By Tallon Smith

The Wagga Brothers have washed away 651 days of pain with a comprehensive 42-8 win over the Junee Diesels at Laurie Daley Oval on Saturday afternoon.

The win, which saw the Brothers retain the Rick Keast Shield, is their first since their 34-30 triumph in Round 13, 2022 over the South City Bulls on July 30 at McDonald’s Park.

Brothers Coach Aaron Gorrell said that the win meant a lot to the club, with everyone involved finally getting reward for their hard work over the past 18 months.

“I think it meant a lot to not just the team, it takes a fair effort to get back into first grade, just to get the numbers and get the quality to compete in first grade,” he said.

“We’ve done it tough, the first week against last year’s runners-up, second week against last year’s minor-premiers, and then the third week against this year’s favourites. 

“We competed probably in the second two, probably not so much in the first one, but it was a bit of a relief as a coach. 

“There were probably times where I thought I’d bitten off a bit more than I could chew, but I knew we had the people around and the players that were willing to keep digging in and keep working hard for not much reward early on. 

“Yesterday, to see it after the game, it’s pretty rewarding for everyone involved.”

The two sides faced off for the Rick Keast Shield in the match, named after after the Diesels and Brothers legend who tragically passed away over a decade ago from brain cancer.

Gorrell said that the fact the drought-breaking win came in the game that honours a champion of the two Group 9 clubs made the result even more special.

“He was a big part of both clubs and played in the Brothers’ last premiership side, so it meant a lot,” he said.

“I met his brother before the game and had a good chat to him and he had a chat to the boys before the game as well.

“It’s always good to get any type of trophy or shield [and] for it to be our first win back in the competition.”

As for the rest of the season, Gorrell said that whilst the club still has a long road ahead, the competitiveness shown across the last three games is cause for optimism as they look to return to the top end of the Group 9 ladder.

“I think I read this morning it was 650-something days since [we’ve] won a First Grade game, and as a club, we won four from five games yesterday, which is a great effort as well,” he said.

“As excited as we are, we know there’s a long way to go and I think the next four weeks we’ve got some tough teams, but if we play like that, I think we’re going to be in all games for a long way.”

As for the standouts in recent weeks, Gorrell said the entire team had done their jobs on the paddock, with the engine room of Apenisa Driti and Neti Latu up front leading the way.

“Apenisa, he’s above this level, he deserves a crack at a higher level somewhere,” he said.

“Hopefully we can help him through that this year, but him and Neti played 80 minutes in the front row which is a huge effort.

“At the start of the year [Neti] was struggling to put 20 minutes together and he’s worked hard on his game and his fitness, last week he played 76 minutes and this week he played 80, there’s not too many front rowers getting around in the competition that are punching out those numbers.

“His carries were all quality [too], he wasn’t just out there getting through minutes, he was out there working and coming up with some really strong carries for us.”

In other results, the Albury Thunder could not match the heights of last week’s draw with premiership favourites Wagga Kangaroos, going down 28-6 to a determined Temora outfit at Nixon Park.

Right side centre-wing combination Jared McKinnon and Bradon Taylor each scored doubles for the Dragons as they restricted the Albury side to just one try for the match in defence to move into outright third place on the table.

Meanwhile, another team who are widely tipped to be there when it matters, the Young Cherrypickers, recorded a 20-6 win over Gundagai on their home turf at Alfred Oval.

Aborosio Navori, Lachlan Gale and Thomas Demeio scored the three tries for the ‘Pickers, with the win elevating the side into second place, trailing the Wagga Kangaroos on points differential.

In the final game of the round on Sunday, the South City Bulls scored another crucial win by defeating Tumut 26-18 at Twickenham.

The win is the Bulls’ first of the season, and coupled with their Round 1 draw against Young, sees them move three places off the bottom of the ladder to sixth.

Round six next weekend sees Young travel to Albury, Gundagai host Junee, Tumut welcome Brothers and a Wagga derby between the Bulls and Kangaroos, with Temora having the bye.