Central Coast Rugby League: the major talking points from round one
It was an intense start to the season with some blockbuster games going down to the wire, while a much-loved club legend celebrated a major milestone. Here are the talking points from round one of the CCRL.
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The footy is back. After a six-month break the Central Coast Rugby League competition resumed over the weekend.
There were plenty of hits, tries and action in what was a big return for the local competition, with three games taking place on Saturday and the Terrigal-Woy Woy clash washed out on Sunday.
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Catch up on the action and talking points from the first round.
1) Round one delivers the goods
It might have only been round one, but some of the football on show was first class over the weekend.
It was hard to go past the local derby between Toukley and Wyong, with both sides meeting for the first time since the Hawks’ epic 19-18 victory in the preliminary final last year.
And while there might have been a bit of early-season dropped ball, the intensity of Toukley’s 12-4 victory set the tone for what many hope will be a great season of footy.
“It was such a physical game. Wyong scored first and we had to dig deep to come back and win the game,” said Toukley captain-coach Jake Fitzpatrick.
Wyong’s Todd Lewis agreed: “That felt like the major semi last year in terms of the standard that we’re both at,” he said.
“We even had Toukley fans coming up to us after the game saying that it was one of the best games to watch in terms of our defensive effort… Super proud for round one.”
2) Akers cracks the ton in style
Not only did the Hawks pick up the Ken Moir Cup in defeating the Roos, but Saturday’s clash was also a special occasion for much-loved Toukley outside back Nathan Akers, who celebrated his 100th first grade game for the club.
First donning the blue and gold in the under 9s in 1998, Akers made a series of junior grand finals with the Hawks and made his first grade debut way back in 2007.
Undoubtedly his greatest moment came last year, when he played in Toukley’s historic grand final win.
With 100 first grade games under his belt, Hawkies fans will be hoping that there are still plenty more to come.
3) Four out of five ain’t bad
It was a good opening weekend for The Entrance and Erina, with both clubs recording four wins across the five grades on Saturday.
The Tigers, who got over line 20-14 in an arm-wrestle against Berkeley Vale in the main fixture, also picked up wins in reserve grade, under 18s and league tag.
It was a similar story for the Eagles, who won in all grades except under 19s, where they went down to Kincumber 22-14.
4) The bunnies are back
Staying with the lower grades, it might have been in the early fixtures and they might not have brought home the win, but it was great to see Umina return to senior football on Saturday at MacKillop Oval.
Under an agreement with Kincumber, Umina will take the Colts’ spot in the open grade competition this season after six years away from senior football.
And while they went down to Erina 14-6, even the most one-eyed opponent would have to admit that it’s great to see the famous red and green jerseys on the pitch and on the hill of senior games again.
5) Young Panthers make their mark
Berkeley Vale had a couple of fresh faces on the field during its round one clash with The Entrance, with youngsters Ethan Bowhay and Declan Hicks making their first grade debuts for the club.
The decision backs up coach Michael Sullivan’s policy to look towards youth to help turn around the club’s results in 2023.
It was an improved performance from the Panthers, who took the lead early in the second half and look like they were about to pull off an upset win before ultimately going down 20-14.
6) Roos bouncing on in the Denton Cup
While the Roos narrowly went down to Toukley in round one at Darren Kennedy Oval on Saturday, the club’s Denton Engineering Cup side continued its strong start to the season with a 26-4 victory over the Kurri Kurri Bulldogs.
This comes after they defeated local rivals The Entrance 26-14 in round one.
Wyong sit equal top of the Newcastle comp alongside powerhouse clubs Maitland and Cessnock, and will be looking to keep the streak going against the Western Suburbs Rosellas at Harker Oval on Thursday night.
As for The Entrance, they’ll be looking for their first win of the season against Lakes United at home on Good Friday afternoon after narrowly going down in their first two clashes.
Round one wrap
Hawks celebrate homecoming party
For nearly two years Toukley has been on the road as their home ground was under refurbishment.
But on Saturday the Hawks celebrated their homecoming party in the best possible fashion with a hard-fought 12-4 victory over Wyong in the local derby at Darren Kennedy Oval.
