By Tallon Smith

The Darlington Point-Coleambally Roosters have maintained contact with runaway competition leaders Leeton and the second-placed Griffith Black and Whites with a 62-16 win over Tullibigeal-Lake Cargelligo United (TLU) at Tullibigeal Recreation Ground on Sunday.

In their annual Tullibigeal fixture, the Lakes boys ran out in front of a huge home crowd of over 500, and were spirited in defeat to the improving Roosters, who after a small slump earlier in the year have appeared to recover and are now a genuine title threat once more.

While the First Grade result didn’t go their way, almost everything else was perfect for the TLU club on Sunday, with a big crowd and wins in all three lower grades that were contested proving a remarkable bounce back for a club that forfeited last round to Hay.

TLU President Col Ward said that the matchday at Tullibigeal, affectionately known as “Tully”, was a “positive step” for the club, who have faced a difficult season in 2022.

“The day was a positive for our club,” he said.

“The First Graders were happy, the crowd was huge for Group 20, [and] DPC were great.”

“16s, League Tag and Reserve Grade were all successful.”

“It’s a positive step today, three grades won, there was a big crowd, and the Tully pub is full.”

When asked about his thoughts on the game by Battlers For Bush Footy, Ward said that the match was far more of a contest than the scoreline suggested, with the Roosters just having the edge over the Sharks across the paddock.

“It was a competitive game,” he said.

“It’s hard to say that when you got beat 62 to 16, but it was.”

“They competed as much as they could and the game went the full distance.”

Ward said the annual match, which is a key part of the club’s identity as representatives of both towns, was a success and “great for country sport” overall. 

“We play one game a year in Tully,” he said.

“There’s three or four clubs that wanted to play the game at Tully, last year was against Yenda.”

“It’s different, you see a different town.”

The Sharks President said that despite struggling on field in First Grade this season, there was a real buzz around the club heading into the match.

“You had a feeling today, everyone was positive,” he said.

“Our Junior Rugby League is good, they [the volunteers] are unbelievable.”

“Next year, it’s gonna happen [success], we’ve got a plan.”

The Lakes side stunned many in the region by electing to field both First and Reserve Grade teams in 2023, but despite the significant crossover of the two sides and the struggles of the First Grade team, Ward says the squad do the club proud.

“We had eleven run back on again [after Reserves], we’re not making them run back on, they just do it,” he said.

“Seven or eight played Rules yesterday as well.”

“I don’t make it a cry poor thing, it’s a credit to them.”

Darlington Point-Coleambally Captain-Coach Ben Jeffery said that the win was good for the club as they welcome back players from injury before finals.

“We’re slowly getting a couple back, we’ve got five or six guys still to return,” he said.

“Hopefully we can get them playing consistent footy before finals.”

Jeffery also said the key to his side’s success is timing their run, something that injury has forced upon them in 2023.

“It was the same last year, I thought we had a great season, but we fell at the final hurdle.”

“Last year was the opposite way around though, we started really well and then dropped off at the end.”

“This year we have had an okay start but are starting to hit form now.”

Meanwhile, in other First Grade games, the Leeton Greenies bounced back to their winning ways with a 52-10 trouncing of an understrength Yenda side. The scoreline, much like the one at Tullibigeal, was not one arising from a lack of effort, but rather the skill of the Leeton side, who appear to be unfazed by their loss to DPC in the Grand Final rematch.

West Wyalong also joined DPC and Leeton in cracking the half-century in a 50-12 win over the Hay Magpies. Although the first contest between the sides in Hay saw West Wyalong scrape home by a solitary point 17-16 in Round 3, the outcome was much different this time on the Mallee Men’s home turf, with Tim Dore’s men appearing to be hitting their straps at the right time of the year with four rounds left to play before finals.

Finally, in a terrible outcome for the game, Yanco-Wamoon were forced to forfeit to the Griffith Black and Whites on Sunday. The incredible injury toll the Hawks have accrued saw them unable to field a side on the weekend, with lock and club stalwart Billy Ingram the only first-choice forward still available after injuries to Elwyn Ravu, Brenton George, Matthew Goodwill and Will Kelly to name a few.

Cover Photo: The Tullibigeal Recreation Ground was a picturesque scene on Sunday (Supplied: Peter McFadyen)