Central Coast Rugby League: wrap, standouts, talking points from week one of the finals
One side made history with a famous win, another club notched up a hat-trick of grand finals, while there was a strong sense of déjà vu during week one of the CCRL finals.
Central Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Central Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
History was made during week one of the finals, with one club doing something never seen before in the CCRL.
Elsewhere, one club had plenty to celebrate after a qualifying for a hat-trick of grand finals, another recorded a drought-breaking win, while there was a familiar sense as the results rolled in over the weekend.
Catch up with a wrap of the action and major talking points with our round review and CCRL Set of Six below.
1) Déjà vu
If you hadn’t been paying too much attention to the CCRL this season, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this year’s finals series was just a copy and paste job on the 2022 campaign, with the same four teams making the top four and the same equation remaining after the first week of the finals.
Just like last year, Erina became the first team to win through to the grand final, defeating Toukley 24-16 (which comes after they knocked off Wyong in last year’s major semi).
Terrigal once again became the first team eliminated after losing the minor semi-final to the Roos, while Wyong and Toukley will write the next chapter in their rivalry when they face off once more in a preliminary final local derby at Woy Woy Oval.
It is almost a year since an extra-time field goal sent the Hawks through to the decider, and with the same two teams meeting again, there’s sure to be plenty of fans making the trek down to the peninsula to see if history will repeat itself.
2) Fourth time lucky for Erina
Semi-finals wins are always special, but Erina’s victory over Toukley in the major semi was particularly sweet for the Eagles, who broke a three-match losing streak against their rivals to book their ticket to grand final day.
Despite being down 16-10 early in the second half, Erina bounced back with an excellent performance to run over the top of the Hawks to ensure that they’ll be full of confidence if they so happen to meet Toukley again in a fortnight’s time.
“The last three times we’ve played them there have always been crucial moments that have turned the game in Toukley’s favour, and to their credit, they owned those moments,” said Erina coach Dane Allen.
“That’s been a focus area of ours all week: owning those moments when they arise, and there were a couple of tries on Sunday where we were in the right spot. So we’ll take plenty from that and go into the big one with renewed confidence with how we played and we’re keen to get the job done.”
3) Lewis notches up perfect ton
Wyong captain-coach Todd Lewis would have struggled to script a better 100th first grade game for the club as the Roos put on a clinical performance to knock Terrigal out 28-0 at Ted Doyle Oval on Saturday.
With Wyong forced to defend its own line on numerous occasions early in the match, Lewis was delighted with his side’s defence, and even managed to get on the scoreboard late in the match – even if the circumstances were questionable.
Following in on a Terence Seuseu grubber, Lewis and halves partner Aaiden Wright both appeared to dive on the ball at the same time, leading to dressing room questions over who should have been awarded the four-pointer.
“It’s a bit debatable,” laughs Lewis. “I think it might be the first joint-try in history. I swear we put the ball down at the same time. He claims that he did but I just got up and celebrated quicker so they put my name on it.”
He added: “It felt like we put one hand on each end of the ball at the same time and the video gives me benefit of the doubt, so I’ll take it… He’s my brother-in-law, so I told him he can let me have it.”
4) Roos edge Sharks in semi-final triple-header
It was an excellent day for the Roos as a whole, with the club edging out Terrigal two wins to one in a minor semi-final triple-header.
The Roos took the honours in first grade and reserves – with Wyong winning the latter 12-0 – however the Sharks’ league tag team pulled one back for Terrigal, prevailing 8-0 to continue their march through the finals series.
There will be plenty of green and gold out and about this weekend, with Wyong teams to play in first, reserves, opens and under-19s grades at Woy Woy this weekend, with the club’s Denton Cup side in action against The Entrance in an elimination semi at St John Oval in Newcastle.
5) Tigers book GF hat-trick
Speaking of good days all round, The Entrance Tigers had a belter on Sunday, qualifying for the grand final in three grades.
The Tigers defeated Erina 16-5 in reserve grade, Wyong 16-12 in the under-19s and Erina 14-8 in league tag to ensure that the club will be well represented on grand final day. Of these sides, the reserve grade and league tag teams are still undefeated in 2023 and will be going for a perfect season in the big dance.
It could still get better, with the Tigers still alive in the women’s tackle division, while the club’s Denton Cup side will face off with Wyong in the Newcastle competition this weekend.
6) Berkeley Vale make history
Berkeley Vale has created history by becoming the first team to qualify for the inaugural CCRL women’s tackle premiership grand final.
The minor premiers confirmed their status as the team to beat by defeating The Entrance 14-6 in the major semi-final.
The Panthers took an early lead when Jasmine Wolff crossed for the first try of the match, before Lailani Montgomery hit back for the Tigers to lock things up at 6-all.
A penalty goal from Brittany Starr gave Berkeley Vale a two-point lead going into the break, with the halfback proving crucial in the second half as well with a late try and conversion to seal the match for the Panthers.
