Cover Photo: Brothers’ Joel Tracey celebrates with the Challenge Cup in the sheds
Tallon Smith
There’s no doubting it’s been a tough year for the Wagga Brothers, as the club looks to continue the rebuild of its senior men’s program, but all the hard work yielded a small milestone on Saturday when the club defended the Ray White Group 9 Challenge Cup in a 22-10 loss to Temora at Geohex Park.
With a +58.5 start in hand, the Brothers Great Northern First Grade side proved they were far better than that, only needing 12 points in their best defensive performance.
Brothers President Mitch Dunn said that the defence of the cup, which they collected a week earlier against Albury, was reward for the club’s hard working players, who show up week in week out despite being on the end of some tough results.
“It gives them something to show up for and they deserve something, plenty of other people walk away or just don’t get involved,” he said.
“It’s good for those boys that are showing up week in, week out, they do deserve some sort of recognition.
“Obviously you’d like to win a game, but it keeps them interested as well and keeps them turning up, week after week and [it] was good to see them get something for all their efforts.”
Despite having to largely start from scratch again at the beginning of this year due to players and previous coach Aaron Gorrell moving on, Mitch said that the club has made some significant progress under coach Blake Dunn, with some talents being unearthed already this year.
“Last year was good in terms of getting back on the field, but realistically, we’ve started all over again at the beginning of this year too,” he said.
“We’ve got a really young side, it’s all lessons for them.
“They’re all willing to learn, as I said, they’re still showing up, they’re all buying in, Blake’s doing a great job.
“We’d like some results I suppose, but from a club’s perspective, everyone’s together and everyone’s trying to get better together.
“So I think it does probably hold us in good stead, moving forward and being mindful of where we’ve come from, it’s another step in the right direction.”
On the women’s side of things, it’s a different story, with the Brothers’ Downer Group League Tag side sitting undefeated atop the table, while their women’s tackle partnership with the Estella Storm has also flourished.
Dunn said that it is pleasing to see the club having success in the women’s game, where they will still have a presence in finals football.
“Estella’s been an awesome addition to our club, I know that they have their own identity, but they’re also part of a lot of the things that we do too,” he said.
“So from a whole club’s perspective, we’re really happy with how things are looking off the field in terms of the people we’ve got involved and what everyone’s bringing to the table.
“It is good to see the tag obviously going strong, I think they’re undefeated, and I think Storm have lost one game.
“Again, from the club’s perspective, to still be involved in September is exciting and also credit to both the girls sides.”
The club’s Regional Australia Bank Under 18s team has also had a tough year, but it got a little better on Saturday when they recorded a win over Temora.
Dunn said that building team chemistry has been an important part of the season, as most of the team is bottom age and will spend next year in the age group again, while others have already proven they are ready for grade football.
“The majority of our 18th side is lower age, and a few of them whether it’s Xave [Xavier Williams-Byers] or Jett have also stepped up and played first grade as well, and there’s a number of them that have put their hand up to play reserve grade games throughout the year, too,” he said.
“Again, it’s all lessons and learning for those boys, but next year they’re higher age, and [there’s] a good group of 16s coming through too.
“They’re the things that we’re trying to maintain and hopefully keep those boys interested, they’ve shown that they’re definitely not out of place playing in the senior grades either.
“We’ve just got to make sure we’ve got the right environment that they want to hang around and hopefully keep developing.
“They’re a really good bunch of kids and [we’re] excited about what the future holds.”
With a general bye for the Junee Carnivals this weekend, Brothers will hold the cup for another week heading into round 14.
And with two successful defences under their belt, there is cause to celebrate heading into their clash with Cootamundra on Saturday week.
Round 13 Wrap-up
Meanwhile, Young got out of jail with a 22-20 win over Gundagai courtesy of a 77th minute try to Nayah Freeman at Alfred Oval on Sunday.
Freeman, who has impressed after coming out of retirement amidst the Cherrypickers’ injury crisis, joined Tom Demeio as the only second half tryscorers, as Young overturned a 20-14 half time deficit to win.
Albury also got a much needed win in terms of the finals race, defeating Cootamundra 28-6 at Greenfield Park on Sunday.
The Thunder scored six tries, including a double to Kitione Seruisavou, but poor goalkicking saw the margin only sit at 22.
The win keeps Albury a game behind Young in the battle for fifth position.
Looking to Saturday’s other games, Tumut had a comfortable 24-4 win over South City at Twickenham, and first-placed Kangaroos accounted for Junee 18-8 at Laurie Daley Oval.
Battlers For Bush Footy 