Macarthur Rugby League: Round 10 talking points, full wrap and 50+ gallery
Club rivalry and stinging defence is alive and well in the Macarthur Rugby League. Another junior made his debut, while a reggie continues to shine. Round 10 talking points, 50+ gallery.
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The list of junior talent making their first grade debuts continues to grow in the Macarthur Rugby League.
There was plenty of banter when a Tiger aimed up against his former teammates, while at Picton, a Goanna timed his run to perfection.
Here’s what’s making news after round 10.
ANOTHER JUNIOR STEPS UP
It was another big round for players transferring from the NSWRL Junior reps.
With The Oaks missing regular fullback Daniel Payne, Chad Daniels made his first grade debut at Oakdale.
Sharing the field with Wests pathways reps Ryan Polsen, Sonny Edwards and Alex Isdale, the Balmain SG Ball rep made the most of the difficult conditions.
“He’s a confident kid and he’s got good skills,” said captain-coach Mitchell Brasington.
“So we didn’t hesitate to put him in there and he went really well.”
DOWN ON LUCK
While The Oaks finished with a draw at Oakdale, it looks like their short term future will continue without Daniel Payne.
“Payney will probably be missing for a couple of weeks,” Brasington said. “He felt his hammy go just after halftime two weeks ago, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
CRUEL ENDING
Tigers prop Joseph Ualesi was at his devastating best against his former club, but the No.8 rode the highs and lows of a big week.
“There was a bit of hype in the build up,” he said. “All the Oakdale boys were sending me text messages during the week.
“I guess we surprised them in the first half with all our go forward and they started to get tired.
“Oakdale has had the better of The Oaks for the past couple of years. It was just a shame I gave away the last penalty for them to force a draw.”
UNLIKELY TRY KINGS
It’s not often that a front-rower finishes the day with three tries against their name. Even rarer, for two props to achieve the feat in the same round.
But that’s exactly what happened on Sunday. In the first half at Picton, Goannas skipper Eddie Faalua barrelled across for three, while at Kirkham, the second half belonged to Camden’s Danny Fualalo.
Fualalo now has five for the season. Faalua has eight, the most for South West and joint fourth in the competition.
DEPTH ON SHOW
Rams fans must be pinching themselves given the club’s depth of talent.
Heading into Sunday’s clash with Thirlmere, winger Eddie Aiono -the competition’s leading try scorer with 11 - was a late omission with Lindsay Munro called up as replacement.
Munro bagged a double and now has 17 for the season across both grades.
“Our reserve grade depth is the key to our success,” said Camden captain-coach Brad Speechley. “It keeps everyone on their toes, so there’s no risk of complacency.”
PLAY OF THE WEEK
When it comes to match defining moments, South West’s Jared Ross timed his run to perfection against Picton.
With the Magpies leading 28-24 and on the attack in the dying stages, the centre picked off fullback Leon Longbottom with a crunching tackle. The ball came free, and in the next set South West fullback Wyll Baker scored the winning try.
WASHOUT ROUND
Despite the long weekend, the footy continues with a full round of matches rescheduled following the washout in round seven.
The action takes place over three days and kicks off on Friday night when Oakdale host Collies. There’s three matches on Saturday before the Eagles close out the round in Mittagong on Sunday.
ROUND 7 (rescheduled)
MEN’S FIRST GRADE
Oakdale v Campbelltown Collegians, Sid Sharpe Memorial Oval (Friday, 7:30pm)
Thirlmere v Campbelltown City, Thirlmere Sports Ground (Saturday, 3:00pm)
Picton v Camden, Victoria Park (Saturday, 3:00pm)
South West v The Oaks, Onslow Oval (Saturday, 4:30pm)
Mittagong v East Campbelltown, Mittagong Sports Ground (Sunday, 3:00pm)
ROUND 10 WRAP
Round 10 of the Macarthur Rugby League got off to a flyer on Saturday night when Oakdale hosted The Oaks in a thriller at Sid Sharp Memorial Oval.
