By Tallon Smith

The Tumut Blues are the 2023 Group 9 Rugby League Premiers after they chased down a fast-starting Wagga Kangaroos outfit to win the Grand Final 23-18 at Wagga on Sunday.

The Kangaroos got out to an early lead through tries to Hayden Jolliffe and Jacob Mascini, with Latrell Siegwalt adding the extras as well as a penalty goal to bring the score to 14-0 after 20 minutes of play.

However, around this time the match turned, with Tumut eventually opening their account via Jacob Sturt’s try in the 35th minute.

The comeback continued after the break, with the Blues crossing again through Jordan Anderson in the 46th minute and Thomas Hickson ten minutes later, with Lachlan Bristow adding the extras to give Tumut a 16-14 lead.

Determined to wrestle back the ascendancy, the Kangaroos then crossed via Jacob Mascini, with Siegwalt missing the conversion to leave the scores at 18-16 in favour of the Wagga side.

Tumut had one last try in them however, with winger Malik Aitken dashing across to put the Blues back in front 22-16 after the conversion.

The Blues never lost control from there onwards, with Bristow adding a field goal to cap a man of the match performance and a second premiership in four years for the boys from the Snowy Valleys.

Speaking on the match, Tumut skipper Lachie Bristow described the contest as one of two halves.

“We couldn’t have played any worse,” he said on the side’s first half performance.

“The upside was we were only 14-0 down, [and] we knew we weren’t out of it.

“We had that mindset, that we did believe we could come back and get the job done.”

Bristow said that one of the best aspects of this year’s win was the fact that the majority of the squad were Tumut locals.

“The good thing about [the win] is we’re all a bunch of local boys,” he said.

“[This premiership] comes off the back of a lot of work in the previous three years, where we were unlucky to miss out.”

Speaking on his own performance, Bristow said that it “felt pretty good” to be named the best afield in the decider.

“I honestly wasn’t expecting it, a few others could have got it,” he said.

“I just tried to lead the boys in the second half.”

The premiership is Tumut’s second in the previous four completed seasons, and their 10th overall in the Group 9 competition.

In the lower grades, Young won their ninth Reserve Grade title with a 38-16 defeat of South City, to add to their 28-6 triumph over the Wagga Kangaroos in the Under 16s.

Meanwhile, Temora won back to back League Tag titles with a 10-8 win over Kangaroos, and the South City Bulls won the Under 18s decider 22-16 over Young.

Cover image: Rose McCormick