Central Coast Rugby League: all the key talking points from round four
One club has called on a raft of rookies, another needed lyric sheets to help with the team song, while one club legend brought up a remarkable personal milestone. CCRL’s key takeaways from round four.
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It certainly was a round to remember in the Central Coast Rugby League competition, with some stunning results, personal milestones and some incredible club records broken over the weekend.
Catch up with all the key takeaways from round four with the Central Coast RL Set of Six.
1) Panthers break incredible droughts
It was a day to remember for Berkeley Vale on Sunday as the club’s first grade side defeated Kincumber 17-8 at Ted Doyle Oval, breaking a 1107-day drought in the process.
But that wasn’t the only good news for the day. Remarkably, the Panthers’ reserve grade side won its first game in 1373 days, which comes a few weeks after the under 19s side picked up their first victory in four years.
“I think it’s been building for a while, since our first training session in November,” said president Matt Roberts.
“There’s such a different vibe around the place with the people that we’ve brought into the club. I think there’ll be more wins this season for sure… We’re really excited about where we are, we know where we’re going, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Given that it had been so long since the last victories, there were understandably more than a few players slightly confused as what to do after the full-time whistle went.
“It’s funny, because when they were walking off, a few of the guys were like, ‘Oh, what do we do now?’ Probably half the team didn’t even know what the song was. It was like school choir, we had to provide a lyric sheet so everyone could sing the song.”
It has undoubtedly been a tough few years for the club, however Roberts is hopeful they won’t have to wait so long for their next victory.
“I’ve only been around the place for 18 months but the people I feel most happy for are our people and volunteers who’ve been there for 30 years and been through a lot of hard times for the club. They can hopefully see a bit of sunshine now and I’m particularly happy for them.”
2) Eagles’ depth coming to the fore
Before the season started, Erina coach Dane Allen said that his club’s biggest strength was its depth, pointing to the fact that all four senior men’s teams remarkably made the grand final last year.
And while he expected to rely on this depth throughout the season, he probably didn’t expect to be leaning on it so hard so early, with a series of injuries and suspensions severely depleting the Eagles’ playing stocks just a month into the 2023 campaign.
“It’s been dreadful so far with injuries: we’ve got about six blokes out at the moment and a suspension as well on top of that. It’s been a tough time but we’re just digging in,” said Allen.
“We’ve got a certain attitude towards our young blokes, and a lot of them are stepping up and that’s what we expect of them. We’ve got a good amount of depth and we’re certainly relying on that currently.”
Indeed, five players – Rylee Walton, Riley Burke, Lewis Brundrit, Thomas Peters and Emmet Nicholls – have all made their first grade debuts in the past couple of weeks.
And while Allen described Sunday’s victory over The Entrance as the club’s “grittiest performance” for a couple of years, given the mass of absences he’s no doubt delighted to head into round five with a record of three wins and one loss.
3) Killick scores 1000 senior points
His team might not have collected the two competition points, but The Entrance captain Matt Killick brought up an impressive personal milestone at EDSACC Oval on Sunday, scoring his 1000th point in senior football.
It is a remarkable achievement for multiple grand final-winner Killick, who’ll be hoping there are plenty more points to come for the rest of this year and beyond.
4) Improved Woy Woy push Toukley all the way
They might only have one win to their name so far this season, but Woy Woy have shown that they’re a much improved outfit after pushing premiers Toukley all the way in their round four clash at Woy Woy Oval.
The Roosters led the Hawks at various stages throughout the match, including inside the final 10 minutes, only for a late Jack Thomas try and Josh Kessler conversion to give Toukley a 22-20 victory.
After a convincing victory over Berkeley Vale and narrow losses to last year’s grand finalists Toukley and Erina, Woy Woy can go into their next run of games with plenty of confidence.
As for Toukley, they remain the only undefeated team in the first grade competition, showing that they’re made of the right stuff after getting the points in four tough games to start the season.
