Top 10: Biggest talking points from round three of Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cups
There was plenty of action during a very hot round three of the Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cups across regional NSW. Catch up on 10 of the biggest talking points from the weekend.
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ANDREW Johns and Laurie Daley Cup action is beginning to heat up, as round three of both competitions took place over the weekend.
There was plenty of exciting storylines and wonderful tries that took place across the 10 games.
NewsLocal has come up with 10 of the biggest talking points from the weekend that was.
Keep reading as well to see the full results and photo gallery from the round.
Don’t forget to catch up on the biggest stories from round two.
It’s still (incredibly) tight at the top
As noted last week, both competitions are incredibly tight, and round three did nothing to change that, with a series of upsets and surprise results creating a logjam at the top.
In particular, the Laurie Daley Cup is incredibly even, with six teams – the Illawarra South Coast Dragons, Newcastle Maitland Region Knights, Western Rams, Monaro Colts, Northern Tigers and Northern Rivers Titans – all sharing top spot on four points.
It means there’s certainly plenty to play for in the final two rounds.
Macarthur Wests Tigers quietly going about their business
Perhaps the best sign of how even the competitions are is that only one team – the Macarthur Wests Tigers’ Andrew Johns Cup side – has managed to keep a perfect record after round three.
In many ways the Tigers have been sliding under the radar, just doing enough to beat their opponents without making major headlines.
After defeating the Western Rams 26-18 in round and the North Coast Bulldogs 18-10 in round two, the Tigers made it three from three with a 30-12 victory over the Riverina Bulls on the weekend.
Dragons dominate to issue championship statement
The Illawarra South Coast Dragons bounced back from a tough round two to dominate the Northern Rivers Titans across both grades.
Fullback Jack Talbott had his hands on everything in his side’s 30-18 victory in the Andrew Johns Cup, providing three assists and kicking three conversions.
The Laurie Daley Cup side dismantled the previously undefeated Titans 56-6 in an 11 try demolition, with seven separate try scorers getting over the line for the Dragons.
Great Hope for the Northern Tigers
Kaleb Hope crossed three times for the Northern Tigers in their 34-12 win over the Central Coast Roosters in the Laurie Daley Cup.
A further five conversions on top of this amassed a 22 point haul for the centre.
This brings his Laurie Daley Cup season total up to 40 points, narrowly ahead of Jackson Rieck’s 38 points for the Dragons, and only behind Harry Wald who sits comfortably ahead with 52 points for the Western Rams.
Race on for leading tryscorer
Usual suspects emerged across both grades as try scorers this week as the race for the leading try scorer intensifies.
Monaro’s lethal hooker in the Laurie Daley Cup, Xavier Cacciotti, crossed for another two tries against the Western Rams, taking his season total to seven tries from three games.
Central Coast Roosters winger Tali Kolofale crossed for a hat-trick against the Northern Tigers in the Andrew Johns Cup to bring his total to six tries, leaving him one ahead of Western Rams’ Tamaiti Puata.
Hot weather takes its toll
Playing footy in February certainly isn’t easy, with temperatures reaching well into the 30s across the state over the weekend.
Naturally this led to a few late blowouts as the fitter teams – or those who held onto the football – cashed in at the end of their games.
This was the case in the Riverina Bulls v Macarthur Wests Tigers double-header, with temperatures reaching up to 36 degrees in Leeton on Saturday.
The Bulls were well and truly in both games – trailing 16-12 at halftime in the Johns Cup and 24-18 with 10 minutes to go in the Daley Cup before a flurry of late Tigers games saw the scores blow out.
It was a similar story at Cessnock. After leading the North Coast bulldogs 16-6 at halftime, the Knights put on six second-half tries to record a 40-12 victory in the Daley Cup.
And finally, with the mercury hitting 30 degrees in Canberra, the Monaro Colts ran over the top of the Western Rams in the Daley Cup, scoring three converted tries in the final 15 minutes to run out 36-18 victors.
More try of the season nominations
We’ve already seen some spectacular tries so far in the junior rep season, but there were more nominations for try of the season with some brilliant individual efforts in round three.
There aren’t too many better sights in rugby league than a clean pair of heels, and those at NSWRL HQ in Canberra were treated to one of best examples when Western full back Rex Bassingthwaighte broke into full stride against the Monaro Colts in the Johns Cup.
Collecting a kick 10 metres out from his own line, the fullback stepped around the Colts defenders before pinning the ears back and sprinting 90 metres to score.
In Leeton it was another fullback, Macarthur’s Paul Johnson, who stole the show with a quite brilliant solo try.
Picking up a loose ball 30 metres out from his own line, Johnson palmed off three Bulls defenders and ran straight through another before showing plenty of toe to score in the corner.
Halves star as Bulldogs get off the mark
The North Coast Bulldogs picked up their first win of the season in the Andrew Johns Cup, defeating the Newcastle Maitland Region Knights 16-8.
Both halves starred for the Bulldogs in their win, with five-eighth Rielly Laverty and halfback Toby Batten both showing excellent footwork and elusiveness to cross for two wonderful solo tries.
Batten also provided the assist for centre Joseph Bull, who scored the all important third try that would get the Bulldogs over the line.
