Rugby League Central Coast: Wrap, results, talking points from round eight
The new boys have continued to adjust to the division, while another chapter in a modern rivalry took place in a big round eight in the Rugby League Central Coast competition.
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It was grand final rematch time in local rugby league as Erina hosted Toukley in a round eight blockbuster in the Rugby League Central Coast competition.
The game highlighted a big weekend of local footy that saw one team breakthrough for its first win of the season and a big gun hit back from a last-start loss.
Elsewhere, the competition new boys continued their strong start to life in the division with another win.
Catch up with some o the main talking points and a wrap of the action below.
BLACK EYE FOR THE COMPETITION
Undoubtedly the biggest talking point of the round surrounds the ugly incidents at Woy Woy Oval during and after the Roosters’ clash with Wyong.
In what was a dark day for the competition, there were claims that a Woy Woy player was racially abused by a spectator while a brawl spilled out of the ground after the full-time whistle.
Police and New South Wales Rugby League are investigating the incidents, while the Rugby League Central Coast board has taken the extraordinary step of banning all spectators from this Sunday’s clash between Woy Woy and Terrigal.
Some rival clubs have called for additional measures to be taken against the Woy Woy club, citing several unsavoury events that they say have involved the club.
RESCHEDULED GAMES LOCKED IN
All teams have missed a lot of football this season due to the weather, but one round has been locked in to be replayed next month.
Round seven will now take place midweek over the course of Jun 9-11.
While a compromise has been found to catch up that round of football, it is understood that any further rain-affected rounds will be classified as washouts, with both teams receiving one point.
ANOTHER CHAPTER IN ERINA-TOUKLEY RIVALRY
Another chapter in the Erina-Toukley rivalry took place on Sunday as the Eagles got the better of their rivals with a 24-16 victory at Erina Oval.
The teams have been the outstanding sides in the competition for the past four years, with Erina’s win pushing them just ahead in the head-to-head contest with five wins to four since the start of the 2021 season. However sitting heavily in Toukley’s favour is the fact that it has won the past two grand finals against the Eagles.
“It’s always a tough game against those blokes, it’s always played in good spirit,” said Erina coach Dane Allen. “There’s no carry-on, it’s just a tough game and everyone knows and respects each other on an opposition-to-opposition basis. It’s an enjoyable one to win but I’d give it back in a heartbeat for one of the grand finals they’ve beaten us in.”
The win extends Erina’s unbeaten run to five as the Eagles stand alone at the top of the table after what has been an excellent start to the season from the young side.
“It’s the perfect start, obviously, if you’d have asked me pre-season what I’d have wanted,” said Allen. “But it means nothing if we go out there and drop a couple of games that we hypothetically should win.
“But we’ll take it, it’s the halfway mark for our first grade side with the bye this weekend. I know it’s been stop-start, but it’ll be nice to be able to switch the brain off a little bit and enjoy a couple of days without any footy talk for myself but also for the players as well.
“Eighteen weeks, I know it’s been stop-start but it’s still a long, arduous season and you’ve got to take these breaks when you get them.”
SWAMPIES GETTING USED TO THE COAST
Dora Creek’s strong start to its inaugural campaign in the Central Coast division has arguably been one of the stories of 2024, with the Swampies jumping up to third place on the ladder after the team’s 30-8 victory over Berkeley Vale at Ted Doyle Oval.
The team has won three of its four games to kick off the season after joining the RLCC from the Newcastle and Hunter Rugby League A-grade competition.
The return is impressive considering that the team is still getting used to the quality and style of its new competition.
“I think it’s a lot quicker, the cleanliness of the game is something that we’ve been very happy about and I think there are big 10s, which makes the game quicker,” said Dora Creek coach David Hoban.
“But certainly the skill level is a couple of levels up from what we’ve been used to. And if you look at the competition, in any given week if you’re not on or if you’re five or 10 per cent off then you can get beat.”
And while pleased with his team’s start, Hoban said there is still plenty of room for improvement.
“I think we’ve still got a lot of work to do as a football team. We still haven’t been able to string two 40-minute periods of football together yet, which we need to do.
“But everyone’s starting to learn about the week in, week out of Central Coast footy and making sure that we’re switched on for 80 minutes, so we’re pretty happy where we are so far but this weekend will be a big test to see where we’re really at.”
