Rugby League Central Coast: Top talking points from round five
An ex-NRL star and rugby league international has put in a huge performance as he inspired his battling side to break a 380-day drought in the RLCC.
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From top-of-the-table local derbies to breakthrough wins, there was plenty of action during another wet weekend in the Rugby League Central Coast competitions.
See how the teams went with a wrap of the action here, and take a look at some of the best pictures from around the grounds here.
Meanwhile, catch up with some of the main talking points below.
AUSTIN STARS IN BERKA WIN
Arguably the story of the weekend was Berkeley Vale’s 32-22 victory over Ourimbah, which snapped a 379-day drought for the Panthers in what was just their fourth in the past four years.
And while proud of his entire team, coach Mark Jurd singled out Berkeley Vale’s biggest name, former NRL and Super League star Blake Austin, for his role in the victory.
“The way Blake Austin took the reins and pushed our boys round the park was immense,” he said.
But it’s not just Austin’s work on the field that has impressed those involved at Berkeley Vale.
“His aura around the club is so good,” said Jurd. “He’s always down there with everyone at training, helping out the young kids. He’s just such a good person to have around.
“And he doesn’t overpower the coaches either, he just taps in where he has to. If we do something, he just evolves the drill off that. Just his whole presence around the boys and the way he speaks to them, you just can’t pay for those types of things – it’s just awesome,” he added.
“And what he’s done: coming back to a local footy league and offering to play. We didn’t ask him to play, he actually offered to play to help us out and get our rebuild happening – that said enough to me from the get-go. And now what he does on the park with our boys and how he guides them around is just immense.”
ERINA KEEPS MARCHING ON
One of the most anticipated games of the season so far took place at MacKillop Oval on Sunday as defending premiers Erina edged out leading contenders Kincumber 18-12 in a hard-fought local derby.
The victory was yet another shot in the arm for the young Eagles, who have now won four from four in a fantastic start to their title defence.
Sunday’s victory was arguably even more impressive considering that the Erina was missing its right-side centre-wing pairing of Riley Stevenson and Riley Burke to injury, while star recruit Brodie Green was also unavailable.
And while Kincumber, led by the likes of former NRL players Matt Moylan and David Fifita, got the home crowd fired up with a late comeback, the Eagles held on for a six-point win to sit alone as the only unbeaten side at the top of the table.
TOUKLEY STARTING TO CLICK
Sitting just one spot behind Erina on the ladder is their grand final rivals from recent years in Toukley, which extended its record to three wins and one loss with a 34-0 defeat of Terrigal.
And while the performances have been a little up and down for the Hawks over the opening few rounds, highlighted by a 24-6 loss to Erina in round one and a last-gasp try to get the team home against Berkeley Vale in round two, the team showed signs against the Sharks that it was starting to build greater continuity.
“We’ve struggled to get on the field the last few weeks and we’ve got a few new guys in key positions, so it is going to take us a while to click,” said captain-coach Jake Fitzpatrick.
But while the skipper is pleased with his side’s ability to grind out wins, he knows they’ll have to improve when they take on some of the competition heavyweights, starting this weekend with Kincumber.
“I said to the boys last week: winning ugly is great but winning ugly will only get you so far, so we’ve got to start rolling through our sets and get that connection, and against Terrigal there were signs of that, which was good.”
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