Rugby League Central Coast: Top talking points from round eight
In a weekend full of big milestones, one returning club has broken a seven-year drought in classic local rugby league scenes.
Local Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It was another weekend for the big headlines in local Central Coast rugby league, with one team sensationally snapping a six-year drought and another reaffirming its premiership credentials during round eight of the RLCC.
Check out match reports for the games here, and see what is making news with some of the top talking points below.
THE KEY CHANGE BEHIND OURIMBAH’S WIN
Undoubtedly the story of the weekend was Ourimbah snapping a 2170-day drought to record its first A-grade win since 2019 with a 42-22 victory over Terrigal.
After breaking a six-year hiatus to return to the top grade this season, the Magpies had endured a slightly frustrating start to the season, with the team having been very competitive and pushing their opponents but ultimately failing to record a win over its first four games.
However a chat initiated by former NRL star, local junior and Ourimbah captain James Maloney helped the side tweak its focus and ultimately turn its fortunes.
“We had a bit of a meeting earlier in the week and just spoke about being more ruthless and not being content or happy with just competing,” said assistant coach Kyle Whiteford.
“James Maloney was big on this: just breaking things down to the fact that every play is a contest that we want to win, whether we have the ball or not.
“It was about really stripping it back and being accountable for each opportunity and winning those little battles rather than looking too far ahead. We just wanted to get the process right and do the right things.
“It all came off for us because I don’t think we made many errors in the first half; pretty much everything we did turned to gold. It was a good day in that regard.
“But just the confidence was great, especially because we haven’t been getting the wins. We didn’t play like a side that was winless. Mentally we were all in a good headspace and everyone was really keen. We were just happy to get out there and give it a good crack.”
Unsurprisingly, Maloney was also huge for the Magpies on the field, pulling the strings as the side ran in seven first half tries to take a thumping 38-0 lead into the break before cruising home in the second half.
After getting the monkey off their back, the Magpies will be out to make it back-to-back wins when they travel to MacKillop Oval this Sunday to take on the star-studded Kincumber Colts, led by their own former NRL stars in Matt Moylan and David Fifita.
STORM FINALLY BREAK THROUGH
The Magpies weren’t the only side to break a longstanding drought in round eight, with the Gosford Kariong Storm overcoming a difficult start to the year to record their first senior victory in seven years.
Returning to the senior ranks for the first time since 2018 with a side in open grade, the Storm had endured a difficult start to 2025, losing their opening five games.
They endured a real baptism of fire, losing their opening match of the season to Wyong 48-0 before conceding a try in the final minute just a week later to go down 18-16 to Umina in a heartbreaking loss.
However that all changed on Sunday when the team defeated The Entrance 24-16 to chalk up a famous win for the club.
“It was so good,” said Storm five-eighth Jake Martin. “It was also a bit of relief, it was good to get the monkey off our back. It hasn’t really hit me yet, to be honest,” he added.
“The Entrance is a really good team though. We had to work every second of every minute to get there.”
The win was particularly special given that it was the club’s first game back at its home ground, Carrington Street Oval in Narara, with a healthy crowd turning out to cheer them on.
“It was crazy playing at home. There were about three or four utes reversed into the carpark and loaded full of supporters screaming, yelling and carrying on,” said Martin.
“It was really good to see. Especially when you haven’t seen a lot of those people for a long time, for them to turn around and show up on a day like Sunday means so much.”
While winning was of course a huge highlight for the side, simply being able to run onto Carrington Street Oval felt almost like a victory in itself for Martin, who has a long family history with the club.
He played all his juniors with the Storm before giving the game away when the senior arm of the club folded.
“It was a pretty special moment, not only for me but all the others who have been part of Gosford since they were juniors as well,” he said.
“There are other blokes in the team there that have gone elsewhere and never thought they’d have the privilege to go back and play there again. To get that opportunity means heaps.”
WOUTERSZ ON FIRE
Back to first grade, Kincumber snapped a two-match losing streak in style by running in nine tries in the 46-12 hammering of Berkeley Vale at Ted Doyle Oval.
And while the team performance was impressive, winger Josh Woutersz stole the show with four tries in the first half, including a 19-minute hat-trick.
Woutersz once again treated the crowd to a spectacle by laying on a couple of his now trademark acrobatic diving finishes in the right-hand corner, with his four-try haul lifting him well clear at the top of the tryscoring standings with 11 from five games to be three clear of his nearest rival.
