Send off costs champions and new star emerges from lower grade: Illawarra Cup round five talking points
A costly send off proved the difference in the grand final rematch, while a lower grade star emerged as a new weapon. Check out the biggest talking points from round five.
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Five rounds in to the 2023 Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup season and every team has now played each other once.
With the table starting to shape up, round five threw a couple of curveballs that we didn’t see coming.
From ill-discipline to second half collapses costing sides, round five was full of surprises.
Check out six of the biggest talking points to come out of round five of the Illawarra Cup.
Disciplinary downfall costs premiers
In round two, Collegians had two players sent off the field in the one game.
First a reckless tackle from Ryan Hodgson, followed by a straight dismissal for dissent from Jesse McDonald.
On that occasion, the 11 men of Collegians were still able to grind out a win against Dapto.
However, this time round a first half send off to Callan Briggs and a second half sin bin to Josh Dowel would kill any chances the defending premiers had against a much tougher opposition in Wests.
Collegians will no doubt be needing a talking to during the week about controlling their discipline.
Lower grade star steps up
With no Wyndham Peachey in the side, Wests’ first division five-eighth Dylan Palmer-Quigg was called into the side to play fullback, with coach McLeod electing not to disturb the Rodrigues x Porter partnership in the halves.
What a call this turned out to be, with Palmer-Quigg putting in a terrific performance to ensure there was to be no repeat for Wests of the 2022 grand final defeat to Collegians.
Palmer-Quigg started the move that resulted in Lachlan Hurst scoring, creating a line break through the middle of the park.
He also provided the assist for Colby Pellow down the right flank, forcing a bit of space and releasing his centre with an offload.
Masterful performance from Marsters
Former NRL player Steve Marsters was a diamond in the rough from Thirroul’s Magic Round loss to Wests, providing assists to both of Wayne Bremner’s tries.
This week he was once again putting in a classy performance, the only difference being he was on the winning side of the scoreline.
He was again the provider for a try this week, drawing in four defenders before offloading for his winger Joshua Martin to score his second.
Marsters would also get a four pointer himself late on, beating Dapto’s Anthony Skinner one-on-one with a mean step before racing away to the line.
Dapto dip in second half again
Dapto were right in the matchup against Thirroul, having taken the lead after tries to Tyrone Edwards and Pita Godinet.
However, much like performances against Wests and De La Salle, their second half performance let them down as Thirroul completely ran away with the game.
Four unanswered tries in the second half to Thirroul leaves Dapto with questions about how to close out games.
Signs of life for the Cougars
Signs of life at Corrimal despite loss
Corrimal put three tries on the board against the in-form De La Salle, which was more than their entire season total to that point.
Alexander Poscoliero, Joe Duggan and Peni Misinale all got on the score sheet for the away side, with Duggan’s try being the pick of the bunch.
While this isn’t enough reason to start loading up on them to make a surge up the ladder, it’s a sign that despite a lot of humbling scorelines, the Cougars are still here to play competitive footy in 2023.
The right approach for De La Salle
Whether it was more of a statement of De La Salle’s fluidity down the right side, or Corrimal’s defensive frailties on their left, it was a winning formula for De La Salle that they exploited all afternoon.
Two tries to Tyla Tamou down that side and an assist to Dylan Coutts all came in the first half.
Jack Williams then got in on the act, twice charging in to score down the right after throwing a big dummy to his outside backs.
Send off and sin bin in grand final rematch: Illawarra Cup round five wrap
A grand final rematch between Western Suburbs Devils and Collegians headlined round five of Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup action.
Meanwhile, De La Salle looked to keep their winning run going, while Thirroul took on Dapto in a crucial battle of two teams looking to rise the table.
Catch up on all the action from round five of the Illawarra Cup.
Magic round talking points and photos.
Grand final revenge for Wests against outnumbered Collegians
Wests have erased some of the memories of last year’s grand final by getting the better of the defending champion Collegians 22-10.
For the second time this season, ill-discipline seriously hurt Collegians, as the side were briefly reduced to 11 men during the second half.
This came after centre Callan Briggs was sent off in the first half for dissent towards the touch judge, before Josh Dowel spent 10 in the bin for a pretty poor high shot on Ryan Barbuto that led to a bit of a scuffle between the two sides.
Judiciary business aside, there was a game of footy between two top teams, with star five-eighth and captain Mitch Porter opening the scoring in the first half after making a pocket of space close to the line with a big dummy.
Collegians fullback Callum Gromek would get his side back into the contest with some magic of his own, breaking down the right flank and showing some brilliant pace to burn past Porter and finish in the corner.
With Collegians down to 10 men, Wests capitalised after Dylan Palmer-Quigg broke through the Collegians line, feeding prop forward Dylan Lauri who was in support, before showing great awareness to find the quicker legs of Lachlan Hurst on the outside who went in to score his fifth of the campaign.
From here Wests would capitalise on their numbers advantage, again through some nice work from Palmer-Quigg to offload down the right to Colby Pellow, charging in to score and celebrating before he had even planted the ball.
Levi Pascoe would follow this up with a much easier finish, coming up with the goods after Gromek and Jay Watling both contested for a high ball and spilt it straight back to Wests.
Zeik Foster would score a late consolation with a nice little solo chip and chase try, but there would be no coming back from the deficit put in place by the undefeated Devils.
Butchers second half surge slices up Canaries
Thirroul have returned to the winner’s circle by defeating Dapto 32-10 at home.
They had to work for it though, as while eventually their attack clicked, it looked as though Dapto were closing in on the two points for a while there.
Captain Hayden Crossland opened the scoring for the Butchers after a nice offload from halfback Tarje Whitford.
Dapto would hit back though to leave a two point margin going into the break when Tyrone Edwards charged his way into score in the corner.
Come the second half, the Canaries took the lead when halfback Pita Godinet opened his Dapto account, dummying to the left and charging through a hole to score.
From here, the Butchers finally clicked into gear, inspired first through the great leap of Joshua Martin in the corner, rising above the pack to take an AFL-like mark and muscle his way over the line.
He would back up with another try minutes later after some great work in the build up to assist from centre Steve Marsters.
Dapto were showing signs of slowing from here, as Tarje Whitford and Cooper Bowen scored in quick succession to blow out the scoreline, followed shortly after by Marsters who finished one himself having been a great provider for the past two weeks.
An important win for Thirroul ahead of a big test against De La Salle next week.
Winning formula for De La Salle against Corrimal
De La Salle kept to their winning ways despite a decent showing from an improved Corrimal outfit.
The home side found a winning formula, with five of their six tries coming down their right flank and through the left side defence of the Cougars.
Tyla Tamou was heavily involved for De La Salle in the first half, scoring twice and assisting Dylan Coutts down that productive right flank.
Corrimal would also find luck attacking to the right though, after Leroy Murray put in a grubber that no De La Salle player was able to clean up, allowing Alexander Poscoliero to plant it down in the corner and get the Cougars on the board.
Jack Williams would score two near identical tries from halfback for De La Salle, threatening to use the dangerous outside backs on the right side once again, but instead twice dummying and scurrying in to score himself.
The one try that didn’t come on the right was a barging run through the middle from prop forward Felix Faatali who was simply too big for Corrimal to handle.
Corrimal picked up another two late on, first through a nice play off the training ground finished by Joe Duggan, followed up by a powerful run and try through the attempted tackle of three by Peni Misinale.
It’s the most points the Cougars have put together in a game, but it’s De La Salle who take the chocolates and remain undefeated.
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