5) Comp tightens as Wyong hands Terrigal its first defeat
We might only be one month in, but the competition ladder is still very tight, particularly in the middle of the table, with three teams locked on four points and just one win separating third from seventh.
Two of those teams locked on four points are Wyong and Terrigal, who met at Morry Breen Oval on Sunday.
The Roos came from behind to win 16-6, handing the Sharks their first loss of the season, while it was two from two for Wyong, who travel to Erina this weekend.
6) Tigers win league tag blockbuster
The first grade fixture wasn’t the only drawcard at EDSACC Oval on Sunday, as the Tigers hosted the Eagles in a league tag blockbuster.
The teams had almost identical records heading into the match: The Entrance had scored 128 points and conceded a measly four in their first three games, while the Eagles had also scored 128 and conceded just six.
The two evenly matches sides certainly didn’t disappoint, with the Tigers edging out their rivals 18-10 to remain unbeaten and jump into outright first place on the ladder.
Round four wrap
The Central Coast Community Rugby League competition stunned fans around the Coast over the weekend with what was arguably one of the most entertaining rounds in recent memory.
With plenty to play for at both ends of the table, round four was full of action as a number of games went down to the wire and one particular result broke the competition’s long-running drought.
Catch up with all the action from round four.
Panthers break incredible 1107-day drought
There were scenes of jubilation at Ted Doyle Oval on Sunday after Berkeley Vale won its first top grade game in more than three years by defeating Kincumber 17-8.
Fans and local juniors alike ran onto the field to celebrate with the players as the full-time whistle blew, with the nine-point victory breaking a 1107-day drought.
“It was a killer atmosphere. You looked around and there were all the through and through Berkeley Vale people in the crowd,” said president Matt Roberts. “It was a great atmosphere and when that siren went there was a bit of pandemonium really.”
In what was a clash between two sides still looking for their first win of the season, Kincumber scored first to take an early 4-0 lead.
Berkeley Vale then hit back halfway through the first half, with a converted Pacey Crutcher try giving the Panthers a 6-4 lead, before another four-pointer on the stroke of half-time extended the lead to 10-4 at the break.
The second half was a real arm-wrestle as both sides sought to press for the advantage. However Berkeley Vale surged even further ahead when Braithan Anderson pounced on a loose ball to score a scrappy try 13 minutes from time. This gave the Panthers a 16-4 lead and put them within touching distance of victory.
Veteran Michael Sullivan then sealed the famous win with six minutes to go, slotting a field goal to put his side 13 points clear. And while Kincumber scored a late consolation try, the match – and the day – belonged to Berkeley Vale.
“It was a long time coming, but I think we’ve certainly been building to this,” said Roberts.
“It was a fantastic day for the club and it was great for all the true believers who come every week. It’s just another step along the journey, there’s still a long way to go, but we think there are more wins in us this year.”
Erina overcome Tigers in arm-wrestle
Erina has cemented its place in second spot on the ladder after a gritty 28-16 victory over The Entrance at EDSACC Oval.
In a game where both sides struggled to complete their sets at various stages, the Eagles ultimately proved too strong for the Tigers, who made a series of crucial handling errors at key moments.
Erina started the brighter of the two sides and crossed the line in the fourth minute through skipper Lincoln Tubridy, only for the referee to call it back due to a forward pass.
However the Eagles maintained the pressure and it didn’t take long to break The Entrance’s resistance, with five-eighth Nick Newman stepping through the defence to score the opening try of the match in the eighth minute.
Penalties and dropped ball were hurting the home side in the early stages, and Erina took an 8-0 lead on 14 minutes with Finn Douch slotting a penalty after the Tigers were penalised for a strip.
In what seemed somewhat against the run of play, The Entrance hit back in the 20th minute, with Joshua Walsh backing up on the inside after a nice backline move to score under the sticks and bring the scores to 8-6.
Erina hit back almost immediately though, with Josh Martin scoring in the corner to make it 12-6 midway through the first half.