On Sunday, Camden reinforced their title credentials in style at Kirkham Park, while at Picton, South West continued to turn heads with another impressive performance.
He’s how the entire round of games played out.
RAMS: CATCH US IF YOU CAN
Camden not only put one over Thirlmere following last year’s grand final defeat, but with a 56-6 shellacking, the Rams put the entire competition on notice.
Now unbeaten in eight starts, Camden rolled up field with ease in a 10-try outing, proving they’ll take some beating to claim the trophy.
Showing their intentions early, Bailey Dickinson and three-try hero Danny Fualalo bent the line from the outset before Brad Speechley and Jackson Willis unlocked the pace out wide.
Trailing 14-0, Thirlmere opened its account on the stroke of halftime through winger Marika Tuilau. But in a major blow, the Roosters lost Tim Simona and centre Justin Smith to injuries five minutes after the resumption and found themselves constantly on the back foot as Camden piled on another seven tries including doubles to Jack Miller and winger Lindsay Munro.
While delighted with the victory, Speechley was keen to put the result in context.
“Thirlmere only had six players backing up from the side that played in last year’s grand final,” he said.
“It was a pleasing win for us, but they lost a number of players to injury and played the final 10 minutes with 12 players.”
On an afternoon where Fualalo bagged a rare hat-trick and Miller scored 24 points, Speechley was just as proud with his side’s defence.
“Thirlmere have a good attack, but our defence is much better than last season and the boys did well protecting our own line, especially in the first half,” he said.
SOUTH WEST TURN CORNER
An Eddie Faalua hat-trick has seen South West steamroll Picton 36-28 in a major upset at Victoria Park.
In a true captain's knock, the rampaging front-rower carried the Magpies defence on his back, charging across for three tries as the Goannas raced to an astonishing 24-0 lead in just 21 minutes.
But as they’re prone to do, South West switched off and Picton made them pay. Michael Lett and Tukaha Kyriacou both crossed before the break to make it a 12-point margin.
Hampered by an injured hamstring, Luke Keppie showed his fighting qualities immediately after the break. On two occasions the young half trailed the forwards, and his back-to-back tries saw Picton level the scores with half an hour to play.
With a complete shift in momentum, the Magpies rolled up field and hit the front when winger Jack Lindsell struck from dummy half to make it 28-24.
Faced by a similar situation 12 months ago, South West would have capitulated. But with two wins already under their belt, they lifted again, and regained the lead in spectacular style when fullback Wyll Baker grasped hold of a Brad Takairangi bomb at full pace to score next to the posts.
Up by two, South West finished in style when Joseph Rokoqo barged over for the Goannas’ sixth try.
“We got complacent at 24-0 and went away from what was working,” said Takairangi.
“The best part was that the boys were able to get off the canvas after Picton hit the front. It shows the club is turning the corner, we are determined to show that getting close isn’t good enough.
“We should have beaten Mittagong last week too, but there’s good signs for us moving forward.”
On the match winning play, Takairangi never doubted Baker’s skill and ability to pull off the magic play.
“Wyll is an unbelievable player,” Takairangi said.
“He’s so raw and has so much natural ability. We knew if we could get him one-on-one with their fullback that he’d be difficult to stop, and thankfully it worked out that way.”
LATE PENALTY FORCES DERBY DRAW
The Chesham Sharp Cup remains in Oakdale following a pulsating derby on Saturday night, where a late penalty goal from fullback Cooper Smith saw Oakdale walk away with a 20-all draw against cross-town rivals The Oaks.
In a topsy-turvy contest that could have gone either way, Oakdale scored four tries to three but it wasn’t enough to counter Tigers super-boot Mitchell Brasington, who landed all four attempts at goal.
After losing all three derby contests last season, The Oaks immediately turned to Workers recruit Joseph Ualesi. And the big prop didn’t disappoint, silencing the large crowd with an early try and numerous damaging runs.
Winger Bailey King replied for the home side, but attacking opportunities were rare for Oakdale and they trailed 12-4 when Brasington darted across just before the break.
