Rugby League Central Coast: Wrap, results, talking points from rescheduled round four
They get plenty of wraps for their free-flowing footy, but a couple of Erina’s unsung heroes have been praised for the side’s unbeaten start to the season.
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Records were broken and heavyweights slugged it out during a rain-interrupted round four catch-up weekend in the Rugby League Central Coast first grade competition.
While Dora Creek’s clash with Wyong was washed out, Erina once again showed why it is on top of the ladder with another stunning performance.
Elsewhere, it was a game of two halves as big guns Toukley and Woy Woy met in a thriller while it also went down to the wire as Kincumber hosted The Entrance.
Catch up with some of the biggest talking points and a wrap of the action below.
ERINA’S UNSUNG HEROES
Erina lit up the competition again over the weekend with a 60-0 thrashing of Berkeley Vale, the biggest win of the season so far.
It takes the Eagles to seven wins from seven games so far this season, with the club having forfeited its round 10 clash with Woy Woy.
And while the Eagles have often grabbed headlines for their free-flowing style of footy – best evidenced by running in 12 tries against the Panthers on a wet deck – coach Dane Allen said credit needs to go to a few players who don’t usually see their names in lights.
“A compliment needs to go to a couple of our middles. They’re tireless, workhorse-style players,” he said. “We’re very flashy, we’ve got a young, fast footy side but a lot of credit has to go to the guys who do the grafting work through the middle, like Oliver Clements and Joel Frazer, who are sort of unsung heroes and are a big reason as to why we keep winning.
“Another guy is young Zade Besley. He’s played every game this year, usually he’s our hooker but this week he played lock. He’s just been phenomenal for us each week. He controls all our defensive structure and our line speed.
“So those three guys don’t get too many wraps when it comes to scoring tries and that sort of stuff but they’ve been the cornerstone of our wins. We’re by far the smallest team in the competition but pound for pound these blokes just give so much.”
NEWMAN CONTINUES HOT STREAK
The Entrance halfback Nick Newman continued his excellent start to the season with another two tries and two crucial goals as the Tigers held off a fighting Kincumber side 16-14.
Backing up on the inside after a break down the left for his first, Newman did it all himself for his second, dummying and identifying some tired Kincumber defenders to go over and put the side up 16-8 with 15 minutes remaining.
The haul took the playmaker to 10 tries in nine games so far this season, three ahead of teammates Matthew Gentles and Erina’s Nathan Dwyer.
While he enjoys a healthy lead in the tryscoring race, Newman is streets ahead when it comes to overall points, having scored 96 – more as the entire team totals of Terrigal (88), Kincumber (88), Wyong (74) and Berkeley Vale (54).
He has piled more than double the next highest pointscorer in Dora Creek’s Chris Marlborough who has 44.
TOUKLEY FLYING UNDER THE RADAR
It might seem strange given that they are back-to-back defending premiers, but there has been a sense throughout 2024 that Toukley has been flying under the radar.
After a tricky start that saw the team lose two of its first four games to be sitting well down on the ladder, the Hawks have quietly gone about their business over the past month, winning four straight to move up into outright third.
Indeed, Sunday’s nailbiting 13-12 win over Woy Woy saw the team progress to 16 points, just two behind ladder leaders Erina, with a record of six wins and two losses.
And while much of the early season attention has focused on teams like Erina and The Entrance, Hawks captain-coach Jake Fitzpatrick said he’s confident his team are building nicely.
“Last year we won eight from eight and then lost our ninth game,” he said. “I doubt any side is ever going to go through the comp on the Coast and take out a first grade premiership undefeated. Early on we lost two games, had a few washouts and were sitting sixth there for a little bit so we had to be a bit patient.
“But we’ve won our last four. We lost two games to The Entrance and Erina – and take nothing away from them, we were poor in both games, but we lost a couple of guys to retirement, a few others came in, so we were just finding our feet a little bit and I feel like the last month of footy we’ve won all four games and are starting to come out the other end.”
While the skipper made note of how the team’s attack was a little clunky at the start of the season, he’s pleased with how things have progressed over the past four weeks.
“We’re usually a defence-orientated side, and if you’re going to make errors you’ve got to turn up. But for us, our errors were more when we were attacking the line and we were just a bit disjointed and we just weren’t taking those opportunities,” he said.
“You look at a side like The Entrance and Erina winning games by 50 whereas we were winning games 20-12 and not really putting sides away. But I think we’ve turned a corner with our attack and our defence and attack are starting to complement each other.”
RESCHEDULED ROUND FOUR WRAP
There was plenty of nailbiting action over the weekend as two games went down to the wire and another resulted in a record for 2024 during the rescheduled round four catch-up games in the RLCC.
catch up with a wrap of the action below.
TOUKLEY EDGE WOY WOY IN THRILLER
Toukley has recorded its fourth straight win and in the process moved into outright third on the competition ladder following a nailbiting 13-12 win over Woy Woy at Darren Kennedy Oval.
After a strong start the Hawks skipped out to a 13-0 lead at the break before holding off a Roosters comeback in what was a bruising contest between two top-four sides.
“It was a very tough game, probably one of the toughest games we’ve played in the last few years,” said Toukley captain-coach Jake Fitzpatrick.
“They’ve got a monster pack, it’s probably one of the biggest packs that there has been on the Coast in the past 10 years. And while our boys aren’t necessarily renowned for being a big side, you can never doubt their toughness.
“I was never concerned about their size, it was just about whether we could stay in the grind and I thought if we completed well then we could come out the other end.”