They will now play the winner of the Tigers and Terrigal preliminary final clash.
FINALS WRAP
There were spectacular tries, stunning defence and plenty of emotion on show during the first week of finals in the Central Coast Rugby League.
A genuine contender has kept marching on after a complete performance in the minor semi, while the two competition heavyweights went toe to toe in a seesawing clash as they sought to book their tickets in the grand final.
Catch up with a wrap of the action below.
Eagles come from behind in finals classic
Erina has become the first team to book its spot in this year’s Central Coast Rugby League first grade grand final after coming from behind to beat minor premiers Toukley 24-16 in a seesawing major semi-final at Woy Woy Oval.
In what was very much a tale of two halves, the Eagles bounced back from a less than impressive first half to score 14 points to two after the break to qualify for their second-straight grand final.
“We spoke at halftime about knowing how poor we were in the first half but that we were only four points down, so we took a lot of positives out of that and knew that if we got our own house in order that we had the cattle there to get the job done, and thankfully for us we were able to do that,” said Erina coach Dane Allen.
“We played a really good brand of footy in the second half and got the result.”
Having beaten Erina in its last three games, Toukley once again started the stronger and took an early lead after Jack Thomas crossed in the seventh minute.
Josh Kessler then slotted a penalty goal shortly after to give the Hawks a handy 8-0 lead.
The scores remained the same for much of the half until a frantic last eight minutes set the game alight.
It started in the 32nd minute when Erina centre Riley Stevenson crossed to make things 8-4.
Toukley hit back just a couple of minutes later through a try to winger Jay Jones, before Erina’s Jack Smith went over just before halftime to leave things at 14-10 at the break.
The arm-wrestle continued early in the second half with Kessler adding another two points from a penalty to give Toukley a 16-10 lead before the Eagles took control.
On the back of improved completions after adjusting their approach, Erina scored to lock things up at 16-all midway through the half when winger Riley Burke leapt high to take a cross field bomb before brilliantly planting the ball down centimetres inside the sideline.
The Eagles then surged to the lead with eight minutes to go when Benjamin Taylor scored, before Finn Douch kicked a late penalty to cap off the 24-16 win.
“In the second half we played to the conditions, it was quite wet and slippery. In the first half we were playing the type of footy we’re used to – for want of a better term, it was dry-weather footy – and we had to adapt,” said Allen.
“We spoke about it at halftime that we couldn’t have been worse in the first half, and then second half our completion rates were up, we were willing to do the hard work and we put tries on them.”
Erina will move straight through to the grand final where they will take on the winner of this weekend’s preliminary final between Toukley and Wyong.
“We’ll take plenty from that and go into the big one with renewed confidence with how we played and we’re keen to get the job done,” Allen said.
Roos send Sharks packing in total shutout
Wyong has set up a mouth-watering preliminary final clash with local rivals Toukley after shutting out Terrigal 28-0 in its elimination final clash at Ted Doyle Oval.
The Roos scored five tries to none in what was a clinical performance to earn a chance at redemption after going down in last year’s preliminary final to the Hawks.
“That was exactly what we’ve been speaking about all year,” said captain-coach Todd Lewis. “I could not be prouder, and I think it’s put a lot of confidence into the boys going into this week.”
While the margin blew out in the second half, the match was a tight affair in the early stages, with Wyong withstanding plenty of early pressure before Roos’ winger Bailey Frost crossed for the opener.
The contest continued in much the same vein throughout the half, with Wyong soaking up numerous attacking sets from the Sharks before interchange player Kodi Costello delivered what proved to be a crucial blow late in the first half to give the Roos a 10- lead at the break.
“The score probably didn’t reflect how tight it was at the start,” said Lewis. “We did run away with it, but in the first half it was 4-0 with five minutes to go and then we scored.
“Terrigal had what felt like the majority of the ball on our goal line, but our goal line defence was really, really impressive, especially because Terrigal’s pack is humungous. So I was really proud to be able to hold them out.”
Wyong then took control after the break, with the team’s focus on completing its sets and turning Terrigal’s big pack around paying dividends in the final stages as Terence Seuseu, Kye Leaudais and Lewis himself all crossing to put the icing on the cake.
“It was good that our game plan to keep the ball in, keep them moving and hope that we were fitter than them ended up working. I was really happy with the performance,” said Lewis.
Wyong will now take on Toukley in a replay of last year’s preliminary final at Woy Woy Oval on Sunday.
As for Terrigal, the loss marks a disappointing end to a strong season from the Sharks, who finished the regular season in third place after a record of seven wins, three draws and four losses.
Pain game! Stairway to rugby dream for Waratahs young gun
It’s a time he hated with a passion but this painful interlude in Waratahs young gun Henry O’Donnell’s life could well pave the way to his future success in the game. Tahs v Brumbies squads
‘Mates look after mates’: Footy star supporting mental health off the field
After spending his life helping people with their fitness, one local footy figure has turned towards an initiative to support others with their mental health.