Stars shining and teams building momentum: Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup round two talking points
Round two of the Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup is in the books, with three enthralling games giving us plenty to talk about. Catch up on six of the major talking points from the round that was.
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The Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup takes a weekend off after a captivating round two.
To get you through the wait, we’ve come up with six talking points from the three enthralling games of action that took place in the Illawarra mud over the weekend.
Read on the catch up on the full weekend wrap.
1) Rodwell impacts from the wing
Thomas Rodwell picked up Man of the Match for De La Salle in their hard-fought 20-all draw with Wests Devils in the mud over the weekend.
Two tries aside, Rodwell was a tough worker all afternoon, making 23 carries and keeping his side of the field protected.
After picking up a try in round one as well, Rodwell is joint top scorer in the league alongside Dapto’s Jack Piccirilli.
2) Porter embracing five-eighth transition
Mitch Porter was instrumental in Wests’ mounting a 14 point second half comeback against De La Salle.
Porter has moved out of the fullback role he held down in 2022 to accommodate the introduction of Wyndham Peachey to the Devils side, now operating from five-eighth, a role he dabbled in for a couple of games last season.
He has hit the ground running this season and clearly still possesses that fullback instinct of finding the line, positioning himself to crash over the line late on in the clash with De La Salle to level the scores at 20-all.
Porter is no doubt one to watch this season in what is an exciting partnership with Justin Rodrigues.
3) Ill-discipline will force Collegians reshuffle
The defending premiers faced an unprecedented test against Dapto when they were forced to see out over half an hour of the game with just 11 men.
This was a result of two of their interchange players being sent from the field; first Ryan Hodgson for a reckless tackle on Jack Owens in the first half, followed by Jesse McDonald in the second half who was instantly dismissed for dissent towards the referee.
While there’s no applauding the actions of either players, the positive of the situation is there are now two bench spots open for the taking at Collegians, perhaps presenting a debutant opportunity in a club with a strong young system.
The match also showed the premiers are capable of doing the business even at an extreme numerical disadvantage, showcasing how hard they’ll be to stop once again in 2023.
4) Dapto not to be counted out despite two losses
Dapto have faced a tough start to the 2023 season, coming up against the two grand finalists from last season in their opening two fixtures.
There have been positives to take for the Canaries however, who will no doubt still be eyeing finals footy this season.
Marquee signing Brad Takairangi got a meat pie from five-eighth over the weekend, showing good experience and drive to pounce on an error from Collegians fullback Callum Gromek to score his first try in Dapto yellow.
Pita Godinet also showed his class and experience from the hooker role in setting up a try on the short side for the rapid Jack Piccirilli.
5) Work to do for Thirroul ahead of Collegians test
Last year’s table-topping side Thirroul got their first win of the season over the weekend, but coach Costello believes there’s still “a bit of everything” that needs improving.
“We need to be much better in the way we complete our sets,” Costello said.
“We’re a work in progress like last year, and considering the large turnover of players we had this year I think we’re looking ok.”
Thirroul face a mighty test against Collegians next round, with Costello recognising the threat the possess in the forward pack with the likes of captain Blake Phillips, Jarrod Thompson and the Dowel brothers Blake and Josh.
Costello also identified a number of his own players who have started the season in great form and will be pivotal to their hopes of dethroning the Collegians, namely centre Cooper Bowen and middle men Monty Raper and Bradley Deitz.
6) Same old Corrimal?
Corrimal ended the 2022 Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup season at the foot of the ladder with just two points accumulated from two draws.
Two games into the 2023 season, they’ve conceded 66 points and scored just one try themselves.
They were dealt some hard luck with the loss of marquee signing Jarrod Mullen a few weeks back, which set them on the back foot for the start of the season.
With five other teams flexing their point-scoring capabilities, is it going to be another tough year of suffering for the Cougars.
Double send off and thrilling close contests! Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup round two wrap
Round two of the Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup brought flashbacks to the torrid rain-filled weekends of previous season, but games were able to get underway nonetheless.
And what a round it was, with three games in which the end scoreline really didn’t tell the entire story.
There were long-range tries, big comebacks and even two sending offs in the one match.
Catch up on the full round wrap.
Don’t forget as well to check out the wrap and talking points from round one.
Devils and De La Salle unable to be separated
In the match of the round, two sides who kicked their season off with wins in round one locked horns at the muddy Sid Parrish Park.