Starting brightly, Toukley jumped out to an early lead when Aaron Heaven crossed for a try.
Things got better for the Hawks when Woy Woy forward Andrew Fifita was sent to the sin bin, with the home side crossing shortly after to make it 12-0.
Fitzpatrick then capped off a strong first half performance with a field goal in the final minute to give his team a 13-0 lead at the break.
Despite starting the second half down by a couple of tries, Woy Woy came out of the blocks firing and got themselves back into the game thanks to an early try to Hemi Knebel and another 15 minutes after the restart.
“In the second half they started a lot better than we did,” said Fitzpatrick. “They scored a long-range try off a dummy and then a chip over the fullback, and then their second try was a cross-field kick. Then for the next 25 it was just end to end and we held on.”
And despite both sides having opportunities to cross again, the Hawks prevailed in a narrow win played in wet conditions.
“I thought we managed the game well. We kicked early and we kicked long and made their bigger guys work out of trouble more often than not, so that played a big part,” said Fitzpatrick.
In particular, the Toukley skipper was pleased with how his forwards took it to the Woy Woy pack.
“We’ve got Josh Veacock and Matt Veacock only into their second games of the season – one came back from injury, one came back from retirement – and last week Jarrod Kessler broke his hand, so when you talk about match fitness and things like that, for them to be playing in the middle against a big pack, we did really well to come out the other end – and we’re only going to get better.”
Toukley 13 defeated Woy Woy 12
‘RUTHLESS’ ERINA EQUALS 366-DAY RECORD
Erina has continued its hot streak at the top of the competition with a stunning 60-0 victory over Berkeley Vale at Erina Oval.
Nathan Dwyer and Toby Elliott both bagged doubles as the Eagles ran in a whopping 12 tries to record the biggest win of 2024.
The result also equals the largest margin of victory since June 18 last year, when Wyong hammered Kincumber 64-4 in round 10 of the 2023 season.
Backing up after a tough and bruising 28-22 win over fellow premiership heavyweights The Entrance last weekend, Erina flew out of the blocks and completely blew the Panthers away with their expansive style of attacking footy, which was made all the more impressive given the slippery conditions at Erina Oval.
“It was very positive,” said Erina coach Dane Allen. “It was one of the very few times this year that we’ve actually been quite ruthless and put the foot on the throat, for want of a better word.
“It was nice to play a game like that and you just hope for no injuries, which on this occasion there wasn’t, which is good. We got through unscathed and we’ll be ready to go for next week.”
The big win, the Eagles’ seventh from seven starts this season, ensures that the team remains unbeaten in first position on the ladder, one point ahead of The Entrance and two in front of Toukley.
In addition, the heavy scale of the victory was also a positive for Erina’s points difference, which almost doubled to 133.
As for Berkeley Vale, it was a disappointing result considering the understrength team had shown plenty of character to earn a fighting 14-all draw against Kincumber last weekend. The Panthers remain seventh on the ladder with one win, one draw and five losses.
Erina 60 defeated Berkeley Vale 0
THE ENTRANCE DOWNS KINCUMBER IN NAILBITER
The Entrance has returned to the winner’s circle – but not without a scare – as the Tigers held off a gallant Kincumber side to win 16-14 at MacKillop Oval.
The boot of halfback Nick Newman – who also starred with two tries – proved to be the difference as both teams scored three each in a tense encounter that saw three players sent to the sin bin.
Indeed, despite just having recorded just one win so far this season, Kincumber started well and found themselves in a strong position midway through the half when The Entrance’s Zane Griffiths was sent to the sin bin after being ruled to have initiated some push and shove in the ruck.
A couple of minutes later the Colts crossed for their first when young winger Sean Bullen did incredibly well to bat back an attacking bomb to put his centre partner Tyson Potger over for a try.
The Tigers hit back five minutes later when Junior Fiu burst through line before passing off to Haydan Ritchie, who in turn found Newman in support to score under the posts.
The Entrance then went further ahead five minutes before halftime when a lovely double cut-out from Adam McInnes put winger Allan McGrath over in the corner to make it 10-4.
Just when it might have looked like the Tigers were getting into their groove, an excellent charge down on a Newman kick saw Kincumber close in on The Entrance’s line, with Taine Peterson stopping his opposite number Tyrone Dorrell just short with a trysaving tackle. However Peterson held on in the ruck and was penalised and given 10 minutes in the bin for a professional foul.
With a one-man advantage once again, the Colts fully exploited the extra number as fullback Kyle Lang crossed in the following set to make it 10-8 at halftime.
Kincumber was well up for the challenge and had multiple sets in The Entrance’s danger zone early in the second half as the game turned into a grind in the middle and both sides fought for field position.
The scoreline remained the same until 15 minutes from time when Newman – the competition’s leading try- and pointscorer – once again showed his smarts by identifying a gap in the Colts’ defence before dummying and going over to make it 16-8.
Things became more difficult for the Colts with seven minutes remaining the Potger became the third player of the match sent to the sin bin for appearing to throw a punch at The Entrance fullback Adam McInnes.
Despite the setback Kincumber kept coming and had its reward with just a couple of minutes to go when half Ben Marschke put Thomas Murphy over with an inside ball to make it a two-point ballgame and set up a grandstand finish.
And while the Colts had around 70 seconds after the kick-off to try and steal the win, the team kicked the ball out on the full with what proved to be the last play of the match and the Tigers held on for a narrow victory.
The win ensures that The Entrance remains in second position on the ladder while Kincumber stays in eighth with one win, one draw and five losses.
The Entrance 16 defeated Kincumber 14
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