By Tallon Smith

The Darlington Point-Coleambally Roosters remain a perfect three from three to start the Group 20 season after a 36-18 win over the Leeton Greenies at Leeton No.1 Oval on Sunday afternoon.

In the rematch of last year’s grand finalists, it was the runners-up who took the spoils, with a solid performance seeing them outlast the reigning premiers on their home ground.

DPC Captain-Coach Guy Thompson said that he was particularly happy with the way his side started the match, but was disappointed with their poor end to the first half.

“We started off pretty good, to be honest, we mostly completed maybe the first four of our six sets,” he said.

“We rolled up the middle pretty easily at the start and we found ourselves 16-nil up pretty early, but they crept back into the game at the back end of the first half, we kind of started dropping the ball a bit [and] lost a bit of momentum.

“I think we were winning 20-6, but the whole momentum had swung their way.”

Thompson said that the side rebounded well in the second half however, with five-eighth Chaise Sergi and back rower Jon Huggett leading the way for the Roosters.

“We came out in the second half and we started off where we left off in the first half, we kind of just rolled our way down the field and credit to our [five eighth], Chaise, he basically just read the game plan in front of him,” he said.

“We made pretty easy metres coming through their ruck in the start of the first half too [and] we just capitalised off the back of it.

“Big Huggy [Jon Huggett] had a big game, he killed them in the middle.

“But in all saying that, [Leeton] did come [back] at the back end of the second half.”

As for his side’s perfect start to the season, Thompson said that it all started with a team talk on goal-setting at the start of the season.

“We all sat down to start the year and set ourselves some goals, some little goals leading into some bigger goals and one of our goals there was to [win the] first five,” he said.

“We’re playing harder teams off the bat, first five, [but] we should have everyone pretty fit to go after a big pre-season.

“So we played, Yenda [who are] a pretty handy footy side [and] West Wyalong who I think will finish in the top three, and then today Leeton.

“We set a goal to win our first five and I think we’re on track.

“We want to put ourselves in a good position to achieve that first goal before we move on to our next one.”

In other First Grade action, West Wyalong demolished Yanco-Wamoon 72-0 in yet another sorry sight for weary Group 20 eyes.

The Mallee Men ran in 14 tries in the victory, which was only recorded as 60-0 on the official scoresheet due to the NSWRL’s mercy rule.

The Yenda Blueheelers also had a big win, defeating Tullibigeal-Lakes United 42-12 at Wade Park in Yenda.

Isaiah Little-Buerckner and Tikiko Noke both notched doubles in the Blues’ win, while fullback and Goolgowi ProTen Cup star Henry Taylor booted 5 from 8 goals.

Meanwhile, on Saturday Night, the Griffith Black & Whites scored a 38-10 win over the Hay Magpies at EW Moore Oval in Griffith.

Meanwhile, in Reserve Grade, Leeton and DPC played out a thrilling 20-all draw, Yenda thrashed Lakes 52-12, the Black & Whites beat Hay 32-10, and Yanco-Wamoon forfeit to West Wyalong.

The forfeit is the second in as many weeks, after West Wyalong were also forced to withdraw from their fixture against DPC in Coleambally last Sunday.

League Tag action saw wins to Leeton 32-6 over DPC, Yenda 34-0 over TLU, West Wyalong 46-0 over Yanco, and the Black & Whites 34-18 over Hay.

The results see the Black & Whites, West Wyalong, Leeton and Yenda all level on 6 competition points at the top of the table.

Finally, in the Women’s Tackle, the Black & Whites defeated Hay 18-12, and Yenda scored a 36-6 victory over TLU.