Dalby Diehards under-19 through to the finals while the A-grade side succumbed to the Cowboys

The Dalby Diehards had mixed results from their semi-final fixtures at the weekend, with one side going deeper into the finals, while another side bid farewell to the 2024 season. Find out more here.

Dalby Diehards through to the finals

The grand finals dream for Dalby Diehards A-grade side has come to an end, while the under-19 side are looking strong heading into next week after a dominant win over Toowoomba Valleys.

The A-grade side battled it out against the strong Warwick Cowboys in a high scoring game, but were ultimately defeated 56-26.

Coach Dan Manley said the side were the underdogs heading into the match, but the loss had done little to deter the young side.

“We probably regressed a bit in our performance,” he said.

“The last few weeks we were very good and we probably went back a level, our error rate was pretty high and missing one-on-one tackles was pretty expensive for us.

“Unfortunately that is A-grade’s year over but we have blooded a lot of our juniors and they will be stronger going forward so we look forward to what the future holds.

“I think we probably over-achieved this season, in our forward pack we only had one or two players from last season, they’re a young side and we are thrilled with the way they went this year and we are excited for the future.”

Manley said as a younger side the lack of physicality hindered them against some of the Cowboys bigger and older players.

“People start to get to their physical peak towards their mid to late 20s and they are playing against teams who average that age where our average age is about 21 to 22,” he said.

“We were getting bashed, it was pretty hard for us to win the ruck with the lack of size, but that will come with age, in two or three years time we will be a hard side to beat.”

Meanwhile the under-19 continued to show their level with a 34-10 victory over Valleys.

In a post match TRL interview under-19 coach Jim Sankey said the young side had remained disciplined despite hot weather conditions.

“It was a tough game the conditions weren't favourable but it was a credit to all the players to be able hang in their on such a hot day. It was a good game we went in to play the long game and we knew the work we did in November last year would help us,” he said.

“They played smart footy, they understand that discipline wins footy games, it was played in the right spirits, it was real tough but we hung in their a bit longer and got the biscuits.”

Mr Manley agreed.

“We won pretty comfortably, it was tight for the first 20 to 30 minutes then we sort of kicked away, all our 19s boys who played A-grade the night before backed it up, they look like a very strong team with their full complement of players,” he said.

“They are confident heading into the grand final but their coaches are good at keeping them in the right headspace, you can be the best team all year and still lose when it counts and no one remembers who came second,

“They will be confident but they aren't getting ahead of themselves and they will go out their firing from the first whistle.”

Originally published as Dalby Diehards under-19 through to the finals while the A-grade side succumbed to the Cowboys