Elusive hooker Kyle Bell lit up the ruck behind a dominant Tigers pack, and if not for several handling errors The Oaks may well have put the result to bed before the interval.
A week earlier The Oaks matched Thirlmere before falling away in the second half, and it looked like repeating itself when a resurgent Oakdale shot out of the sheds with three unanswered tries to lead 18-12 on the hour.
Jarrod Keppie steamed onto a Smith pass for the first. Then centre Elliott Moaga muscled across, before King stepped of his left foot for a well deserved double.
With 10 minutes remaining and the rain tumbling down, the Tigers appeared washed up – it couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Centre Cody Ral scrambled his way into the right corner, and when Brasington defied a stiff breeze to convert from touch it was 18-all.
A penalty for a lifting tackle quickly followed and the Tigers kicked two points clear, but it wasn’t to be as Smith stepped up in the final minute to kick his only goal of the night.
“It was a game of two halves really,” said captain-coach Brasington.
“In the first half we came out and played the way we wanted to play and rolled through the ruck. Then in the second half, for the first 20 minutes we got caught in a rut and they scored a couple of good tries and then it finishes 20-all, it was a bit of a weird one.”
While it wasn’t the result Brasington wanted, The Oaks aren’t far off the pace.
“We back ourselves, we’re pretty confident we can mix it with the top teams every week,” Brasington said after his side toughed it out minus Daniel Payne.
“We were pretty disappointed with our effort last week, especially in the second half, but I can’t knock the boys effort today. We kept showing up even though we made it hard for ourselves at times, but our attitude was 10 times better than last week.”
On Ualesi, the skipper believes the powerhouse No.8 is only warming up.
“Joey is a gun and we are getting the best out of him which is awesome,” he said.
“He’s playing big minutes and is ripping and tearing. He’s leading the way for us and is only going to get better as the season goes on.”
LIONS CRACK TOP-THREE
Mittagong have moved to third place on the ladder after the Lions accounted for Campbelltown City 36-16, their sixth win of the season.
Hosting a City side buoyed by last week’s strong showing against Oakdale, the Lions didn’t have it all their own way, and only locked up the result when Liam Cassidy dived over in the 66th minute.
Mittagong struck the first blow with a trademark solo effort from Blake Barbuto, and added another two to Bryson Goodwin and Joseph Eccleston to open a 14-point buffer at the break.
City replied two minutes after halftime when skipper Ava Seumanufagai offloaded to hooker Harry Brett. The points kept flowing for the Roos, and they looked like pulling off an upset when Bryce Wilson and Bryce Shaw scored in quick succession to make it 20-16.
But when Cassidy won the race to a Nicholas Eccleston grubber it was game over, and they wrapped up the contest with two more to David Eccleston and winger Michael Meadows.
EAGLES FLYING HIGH
East Campbelltown made it back-to-back wins with a 40-20 win over Narellan on home turf.
Skipper Sean Connor had a day out for the Eagles scoring 20 points with two tries and six goals, including several booming touchline conversions.
While the win moves East Campbelltown into a share of fifth place with The Oaks on 11 points, the victory was no certainty until after halftime.
The winless Jets made the early running and bolted to an early 16-4 lead. But with four quick tries either side of the break, the Eagles made their move and never looked back.
Nathan Gardner continued his fine form with several try assists, and alongside Tristyn Ball the pair cracked the contest open with a couple of crisp interchanges after halftime.
Locked at 16-all, Gardner and Ball combined to send Bose Serukalou over for consecutive tries in the left corner.
Then after starting the season at Narellan, Felix Smith made a triumphant return to the Eagles’ nest, ploughing over several former teammates to make it 34-16.
In another blow for Narellan, the Jets lost Levi Dodd early in the second half when the captain was assisted from the field with an injury.
PHOTO GALLERY
First Grade: Camden v Thirlmere
Reserve Grade: Camden v Thirlmere
Open Age Women’s: The Oaks v Camden
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