By Tallon Smith

The Leeton Greenies have started their Group 20 title defence on the right foot after a 46-16 defeat of the Griffith Waratah Tigers at Leeton No.1 Oval on Saturday Night.

After the Tigers burst out of the blocks early in the match, the Greenies regained control and never let it go, scoring nine tries to four in a dominant display.

Leeton Co-Coach Michael Thomas said that the match started very evenly before the Greenies eventually wrestled back control and set up the 30-point win.

“They kicked off, we gave away a penalty after two tackles for a ruck infringement, then they went three to the posts and scored, so they caught us off guard really early,” he said. 

“Which was really funny because we’ve been practicing our ruck work and the first penalty of the game in the first set was a ruck infringement.

“They got up by one try, then we cut it back to 6-all, and then they scored through Adam Twigg to make it 12-6, then we scored to make it 12-10.

“So we were behind for the first 12 minutes.”

Regarding the tag of two-time defending premiers that follows the side wherever they go in 2024, Thomas said that the team handled the pressure really well, with young players stepping up to fill the void left by the loss of numerous key players from last year’s side, including Captain-Coach Hayden Philp.

“The game, the build up, was really really good, so we had a really good week and we prepared really well, we couldn’t have done much better to prepare,” he said.

“We had six debutants for First Grade and [for] the club, there was a bit of a build up for them.

“It was how I expected it to be.”

Speaking of the best on the paddock, Thomas singled out a few players, but ultimately said that the entire team played well on the day.

“I couldn’t have gone past the returning hooker in Elwyn Ravu, he was really solid in defence,” he said.

“Billy Dickinson, he is an absolute machine, he really stood up, Shannon Bradbrook our co-coach, he led from the front [and] Tyler O’Connell, the whole 17 were really brilliant.”

One important thing to note that didn’t help the Tigers was their 0/4 goal kicking record, while O’Connell also missed four conversions for the Greenies to finish 5/9 on the evening.

Meanwhile, in a surprising game that could be described as the match of the round, Tullibigeal-Lakes United almost completed an upset for the ages, falling 28-26 to the Griffith Black & Whites at the Lake Cargelligo Recreation Oval.

The Sharks’ effort against last year’s Minor Premiers is made even more impressive when put into the context of the Black & Whites’ strong opening performance, where they defeated Yanco-Wamoon 60-0 at EW Moore Oval last weekend.

The Darlington Point-Coleambally Roosters joined the Black & Whites in starting the year 2-0 after defeating West Wyalong 52-18 at the Coleambally Showground on Sunday.

The Roosters’ impressive start to the year sets up a mouth-watering Grand Final rematch with Leeton at the Leeton No.1 Oval next weekend.

Finally, the Yenda Blueheelers scored their first win of the new season via a 42-14 defeat of the Hay Magpies at the Hay Park Oval.

Eight different try scorers crossed for the Blueheelers in a performance that would have surely pleased Coach James Dole.

Moving to Reserve Grade, Leeton started their season off with a 34-12 win over Waratahs, while the Black & Whites defeated TLU 38-28 and Yenda beat Hay 32-10, with West Wyalong forfeiting to DPC.

In League Tag, Leeton started the round off with a 42-10 win over Waratahs, while Yenda beat Hay 12-6, the Black & Whites completed a 26-0 shutout of TLU, and West Wyalong continued their winning ways with a 42-0 trouncing of DPC.

In Women’s Tackle, TLU got the chocolates over Black & Whites with a 24-14 win, and Yenda won the other fixture 20-14 over Hay.

Yanco-Wamoon had the bye across all grades.