Tallon Smith
The Albury Thunder have won the inaugural Battlers For Bush Footy Trophy after a 36-4 victory over the Griffith Waratah Tigers at the Griffith Exies Oval on Saturday afternoon.
After a slow start, the Thunder side powered home in the second half to secure a comfortable win over a gallant Waratahs outfit in a strong display heading into the new Group 9 season.
Despite Albury’s dominance later in the match, it was the Waratah Tigers who opened the scoring after six minutes through a try to centre Shorne Ngu, which went unconverted.
Albury then hit back in the 24th minute to take the lead 6-4, before adding another try 12 minutes later to take a 12-4 lead into the break.
The Thunder then continued with their try scoring ways in the second half, crossing for tries in the 49th, 62nd, 66th and 70th minutes to secure a 36-4 victory and the inaugural Battlers For Bush Footy Trophy.
Albury Thunder Coach Etu Uaisele said that his expectations heading into the match were largely met on the day, with the team bouncing back after conceding an early try.
“We knew what the boys could do,” he said.
“We stuck to our game plan and [although] they scored early in the first half, it didn’t worry us much because there was nothing that actually flew out there that worried us anyway.
“So it was good to see the boys bounce back.”
One pleasing part about the victory from Uaisele’s perspective was the fact that all players contributed to the win, with the team performing well across the board.
“[We played well] as a team, no one really stood out as an individual,” he said.
“What’s good about this year is that we’re not waiting for one or two players to do something, everyone’s actually working together, so it’s hard for me to actually pick an individual out when everyone else is doing their job.
“If everyone’s doing their own role on the field, I can’t see anyone that’s really standing out, but I think everyone did their job, which is good.”
All in all, the Thunder coach was pleased with how the day panned out, and that the silverware was heading back to Greenfield Park.
“Yeah, it was good, I think everyone was happy [with how] the game ended up,” he said.
“It’s a good thing to play for, thanks to [Battlers] for putting up this trophy, it means a lot for the boys.”
Griffith Waratah Tigers Co-Coach Brett Goldspink said that the although the match ended in a 32-point defeat, there were plenty of highlights particularly from certain players.
“Individually at times everyone showed what they’re capable of, James Girdler, Willie Lolohea and Elvis Nauer-Wood all played very well,” he said.
“To be fair to Albury, they’re probably a class above us at this very time, their speed off the line is better, and obviously [playing in] Group Nine, [they’re] probably a bit more specialized out there in the field than what Group 20 are, and that probably comes a lot to do with the fitness levels.
“I said to our boys the difference between the two comps is that probably the Group Nine sides can compete at longer periods than what the Group 20 sides can.
“That pretty much comes down to the fitness levels, the skill levels pretty much I believe to a certain degree [are] similar, it’s just purely fitness level.”
Goldspink said that although there are a lot of things to work on at this stage of the year, he was happy with certain elements of the Tigers’ performance.
“Probably the encouraging sign for me was the determination, especially in defence, I think they had a lot of grit there, we attacked a lot in defence.
“They had a big side and we were driving them back, as much as they were driving us back as well.
“In the first half we were running against probably a 10-point breeze, it was a strong breeze, [and when we’d] kick the ball like it would only go up and float, and come back down, about 15-20 meters [gained] tops.
“Our defence was pretty good early on, obviously we got tied later on in the game, but we were down to 11.
“At one stage we had three guys in the sin bin, which wasn’t great for our discipline, but that’s what trials are about, you’ve got to work through that.”
“But overall you know I was happy in certain aspects.”
As for Albury, Uaisele said that with wins over the Tigers and Leeton (in the annual Ravu-Wishart Shield), the Thunder’s focus now turns to preparing for a round 1 showdown with Tumut at Twickenham Oval.
“We got to play two games now, and I see what we need to fix up after yesterday’s game, and there are a few things we need to fix up,’” he said.
“We are going to train a bit harder again next week, we’ve got a week off, to get ready for round one.
“I’m worrying about my boys, if [they] do their job [and] worry about their individual role on the field, I’m pretty sure they will all fall into places if they just do their job on the field.”
Meanwhile, the Waratahs’ season begins with a clash against the Black and Whites in two weeks.
Full Time: Albury Thunder 36 (Lachlan Hampton 2, Lachy Munro, Vili Cerei, Tei Miti, Paul Karaitiana, Fatafehi Fakatava tries; Cerei 4 goals) defeated Griffith Waratah Tigers 4 (Shorne Ngu try)
(Cover Photo: Reece Andreatta)
Battlers For Bush Footy 