By Tallon Smith

The Leeton Greenies have won the battle for fifth place in Group 20 First Grade after a 42-30 victory over fellow finals hopefuls the Tullibigeal-Lakes United Sharks at Leeton No.1 Oval on Sunday afternoon.

On a matchday where the club celebrated its Mental Health/Multicultural Round, the Greenies shot out of the blocks to a 12-0 lead after tries to Elwyn Ravu and Billy Rabua within the first 10 minutes.

The Sharks, who were missing star five-eighth Jaden Kelly due to injury, hit back quickly however through Hugh Scott and Thomas Byrnes to level the game back up at 12-all.

After a brief period of set-for-set footy, Billy Dickinson then made a break down the right hand side to race away and put the Greenies in front 18-12, before a scintillating backline shift from the Sharkies saw Matthew Clark-Kell cross to cancel out Leeton’s effort and send both teams into the sheds on an equal 18 points.

The Lakes side shocked the crowd of 350-odd shortly after the break when Byrnes nabbed his second to put the boys in black, white and blue in front 24-18.

The Leeton side were to have none of it however, with Timoci Dabea scoring the first of his two 4-pointers to level the game, before a great try to front rower Jayke Stevenson, followed by another to winger Braydon Doolan and Dabea’s second saw the Greenies out to a 40-24 lead with time quickly expiring.

TLU fought hard in the final 10 minutes, with a great try off a kick to winger Brodie Morris followed by a glut of possession, but ultimately, they were unable to capitalise, with a late penalty goal to Greenies fullback Tyler O’Connell ending a great game of rugby league 42-30 in Leeton’s favour.

Leeton five-eighth and Co-Coach Shanon Bradbrook said that he was pleased with the result after such a tough game of football against quality opposition.

“It was a tough game, Lakes are a quality team, no matter where they sit on the table,” he said. 

“They just keep turning up and fielding a good team, even though they’re down on numbers again, today and most weeks, so credit to Lakes, it was a tough game.”

After a bruising three weeks against some of the competition’s best sides, the Leeton mentor said it was good to bank two crucial competition points in their battle for a finals position.

“It’s good to get tough games, the last three weeks we’ve played tough games, we had Waratahs, DPC and now Lakes, which is a really tough run,” Bradbrook said.

“It was good to keep building on those tough games, and it was really good to get a victory.

“Next week we’ve got the [First Grade] bye against Yanco, which gives us the two points, so we really needed to win today just to keep in contention with the five. 

“I think once we get there [to the finals], anything can happen, we just need to get there.”

As for their hopes in what was billed as a rebuilding year off the back of losses from their premiership sides of the previous two years, Bradbrook said the club is daring to dream of a maiden threepeat.

“It was supposed to be a rebuilding year but I think we’ve gone out and we’ve signed a couple of well-experienced players that are going to help out these young guys,” he said.

“We always knew we could do it, so it was just self belief, we just need to start believing we’ve got the team to do it again.

“I think at the beginning of the year losing a lot of players and losing a lot of experience, the boys just needed to build up the belief and I think we’re starting to do it now.

“I think we should give it a good strike once we get there.”

Despite the loss in the crucial match, which makes it a much harder task for the Sharks to make the finals, TLU Coach Nathan Morris remained proud of the efforts of his side, particularly given that they were missing their three-time Ray Thorpe Medallist in Kelly.

“Massive performance again, low on troops, everyone probably is at this time of year, but that’s footy,” Morris said.

“All the Reserve Graders and that have been backing up, and boys that are still busted showing up and playing with as much effort and pride as they do, [I’m] very proud of them.”

“[We were] unlucky not to get another win, we’ve been close in a lot of games this year and I think we’ve only probably really played two poor games, the rest of [them] we’ve been in it up to our eyeballs.”

As for the side’s finals aspirations, Morris said that while it will be harder to qualify than if they had won, the team will take it week by week

“It makes it hard now,” he said.

“I think it’s still, well with the way the competition’s been going, you’ve just got to show up each week and take it week by week.

“It’s cliche but that’s how it stands now, we’ve got to go into next week, win that game, not get ahead of ourselves and go from there.

“We’ve got to start winning games again, we’ve been close in the last few and just haven’t got the wins, and you need to win if you want to make the top five.

“I still think we’re a chance, and if we do sneak in there and get our full roster back we could trouble sides, but we’ve got to get there first.”

Looking at other First Grade games, the Griffith Waratahs have moved up to third place on the ladder with a 50-16 victory over the Darlington Point-Coleambally Roosters at Darlington Point Sportsground.

The Tigers ran in nine tries to the Roosters’ three in a dominant victory that is sure to send a massive warning to fellow title hopefuls that the ‘Tahs are a genuine contender for the title in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Hay Magpies have been all but assured of the wooden spoon after a 32-18 loss against West Wyalong at Ron Crowe Oval.

The win keeps the Mallee Men’s slight finals hopes alive, with the men in red and black sitting six points adrift of fifth-placed Leeton with five rounds left to play.

Finally, in the standalone Reserve Grade fixture, the Yenda Blueheelers’ all-conquering side flexed their muscles to ensure Yanco-Wamoon’s winning form ended after just a single game with a 40-0 shutout at Wade Park.

Next weekend sees a massive Northern Derby between TLU and West Wyalong on their ‘Back to Tullibigeal’ day, while Waratahs host Hay and Yenda play a Saturday fixture against the Black and Whites as the centrepiece of their centenary celebrations.