Indeed, the Swampies take on competition heavyweights The Entrance at home this Sunday in what is the beginning of a crucial three-match run that includes Toukley and Woy Woy.
“We’ve got a tough two or three weeks coming up so it starts with this week. We need to be at our best to get the cash this weekend,” said Hoban.
UPSET OF THE SEASON?
There were plenty of negative headlines to come out Woy Woy and Wyong’s clash at Woy Woy Oval, however on the field the Roos pulled off arguably the upset of the season with a hard-fought 12-6 win over the Roosters.
Coming into the game in last place without a win and on the back of four-straight losses, Wyong got off to a bright start with two early tries to surge ahead 10-0 after a quarter of an hour.
The team then put in a brilliant defensive performance to grind out a six-point win, with the Roos forwards in particular doing well to stand up to the powerful Woy Woy pack.
It was a remarkable result considering that the Roosters had been incredibly impressive in defeating competition heavyweights The Entrance 16-12 in its last-start clash a fortnight earlier.
Wyong will be hoping to keep the momentum going when it takes on Kincumber at MacKillop Oval on Sunday.
ROUND EIGHT WRAP
There were some blockbuster clashes and headline performances during round eight of the Rugby League Central Coast competition, with a grand final rematch and contender for upset of the season among the highlights.
Catch up with a wrap of the action below.
ERINA SINK TOUKLEY IN GF REMATCH
Erina has continued its perfect start to the season with a hard-fought 24-16 victory over Toukley at Erina Oval.
In what was a rematch of the last two grand finals, the momentum swung multiple times over the course of the 80 minutes, with the Eagles racing out to a 14-0 lead early before holding off a Toukley comeback in the second half.
At one stage the Hawks trailed just by just two points and appeared to have all the running before a late try to Zade Besley sealed the team’s fifth win from as many starts this season.
“It was a good win but a tough one. They’re a good footy side and if we keep giving them opportunities they’re going to burn us eventually,” Erina coach Dane Allen said.
“We took our opportunities when they arose but I think there was a lot of hard work in between those opportunities and we got our reward for those efforts that we put in. We spoke about simplifying a lot of our attack, not getting carried away and I think we got results off the back of it.”
With Erina coming up against the strong Toukley pack, widely considered the benchmark in the competition, Allen was full of praise for his young forwards, particularly given that second rower Jack Smith was forced from the field early with injury.
“It was very pleasing. I keep talking about how we’re a small team, we’re tiny, but these young blokes in our forward pack keep turning up.
“We lost one of our edge back-rowers after seven minutes on the weekend so I had to move a bloke to the edge and the guys in the middle had to play twice as many minutes.
“So to see those blokes who last year weren’t regular first graders being able to handle that role and that pressure – it’s a credit to them and shows where we’re at as a club: we’re really mentally tough and obviously fit as well.”
Coming into the game unbeaten, the young Eagles got off to a flyer when Riley Burke batted back a Cameron Davies cross field kick for centre Riley Stevenson to score after about one minute of play.
Erina then went further ahead on 18 minutes when a nice spread to the left put winger Tim Fitzpatrick over to score.
Shortly after Stevenson crossed for his second and the team’s third to put the Eagles up 14-0 after 24 minutes.
It had been a tough start for Toukley but the team worked itself into the game and got on the board just before halftime when Kyle McCudden crashed over to make it 14-6 at the break.
The Hawks kept building pressure after the restart and a lovely short ball from skipper Jake Fitzpatrick resulted in a try to Aaron Heaven to make it a two-point ball game eight minutes into the second half.
From here it was a case of tit-for-tat as both sides traded blows.
First it was Stevenson, who continued his excellent game with a powerful run to finish off his hat-trick and put Erina up 20-12.
However Toukley had a player of their own having a blinder, with Fitzpatrick sending the defence up the river with a lovely step and dummy before putting teammate Jakob Giles over for his third assist of the afternoon to bring things back to 20-16 with 20 minutes to play.
While Toukley was pushing hard for a winner it was Erina who was next to score, with Hawks fullback Kiran Page spilling a grubber kick to give Eagles hooker Zade Besley an easy put down to ultimately seal the match with 10 minutes remaining.
The win keeps Erina on top with five wins from five games, while Toukley sit in fifth with a record of two wins and two draws from its four fixtures.
