By Peter “Parra” Montgomery

Albury Thunder supporters should get an insight into the club’s chances in the Group 9 First Grade Premiership when they take on 2023 Grand Finalists the Wagga Kangaroos in a Sunday afternoon clash at Greenfield Park.

The Kangaroos are bounding along at the top of the table, with three impressive wins over Tumut, Brothers and Gundagai in the opening three rounds.

With inspirational captain/coach Nathan Rose leading the way, the Kangaroos team is regarded as the ‘benchmark’ for other Clubs to attain.

The Wagga club has recruited very well, with the return of former St George/Illawarra NSW Cup player, Zeik Foster, to his junior club, giving the team plenty of strike power on either side of the field, with Jacob Mancini also scoring tries in each of the Roos wins.

Foster joins his brother Bowie (hooker) in the line-up – and the connection has been a great success in the early rounds.

Older brother Bowie is deadly at dummy-half and the Thunder players will need to be wary of him close to the line.

The Kangaroos have crossed for 25 tries so far this season, and their attack will test the Thunder defence to the limit.

Thunder hope to have coach Justin Carney, and forwards Feliti Mahoni and Ben Lee available for the game.

Carney was a late withdrawal for personal reasons, while Lee and Mahoni both missed the match through injury.

The late withdrawals forced a reshuffle, but the ‘replacements’ all fitted in well in ‘next man up’ roles.

The expected return of Lee and Mahoni allows for Thunder ‘hard man’, Isaac Carpenter, to return to prop where he gets the pack on the front foot.

One of the clashes of the match will be in the halves, where the strong Roos pairing of Rose and halfback James Smart, coming up against the Albury pairing of Samuel Lulia and Paul Karaitiana.

The Thunder pairing has a good kicking game, with tries against Gundagai and South City Bulls coming as result of well placed kicks.

Karaitiana was a member of Australian 2018 World Cup Touch Football winning team, and played alongside NRL ‘superstars’ David Fifita and Tanah Boyd, in Keebra Park’s victory in the 2017 National Schoolboy Championship.

He signed with Canterbury Bulldogs and is a graduate of the Club’s High-Performance Youth Program.

Locks Jeremy Wiscombe (Thunder) and Hayden Jolliffe (Roos) were outstanding in their clubs’ last wins. Both have huge work-loads and the ability to create opportunities.

Watch for big games from Sebastion Nelson, Lachie Munro, and Keanau Wighton.

Nelson has been at his devastating best, Munro is safe under the high ball, and returns kicks with interest, and Wighton, apart from his outstanding finishing ability on the wing, is yet to miss a goal this season having landed eight goals from eight shots – most from the sideline.

Lower Grades

Kangaroos only loss of the season in any grade came last round when beaten 46-6 by Gundagai Tigers in the Burmeister Shield Reserve Grade last week.

Gundagai scored a late try to snatch a last minute win over Thunder 24-18 in Round 1, and the Thunder bounced back to beat South City Bulls 28-10 with veterans Etu Uaisele leading the way.

League Tag

Kangaroos League Tag team is undefeated as well, with 60 points scored in the opening three rounds.

The Thunder girls are one from two, beating Gundagai in Round 1, before losing to SouthCity Bulls 20-12 before the bye.

Around the Grounds

In other fixtures around the grounds, on Saturday the Wagga Brothers will face the Young Cherrypickers for the Riverina Bluebell Cup, which has been inaugurated to support the local mental health organisation.

The fixture is the Brothers’ third home game in a row, and will hopefully draw a big crowd to McDonald’s Park for the 3:05pm kickoff.

Also on Saturday, the Tumut Blues host Junee at Twickenham, and the Gundagai Tigers travel to Nixon Park to take on the Temora Dragons.