Monaro unleash on the Rams
Monaro Colts flexed their muscles in both grades against the Western Rams.
Fullback Cooper Johnston starred for the Andrew Johns Cup side in their 34-16 win, scoring two tries and providing two assists for his teammates.
The Western Rams were defeated for the first time this season in the Laurie Daley Cup, with Monaro triumphing 36-18.
The Colts unleashed their bench weapon Mathias Petone Tomuli-Ah-Kuoi, with the big forward too much for the Rams to handle as he crossed the line for two tries.
Linnane’s four-try masterclass
It’s not too often that individual performances stand out quite as much as that of Newcastle Maitland Regions Knights’ halfback Jye Linnane, who scored a remarkable four tries in his side’s 40-12 victory over the North Coast Bulldogs at Cessnock.
After burrowing over from dummy half for his first on 15 minutes, Linnane made it a double five minutes later when he broke the line from a nice scrum move to run 45 metres to score under the sticks.
He made it a first-half hat-trick on 33 minutes when teammate Zeek Faulkner put him into a gap on the short side to crash over, before capping off a brilliant day out with his fourth in the second half.
Round three wrap: Results, gallery and biggest stories from the Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cups
Round three of the NSWRL junior rep footy season kicked off over the weekend, with Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cup action taking place across the state.
In what was a hot weekend, there was plenty of quality footy on, with teams beginning to find their rhythm and league ladders starting to take shape.
Andrew Johns/Laurie Daley Cup: Team previews 2023.
Catch up on the major talking points of round two.
Check out some of the biggest stories and photos from the weekend of footy below.
Dragons bounce back in style
The Illawarra South Coast Dragons have bounced back from disappointing round two results to emerge victorious across both grades against the Northern Rivers Titans.
Having started the season with strong wins against the Riverina Bulls, the Dragons had their momentum halted last week against the Monaro Colts.
However they once again found form this weekend, beating the Titans 30-18 in the Andrew Johns Cup and 56-6 in the Laurie Daley Cup.
In the Johns Cup, the Dragons led by just two points at half time, before putting the game out of reach in the second half.
Centre Zane Timmins crossed for two of his side’s six tries.
The Laurie Daley Cup side would put on 11 of the best in a try-scoring frenzy at Ron Costello Oval, with fullback Jackson Rieck, lock forward Isaac Laughton and winger Toby Rumble all crossing for a pair of tries each.
Macarthur Tigers do the double over the Bulls
It was a good weekend for the Macarthur Wests Tigers, who did the double over the Riverina Bulls at Leeton No. 1 Sportsground.
The Tigers’ Andrew Johns Cup side maintained its perfect record with a 30-12 victory, while Wests’ Laurie Daley Cup team recorded its first win, prevailing 42-18, with Seth To’o and James Folaumoetui both scoring doubles.
While the Bulls’ difficult season continued in both grades, with either side yet to register a win, there were nevertheless plenty of signs of improvement.
The Riverina’s Johns Cup team trailed just 16-12 at the break, only to concede a couple of late tries after Joey Charles was sent to the sin bin in the 54th minute.
It was a similar story in the Daley Cup. The Bulls were well into the match until late on, trailing just 24-18 until the final 10 minutes before the Tigers scored three tries to allow the scoreline to blow out.
Monaro impress again
The Monaro Colts were once again impressive with wins across both grades against the Western Rams.
The Andrew Johns Cup side remains undefeated this season with a record of one draw and two wins after a 34-16 victory at the NSWRL HQ in Canberra.
Fullback Cooper Johnston and winger Joshua Klobucar both crossed for two tries each in their side’s win.
The Laurie Daley Cup side made it two wins in a row off the back of an impressive outing against the Dragons last week, picking up a 36-18 win over the Rams in round three.
The Rams had gone two wins for two this season, but were no match for the impressive Monaro side.
Hooker Xavier Cacciotti is proving too hot to handle for opposition defences this season, crossing for another two tries on the back of his four last week.
Mathias Petone Tomuli-Ah-Kuoi also crossed for a double from the bench.
Honours shared in tight competitions
While some clubs have managed to do the double this weekend, that has certainly been the exception to the rule in what has been a very even season across both the Johns and Daley Cups.
Indeed, the Central Coast Roosters, Northern Tigers, Newcastle Maitland Region Knights and North Coast Bulldogs all shared the honours with one win a piece in what was a tough weekend of footy played under incredibly hot conditions.
In the Johns Cup, the Roosters beat the Tigers 28-4, thanks a hat-trick from winger Tali Kolofale. However the Tigers got the chocolates in the Daley Cup, with centre Kaleb Hope scoring a hat-trick of his own as the Northern Region side won 34-12.
It was the same story at Cessnock Sportsground, with the North Coast Bulldogs getting over the top of the Newcastle Maitland Region Knights 16-8 in the Johns for their first win over the season.
The Bulldogs scored the first three tries before the Knights fought back with two of their own in the second half.
However in the Daley Cup, the Knights put on a masterclass, scoring eight tries to two in their 40-12 victory.
Halfback Jye Linnane bagged a hat-trick as the Knights moved into equal first place.
Photo gallery: Illawarra South Coast Dragons v Northern Rivers Titans
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