“He can finish a try, I’ll give him that,” said Kincumber captain-coach David Fifita. “He makes it look easy, his aerial work is great and he executes really well for us.”
While the winger, who has scored in all five of the Colts’ games, has been lethal close to the line, his skipper also made a point to highlight the good work that goes on inside him, with the right edge combination that includes Nathan Davis and Jesse Abbott proving to be particularly dangerous.
“We joke that we’re all taking the dirty carries for Woutersz and we just let him finish it,” laughed Fifita. “He’s doing his job really well though.”
ERINA EXTENDS IMPRESSIVE TWO-YEAR RUN
It was another super impressive performance from ladder leaders Erina, who overcome a 12-point deficit against a strong Wyong side to prevail 20-12 in a top-of-the-table clash at Erina Oval.
The win takes the defending premiers to six from six to start the season, with the side putting a four-point buffer between itself and the trailing trio of The Entrance, Toukley and the Roos.
Perhaps more impressively, the victory has extended Erina’s remarkable form that has seen the side not lose a regular-season game for nearly two years.
While the Eagles went down to Toukley in last year’s major semi-final and were handed losses on the ladder on account of two forfeits during the 2024 season, they haven’t lost a regular season game that they have taken part in since 9 July 2023, when the Roos pipped them 24-22 in round 12 of the 2023 season. For the record, that’s 701 days.
Since then they have won a remarkable 19 straight regular season fixtures in an impressive example of a team that turns up each week and simply does not have a bad day.
“The blokes we’ve got in the footy side, it’s no coincidence that they’re on every week because they love the sport and love being around each other,” said coach Dane Allen.
“I think it’s easier to get a little more complacent when it’s a bit more of a chore. Not in terms of winning, but if you don’t like the blokes around you then you can have those days.
“But that’s something we value, that camaraderie aspect, and I think that plays a part in why these blokes don’t let each other down. We don’t have those down weeks because everyone’s enjoying each other’s company.”
UNSUNG HERO GETS ERINA HOME
It was a good weekend for wingers, with Erina’s Luke Maljevac picking up a hat-trick in the Eagles’ impressive 20-12 comeback victory over the Roos.
With his team down 12-0 and under the pump in the first half, the winger proved to be somewhat of an unsung hero as he got the team on the board late in the first half, before running in another two to put the Eagles in front midway through the second half.
“It was a great hat-trick. There were two quality finishes, really good finishes, on the back of a couple of really nice passes from Cameron Davies,” said coach Dane Allen.
But while the hat-trick was crucial in the eight-point win, Allen said Maljevac – who now has the second-most tries in the competition with eight – did far more than just finish off a couple of nice backline moves in the corner.
“He got our players’ player. He scored three tries but he would have had 20 carries and made 200 run metres. Yes, he scored three, but he did a lot of work on the footy apart from that.
“He was phenomenal for us and so was our other winger Tim Fitzpatrick. They just took us forward all day, were a constant handful and made a couple of line breaks each. It was really good.”
COMPLETE SHUTOUTS IN LEAGUE TAG
There might have been some hard-fought games in the top grade but it was a completely different story in league tag, with the competition turning in one of its most uneven weekends of footy in history.
There were four total shuts out across the five fixtures, with just one losing side actually getting on the board. In total, the winning teams prevailed a whopping cumulative total of 226-10.
The biggest thrashings came out at Erina and Berkeley Vale, with the Eagles defeating Berowra 60-0 and Kincumber thumping the Panthers by the same margin.
At Woy Woy Oval, The Entrance ran out 42-0 winners over the Roosters and Terrigal put Ourimbah to the sword 36-0.
The only somewhat competitive fixture was at Col Gooley Field when the Umina Bunnies scored six tries to two to beat Toukley 28-10.
Join the conversation
Local NSW/ACT Aussie rules top goalscorers of 2025 so far
With local Aussie rules seasons well underway, the race is on in the goal kicking ranks. Check out who sits atop the leaderboard for the top goalscorers in NSW and ACT.
Read more
Two in five days: Marist surges up NRRRL ladder
Marist Brothers have surged up the ladder during the long weekend period by knocking over their local rivals in what is their second win in just five days.
Read more