Cover Photo: Junee Diesels Facebook
Tallon Smith
The Tumut Blues have moved into equal third on the Great Northern Group 9 First Grade ladder after a 30-12 win over the Junee Diesels at Laurie Daley Oval on Sunday.
Taking on a Junee side that had won two of their previous three games, the Blues ran in five tries to two to secure a crucial two competition points on the road and rule out any mathematical possibility of their opponents making a late charge for the top five.
Blues co-coach Zac Masters said that the win was an extremely valuable one for the Tumut side as they look to secure a top three finish.
“Today’s win was pretty important to us,” he said.
“It was a game where we could actually solidify our spot in the finals.
“We had to win today to make sure that we do play finals and as you know, there’s a bit of a log jam there in the back end of the top five, so it was a very important win for us.”
Speaking on the possibility of finishing in the top three and clinching a qualifying final berth, Masters said that being in the top half of the finals draw and having the double-chance is critical to making a deep run into September.
“It’s usually important if you want to go deep into the finals series,” he said.
“Today was important for us just to make sure we did play finals, we’ve had a fair bit go against us in recent weeks with injuries and blokes being out, so today was a tough challenge.
“Junee’s been in a bit of form with the recruits that they’ve got, [so] to win today was good, but then moving forward, that’s not job done.
“We’ve got two tough weeks to finish, we’ve got Temora away and Kangaroos away, they’re first and third, so if we want to go deep in these finals we need to be competitive against those [teams].
“We unfortunately had a couple injuries again today, but I think those blokes will be back in the next couple of weeks.
“But we need to prove ourselves against these top sides if we want to win anything.”
As for the Blues’ impending return to postseason football, Masters said that the lessons learned by the squad’s young core last season, alongside the return of the likes of Mitch Ivill, Jacob Sturt and Michael Fenn to the club has been the recipe for success.
“Obviously we won the premiership in 2023, but then we lost 11 or 12 blokes from that premiership side last year,” he said.
“I think we managed to do pretty well for what we had last year, I thought a lot of the younger boys grew a lot in that time.
“I spoke to the boys at the end of last season, we already had in the pipeline about Mitch and Bob and Fenny coming back to the side.
“[That gave] them that hope that even though last year was a little bit tough, that the following year this year would be a lot more promising.
“In saying that, we’ve won some games this year, [but] we probably haven’t executed as well as we would have liked throughout the season.
“I think it gives us that confidence that going into finals we’ve got blokes there that have done it before.”
Moving to other games across the Great Northern First Grade competition, the Wagga Kangaroos sealed the Minor Premiership with a win in their top of the table clash with the Temora Dragons at Geohex Park on Saturday.
A double to centre Oliver Hoskin set up the win for the Roos, who are now guaranteed a week’s rest when the playoffs begin in three weeks’ time.
The Cootamundra Bulldogs also tasted success in Round 14, securing the Ray White Challenge Cup with a 44-4 win over Wagga Brothers at Les Boyd Oval.
The eight tries to one victory sets up the simple task for the Bulldogs of overcoming Gundagai and South City to retain the trophy until season’s end.
Speaking of the Bulls, South City celebrated their 20 year anniversary as a merged outfit at Harris Park on Sunday, but ultimately fell to Young 26-24 in a hard-fought battle.
A double to winger Boro Navori proved the difference in the match, one which all but secured Young’s finals spot and a chance to defend their crown.
Finally, the Gundagai Tigers all but ended the Albury Thunder’s finals hopes with a 32-22 win at Anzac Park on Saturday.
Led by a double to Wilson Hamblin, the Tigers did enough in front of their faithful to take the points, leaving Albury two games adrift of Young and 96 behind them on differential in sixth.
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