Erina 24 defeated Toukley 16
DORA CREEK KEEPS RISING WITH BERKELEY VALE WIN
Dora Creek has moved up into third place on the ladder after recording a 30-8 victory over Berkeley Vale at Ted Doyle Oval.
Leading 14-4 at halftime, the Swampies blew the Panthers away with some entertaining football in the second half as the team scored six tries to two to record its third win from four starts to kick off the season.
“It was pretty tight for the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half but once we got some good field position we scored some really nice tries, which was very pleasing,” said Dora Creek coach David Hoban.
“Some of the tries we scored were through some really good structure, so we were pretty happy with that.”
Indeed, Dora Creek took an early lead thanks to a try to winger Aaron Simon before the Panthers struck back through Riley Watson-Miletic midway through the half.
The Swampies then struck with more tries of their own to take a 10-point lead into the break.
Berkeley Vale came out of the sheds firing and got to within six points not long after with a try to back-rower Pacey Crutcher.
The game was tight for a while as the Panthers pushed to even things up, however Dora Creek started to reassert its dominance with more possession and good field position.
With ball in dangerous areas, the Swampies then played some excellent football to score three tries in the final 20 minutes to seal the comfortable win.
The victory takes the team into third on the ladder to kick off an impressive start to what is the club’s first season in the Central Coast division.
“I think everyone’s been happy with the start that we’ve had, particularly in first grade,” said Hoban. “It’s been a bit tougher for the lower grades but for how we’ve started in first grade, we’re really happy with where we are at the moment.”
Dora Creek 30 defeated Berkeley Vale 8
NEWMAN RUNS RIOT IN BIG TIGERS WIN
The Entrance has bounced back from a last-start loss in style, putting Terrigal to the sword to win 50-8 at Duffys Road Oval.
Halfback Nick Newman had an absolute field day for the Tigers, scoring four tries and kicking seven goals in a 30-point haul as his side piled on nine tries to two.
“It was probably just good to see the boys on the park, to be honest,” said coach Jarod Hamer.
“I’m sure every coach has been talking about it, but it’d be nice for everyone in the competition to have a few back-to-back games. I don’t think too many teams have had that. Everything’s been washout-on, washout-on. So it’s good to be back on the park.”
Coming off a 16-12 loss to Woy Woy in its last game, The Entrance overcame the loss of three players late in the week – including two on matchday – to return to the form that has seen it emerge as one of the competition heavyweights in the early part of the season.
“We just went back to the basics,” said Hamer. “We put a big emphasis on our defence, we wanted to go back to what we’ve been working on in the pre-season and not leak more than 10 points, which we were lucky enough to do.”
And despite cracking the half-century for the second time this season, Hamer said his side still has room for improvement.
“You don’t want to pick on too many things, the scoreline did favour us a fair bit, but we still made 13 errors and we didn’t complete a set for the first six sets, which shows that when we do hang onto the ball and get through our sets we can be a force with our attack,” he said.
“I think the boys just got a bit excited and overplayed their hand instead of sticking to structure that we have in place. But once they got into the grind of the game and started flowing in it, that’s where we started executing in the areas that we needed to.”
The victory keeps the Tigers in second place, just one point behind leaders Erina, while Terrigal remains in a four-team logjam at the bottom of the table with one win from its five games.
The Entrance 50 defeated Terrigal 8
WYONG GRINDS OUT WOY WOY UPSET
Wyong has recorded arguably the upset of the season after grinding out a 12-6 victory over Woy Woy at Woy Woy Oval.
The Roos scored two early tries before putting in an impressive defensive performance to hold the powerful Woy Woy pack at bay for the team’s first win of the season in a game that was ultimately marred by allegations of racist abuse and a brawl after the full-time siren.
Coming into the game on the back of four straight losses, Wyong started brightly and took the lead after 10 minutes when young outside back Mason Stottelaar scored with an acrobatic finish in the corner.
A couple of minutes later centre Kye Martin went over to put the Roos up 10-0 early in the contest.
While Woy Woy worked itself into the contest, Wyong’s pack matched the big Roosters forwards and was able to hold the home side out for much of the contest.
A penalty goal stretched the lead out to 12, and while a late Woy Woy try halved the margin, the Roos were able to hold on for their first win of the season.
The loss leaves Woy Woy, who came into the game on the back of an impressive last-start win over competition heavyweights The Entrance, in fourth place with a record of two wins and two draws.
Wyong 12 defeated Woy Woy 6
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