after, with Erina taking full advantage by going down the other end of the field and crossing through hooker Zade Besley to lead 6-4.
Much of the first half was a grind for field position, however the Hawks took the advantage into the break when Charlie Newton crossed just three minutes before halftime to give his side a 10-6 lead.
If the first half was a tight, tense grind, the second half seemed like the complete opposition, with Erina crossing for two quick tries to Cameron Davies and Josh Martin to race out to a 16-10 lead.
The momentum was all with the home side, however Toukley retook the lead again shortly after when Josh Kessler crashed over.
The lead was then extended when Jacob Griffin scored to make thing 22-16.
While the game was still in the balance, Heaven gave the Hawks some more breathing space with a try with 20 minutes to go to extend the lead to 12, before the winger completed his hat-trick at the death to cap off the 34-16 win.
Toukley 34 def Erina 16
Roos skip past the Tigers
Wyong has closed the gap between itself and the top four after an important 30-18 victory over The Entrance at Morry Breen Oval.
The Roos crossed for five tries in the 12-point win, with Simon Pati, Stephen Gordon, Richard Clegg and Jake Dawe all scoring for the home side.
The victory was crucially important in the context of the race for semi-finals spots. The fifth-place Roos are now three points behind The Entrance, who slipped to fourth after the weekend’s fixtures.
Although there is still distance between them, a loss could have seen Wyong fall five points behind their rivals in what would have been a very difficult proposition with just five games to go.
While the result broke a two-game losing streak for the Roos, it ended the Tigers’ four-game unbeaten run that had seen them climb to third on the ladder before the weekend’s action.
Wyong 30 def The Entrance 18
Sharks maul the Colts
Terrigal has moved into outright third position after a thumping 50-10 win over Kincumber at Duffys Road.
Beni Valu ran in an incredible four tries for the Sharks, who crossed for nine overall to the Colts’ two to secure the comfortable win.
Despite Terrigal playing at home and coming off a strong run of form, it was the visitors who crossed first, Kincumber fullback Kyle Lang opening the scoring early in the game.
However the Sharks, who have been incredibly strong defensively in 2023, started to take control of the contest and ran in four tries in the first half to take a 20-10 lead into the break.
The trend continued in the second, with Valu claiming his third and fourth tries as the team ran in fourth themselves to seal the 40-point victory.
The victory means the Sharks are unbeaten in four games and moves them into outright third place on the ladder with 12 points, just two behind second-placed Erina.
Meanwhile the Colts remain in seventh, with just the one win to their names so far this season.
Terrigal-Wamberal 50 def Kincumber 10
Roosters thrash Panthers
Woy Woy is another side that has maintained its recent run of good results with a comprehensive 48-6 victory over Berkeley Vale at Ted Doyle Oval.
Outside back Ashton Carroll had an absolute field day for the Roosters, crossing for four tries and kicking four goals to rack up an impressive 24-point personal haul.
It was one-way traffic from the opening minute, with Woy Woy scoring 10 tries to one in the rout.
At one stage in the first half the Roosters were scoring at a point per minute, and took a massive 34-0 lead into half time.
The victory, the third of Woy Woy’s season, continues the team’s strong run of recent form, which has seen the side win two and record a draw in its past three games.
Meanwhile the result is another disappointing one for the Panthers, who remain in eighth position with just one win to their name this season.
Woy Woy 48 def Berkeley Vale 6
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