In the end the Wests Devils and De La Salle were unsplittable, with both teams locked at 20 points each and bringing the first draw of the 2023 Illawarra Cup season.
The Devils had clearly worked on getting out of the gates faster after a slow start in round one against Dapto, with centre Colby Pellow charging infield and beating a few tackles to dive over and score the opener within minutes.
Despite this strong opening, it was De La Salle who took control of the game after that, putting on all 20 of their points unanswered as they looked to run away with the game.
Winger Thomas Rodwell scored his second and third tries of the season on the profitable left flank of De La Salle, having the easy job of finishing off some good right to left spreads from the side.
Centre Trentham Peterson would also convert down the left flank, planting the ball down after Wests’ Lachlan Hurst was unable to cleanly gather a kick from Eli Levido in the wet conditions.
Two penalty goals early in the second half would extend the margin to 14 points.
With the game to chase, the Devils clicked into gear, first through former-NRL player Jy Hitchcox who opened his account for his new club, after Sosaia Feki batted back a Justin Rodrigues bomb to Mitch Porter who then fed the winger.
Prop Dylan Lauri would follow up with a terrific solo effort, showing great running power and a bit of footwork as well to bundle over the line with four defenders trying to stop him.
Instrumental five-eighth Mitchell Porter would level things for the Devils late on, crashing over on the left after hooker Kyan Hjaltason recognised there was an overlap on that side.
Unable to convert his own kick, the scores remained locked at 20-all for the remaining ten minutes, sending both teams home with shared points and a lot of washing to do.
11-man Collegians just about get the job done
The outnumbered Collegians held on to narrowly beat the Dapto Canaries 22-14 in a thriller away from home.
Dapto Showground looked significantly better than the majority of other fields in the Illawarra region, leading to a high quality affair between two top sides.
Collegians came out of the blocks early with a try to winger Jay Watling after a good bat-back from Samuel McCann off a kick.
Shortly after, Collegians would lose their first man, with Ryan Hodgson sent off for dropping Jack Owens on his neck in a highly dangerous tackle.
Despite being a man down, Collegians piled on two more tries to take a 16-0 lead into the break, including a second of the season for Laurie Daley Cup young gun Toby Rumble.
Collegians would drop to 11 men early in the second half, with Jesse McDonald instantly dismissed for an off-the-ball comment picked up by the referee, the exact details of which are unknown.
From here Dapto rallied, first through winger Jack Piccirilli who was sent down the short side to score by his hooker Pita Godinet.
Piccirilli would be at it again shortly after, stepping one defender before incredible spinning another three to score his second.
It wasn’t all rosy in the discipline book for the Canaries either, with Rodney Manuela sent to the sin bin for a poor high tackle.
Despite this, Dapto were able to surge again, with five-eighth Brad Takairangi chasing his own grubber kick and capitalising on Collegians fullback Callum Gromek not being able to tidy it up and scoring himself.
Two points down, Dapto mounted immense pressure on the Collegians in the dying minutes, but as they looked to launch an attack on their left flank, winger Jay Watling took an intercept and streamed 80 metres down the park to win it for the premiers.
Butchers slice up Cougars to get season underway
It was more sloppy underfoot conditions at Thomas Gibson Park as Thirroul got their first points of the season, dispatching of the valiant Corrimal Cougars 22-6.
Wayne Bremmer opened the scoring for the Butchers, charging his way over after a spread to the left flank in what would be the only points of the first half.
It took until the 60th minute for the Butchers to break the valiant Corrimal defences again, with centre Cooper Bowen busting through for a line break before feeding his winger Ryan Matthews to score.
It would be Corrimal who bounced back shortly after with their first try of the season through Viliame Mahe who found a gaping hole right near the line all too easily, raising some questions defensively for Thirroul.
However their chances of mounting a further revival were snuffed out by some ill discipline, with prop forward Peni Misinale sent to the sin bin after a high tackle which led to a bit of a scuffle between the sides.
Thirroul would capitalise on the extra man and put the game out of reach, first from a barging run towards the sticks and over the line from prop forward Sione Afemui, followed by a finish in the corner by Jye Patterson after a deft Tarje Whitford kick.
A first win of the season for Thirroul, but still not looking like the table-topping team from 2022 as of yet.
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