Things got worse for the Tigers, with try scorer Walsh sin-binned for blocking the chaser on an attacking kick. Fortunately for the home side, the Eagles came up with some handling errors of their own and couldn’t add to their 12-6 lead before the break.
In what seemed to be a reverse of the first half, the second period couldn’t have started any worse for the visitors, who let the ball bounce from the kick-off and allowed The Entrance to regather the ball.
The home side then had a stroke of luck from the ensuing attacking set, with hooker Chase Partridge putting in a kick from dummy-half, only for the ball to rebound back into his hands before he dived over to score from close range. Matt Killick added the extras to level things up at 12-all.
While the momentum seemed to swing towards the Tigers, Erina was the next to score, with Lewis Brundrit crossing in the corner in the 54th minute and Douch adding the extras to give the Eagles a six-point lead once again.
However in what was a seesawing affair, The Entrance hit back again five minutes later when Lachlan Bell scored in the left corner. Dom Ayoub’s attempt at goal from the sideline slid just wide to give the Eagles an 18-16 lead with 20 minutes to go.
However just as in the first half, the Tigers’ handling errors came back to haunt them, with dropped ball coming out of their own end handing Erina plenty of opportunities to extend their lead.
Meanwhile for their part, the Eagles played a low-risk game with halves Cameron Davies and Nick Newman regularly kicking before the last to turn the Tigers around.
The pressure eventually took its toll and in the 70th minute Douch crossed on the right edge to extend the Eagles’ lead to 22-16.
The Tigers pushed hard to level things up, however in what was perhaps symbolic of the game, a late handling error from The Entrance resulted in the Eagles’ final try.
In a final roll of the dice, the Tigers spread the ball wide, only to come up with an error, with Erina winger Riley Burke picking up the scraps and scoring in the corner on the hooter to seal his side’s 28-16 victory.
“It was probably the grittiest performance we’ve put in over the past couple of years. We just dug deep and went set for set. It’s not usually our style but it was very pleasing,” said Erina coach Dane Allen.
“We spoke about getting good line speed and that sort of stuff. We were our own worst enemy to start of the second half with a couple of knock-ons in our defensive areas, but we stuck to what we knew would go a long way to winning and thankfully the result went our way.”
Hawks come from behind to beat Roosters
Toukley has maintained its unbeaten run this season, albeit only just – coming from behind to snatch a dramatic late victory from Woy Way at Woy Woy Oval.
Just as they’ve done for much of the season, the Hawks started strongly and opened the scoring through Jarrod Kessler in the eighth minute.
However the Roosters – who came into the game with a record of one win, one loss and a washout – hit back, crossing twice to take a 10-4 lead into the break.
The home side then strengthened its grip on the match and threatened to hand Toukley its first loss of the season after crossing five minutes after halftime to take a 16-6 lead.
However just as they’ve done in all of their games this season, Toukley showed its premiership credentials with a stirring comeback.
Midway through the second half backrower Blake Carter scored to close the gap to 16-10, before the unlikely hero crossed again a couple of minutes later to lock the scores up at 16-all with about 20 minutes to play.
While the momentum was with the Hawks, the Roosters showed plenty of ticker of their own to once again go ahead with 15 minutes on the clock and lead 20-16.
However as the game entered the final stages, Toukley crossed through hooker Jack Thomas with just eight minutes to go and Josh Kessler slotted the conversion to put the Hawks in front 22-20 to record their fourth-straight victory to kick off the season.
Roos end Sharks’ run
While the Hawks’ perfect record remains intact, Terrigal’s undefeated run came to an end at Morry Breen Oval, with Wyong prevailing 16-6.
While the Sharks led 6-4 at half-time thanks to a converted Josh Moffitt try, the Roos came home strong in the second half and scored twice to secure the 12-point win.
The victory lifts Wyong to third on points difference, with a record of two wins and two losses.
Terrigal are also on four points and still have the washed out round one fixture against Woy Woy in hand.
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