By Tallon Smith

The year’s first Griffith Derby ended in dramatic fashion with a tense 18-all draw in the cross-town showdown between the Griffith Waratah Tigers and the Griffith Black and Whites at the Exies Oval on Sunday afternoon.

Hosting the match on the weekend which celebrated the club’s 60th anniversary, the Waratahs burst out of the blocks to lead 18-6 in the second half, before the Black and Whites scored twice late to snatch one point from the Tigers’ grasp.

Griffith Waratahs second-rower and committee member Adam Twigg said that result was “pretty good” considering the fact that their cross-town rivals finished last season as Minor Premiers.

“It was pretty good considering our efforts like last week [against Lakes], we definitely turned it around,” he said.

“We probably just let them back in the game with silly mistakes and cheap penalties, that was sort of the gist of it really.

“We gifted them cheap penalties and they got lucky, I think they scored two off kicks, which you know, scoring [twice] off a kick is pretty rare.”

With a crowd of around 500 people attending the match on Sunday, Twigg said that the Waratahs’ 60 year celebrations, which took place over the weekend and included a function attended by almost 200 guests at the Exies Bagtown on Saturday Night, were a huge success for the family-oriented club.

“For a Sunday, that’s a real good crowd [for the] local derby,” he said.

“It was a good turnout, and lots of old Tahs boys and Black and Whites boys [were] mixing amongst each other [and telling] stories, so yeah, it was a good weekend.

“It was just a shame we didn’t have all the four grades, but we’re working on that [for] next year or years after to hopefully have four grades again, or five now with the girls tackle coming into the comp.”

After pulling off some surprising victories over DPC and Hay earlier this year, in addition to the weekend’s draw, Twigg said the team’s primary goal for the rest of the year rests firmly in pushing for a finals appearance.

“100%, finals footy is everyone’s goal I think, it’s definitely on our minds, but at the moment we’re probably just focusing on our week to week,” he said.

“Once that week’s passed, whether we win or lose, we focus on the next week.

“But yeah, we’re definitely outside contenders I believe.”

Griffith Black and Whites President Craig O’Keefe said that while the tense encounter demonstrated a high standard of football, he believed that his side could have won the match had they performed a little better in a few areas.

“Yes I am [happy], but we can still play a lot better than what we have been, and we started to show that second half [on] Sunday,” he said.

“We were lucky to beat West Wyalong the week before, it was only in the last 20 minutes of that game they got going and started playing together. 

“But in fairness to them [the players], we’ve changed our spine just about every game this year through injury, so it’s pretty hard to keep consistency if the spine keeps changing with the halfbacks and five-eighths.

“I think we should have beaten the Waratahs and we didn’t play well enough to do it, we came within a whisker of doing it, but anyhow that’s the way it is, it’s football.”

The Black and Whites President said that he is extremely happy to see the Waratahs back in the First Grade competition, which he believes highlights the growth of the game in Griffith in Group 20’s attempt to return to its heyday of the 1980s and 1990s.

“People kept saying to me when they were out, ‘you’d be happy now that there’s no Waratahs’, [but I said] no, I’m not happy,” he said.

“I want more people playing football, and it’s no good for football in general if we haven’t got these teams playing together, which is why I’m glad they’re back. 

“I offered my help to Naso [Robert Nascimben, Waratahs President] on more than one occasion, and I said if he needed any help I’d gladly give it to him, so yeah, I’m glad they’re back and [the derby] is a great day of football.

“[On] Sunday we didn’t get results in a couple of games that we were after, but that’s the way it goes, and good luck to them.

“I think they surprised a lot of people with the way they’ve come back and done so well, knocking over the Point [DPC], who were probably the Premiership favourites at the start of the season, it was a great effort by those blokes.”

As for the whole Group, O’Keefe said junior numbers continue to look promising for all clubs.

“Numbers of our juniors are growing everywhere across the group, not just in Griffith, so it’s definitely mending, it’s getting better,” O’Keefe said.

“We’ve just got to keep that ball rolling and get it back to what it used to be years ago, it’s not gonna happen overnight, we’ve just gotta keep plugging away at it.” 

The result sees the Waratahs move to within one point of West Wyalong in fifth position, while the one point has elevated the Black and Whites half a game clear of Leeton into second place.

In other games over the weekend, the Yenda Blueheelers have continued shocking the entire Group 20 community, with the side now the sole competition leaders on 12 points after a 40-16 upset win over defending premiers Leeton at the Leeton No.1 Oval.

Winger Tom Sellars and fullback Henry Taylor were amongst the Blueheelers’ best, with the former crossing for a double and the latter scoring a try and kicking four goals to set up a season-defining victory for their side.

Just how long the Blueheelers retain leadership of the competition will depend on an upcoming tough stretch where they face West Wyalong, Waratahs and DPC as the season reaches its midway point.

Meanwhile, the Darlington Point-Coleambally Roosters recorded a 40-12 win over the Hay Magpies at the Darlington Point Sportsground.

Jack Lyons crossed for a double for the DPC side, while halfback Chaise Sergi scored a try and booted six goals for a total of 16 points as the Roosters strengthened their position in the competition’s top five.

Finally, in the Reserve Grade encounter between Tullibigeal-Lakes United and the Yanco-Wamoon Hawks, it was the Sharkies who took the two points with a 29-22 win at the Yanco Sportsground.

In front of their small but vocal and extremely passionate supporter base, the Hawks opened up a 22-6 lead in the second half, only for the Sharks to score 23 unanswered points and claim the victory.

Other Reserve Grade games saw the Waratahs defeat the Black and Whites 22-20, DPC scrape past Hay 16-14 and Yenda complete a 44-0 shutout of Leeton, while in League Tag victories went to Hay, Black and Whites, Yenda and TLU.