By Tallon Smith

The Griffith Black & Whites completed a 42-0 shutout over the Yenda Blueheelers in a Round 9 catch-up game at Wade Park on Saturday afternoon.

In the only game of the weekend, the Black & Whites moved to first on the table, after being equal with Leeton after last week’s defeat of the Greenies with this game still in hand.

The Griffith side ran in eight tries to nil with Paula Naidike and William Charles scoring doubles, whilst Andrew Lavaka, Jarrad Williams, Mosese Naliva and Naashon Mataora also crossed the stripe, with Gospel Toru landing five goals.

Black & Whites Prop Adam Twigg said the win was built around the side’s strong defence, which has contained even the best attacks in 2023.

“To hold them to nil is a pretty good effort from us,” he said.

“With the amount of blokes we had out it was almost a completely new side.”

Speaking on the side’s superb form in these past few weeks, which built on a strong start to the season to see them take the lead of the competition, Twigg said it can be put down to the side’s commitment to improving their defence, with the goal of taking home the Minor Premiership.

“We’ve got into a groove these past few weeks, and that’s what we’re working towards [the Minor Premiership],” he said.

“It’d be good to finish Minor Premiers and have that first week off.

“I think it’s our defence [that has driven the improvement], we knuckled down on it at training.

“[That’s] given us the ability to hold sides to nil, and also to beat sides like Leeton.”

Despite some of the concerns about the competitiveness of the Group 20 competition, with many well justified, Twigg believes the finals are still an open race.

“Anyone can win on their day,” he said.

“You’d be definitely right in saying Leeton and DPC are the two we are looking out for.

“Even West Wyalong are a very good football side on their day.

“Everyone’s still a threat, no game is a walk in the park.”

Lower Grades

In the Reserve Grade fixture, Yenda had more luck, grinding out a 22-20 win over the Black & Whites side to maintain leadership of the competition. The defending premiers were led by a strong performance from Trey Eldridge, who crossed for two tries to spearhead the Blueheelers’ win.

Yenda also picked up a win in the League Tag fixture, defeating the Black & Whites 20 to 12, while the Griffith side convincingly won the Under 18s encounter 38-4.