Entering the season as first grade defending premiers for the first time in the club’s history, Toukley actually found themselves behind early with Wyong winger Bailey Frost crossing for the opener.
However the Hawks showed their premiership credentials to grind their way back into the game, with winger Kiran Page and backrower Jakob Giles scoring to ultimately seal the eight-point win and claim the Ken Moir Cup.
Despite just being round one, Toukley captain-coach Jake Fitzpatrick was impressed by the quality and physicality of the contest, which came off the back of the local rivals’ epic preliminary final clash last season.
“It was such a physical game. Wyong scored first and we had to dig deep to come back and win the game,” he said.
“And to play the whole second half against the wind was tough, so it’s obviously a very good platform to start on and we’ll build on that.”
With their backs against the wall early, Fitzpatrick said he was most pleased with his side’s character.
“The resilience, the camaraderie, the toughness. I’ve said before how our middle is very hard to break, they just don’t give up and that’s the bread and butter of our Toukley side: we just don’t give up, don’t break, stay calm and remain positive,” he said.
“We’re big on effort-on-effort, making sure we’re doing the little things right. We did the little things right on the weekend and that’s what got us back into the game and the eight-point win in the end.”
As for Wyong, Roos captain-coach Todd Lewis said there were plenty of positives for his side despite the loss.
“It’s tough to lose a game but still be so proud of the effort we had,” he said.
“Our ball control, penalties and errors absolutely killed us. But when you take that away, we had one sent to the sin bin in the second half, and it felt like we defended nine or 10 sets in a row on our line with back-to-back penalties and us dropping the ball on tackle one or two, so to not let them break through us defensively, especially with 12 men, was absolutely huge.”
Lewis says the game was a good early-season litmus test, with Roos to take plenty of positives out of the performance.
“It was a case of ‘let’s see where we’re at’ after they knocked us out in the major semi last year. We’re obviously still hurting from that, but it was a good test,” he said.
“For us to complete what I think was under 50 per cent (of our sets), we know that we can only get better with the footy, so there are plenty of positives to take out of it, even though we didn’t come away with the two points. Super proud for round one.”
Eagles spread their wings
Erina have shown they’ll well and truly be in the mix again in 2023 after a convincing 38-12 victory over Kincumber at McKillop Oval.
It didn’t take the Eagles long to get going, with halfback Nick Newman crossing in the third minute and centre Finn Douch in the eighth to give the side an early 12-point lead.
Although the Colts hit back with two tries of their own, the Eagles managed to keep them at arm’s length and run away with the game.
Newman bagged for a double, while Josh Martin, Riley Stevenson, Noah Easton and Lewis Brundrit also crossed for four-pointers in the seven-tries-to-two victory.
The result sets up a mouth-watering grand final rematch between the Eagles and Toukley at Darren Kennedy Oval on Friday night.
Tigers prevail in tense catfight
The Entrance also joined the winner’s circle in round one with a tight 20-14 victory over Berkeley Vale.
In the perfect start, the Tigers jumped out to an early lead on the back of converted tries to Josh Walsh and Ryan McDonald.
However the Panthers, who have placed greater emphasis on their resilience this year after a number of disappointing seasons, staged a stirring comeback.
Winger Tyler Tuigamala scored a double and centre Braithan Sanderson also crossed as Berkeley Vale ran in three unanswered tries to take a 14-12 lead early in the second half and set up what looked like an upset victory.
However the Tigers showed plenty of ticker of their own, converting a penalty goal and scoring a late try thanks to halfback Sione Tonga to ensure that The Entrance took home the two points.
“It was an arm-wrestle. I think the conditions helped keep it nice and tight. It was a physical game in the middle,” said The Entrance’s coach Kyle Whiteford. “Berkeley Vale were strong, very physical. We did our best to get away with it in the end.”
While the Tigers hit the front with about 15 minutes remaining, they were forced to defend their line as the Panthers launched a series of late attacks.
“We had a player sin-binned with about eight to go and defended very well to hold them out,” said Whiteford, who took plenty of positives out of the performance.
“We were nowhere near our best, that’s for sure, but we were still able to get the two points, and that’s something last year with all of our injuries that we weren’t able to do.”
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