Tallon Smith

The Griffith Waratah Tigers maintained their narrow grasp on top spot in Group 20 First Grade after ending a three-game losing streak with a 52-20 win over the Tullibigeal-Lake Cargelligo Sharks at Exies Oval on Sunday.

The Tigers ran in nine tries to four to secure the 32-point victory, with Solomoni Nabete and rookie fullback Kieran Casey both picking up doubles in front of the club’s past greats on Old Boys Day.

Waratahs coach Brett Goldspink said that while his side were happy to secure the win, they were still far from their best.

“To be fair I think we wouldn’t get carried away by the win because a few of them [TLU players] had grand final celebrations from the night before from playing Aussie rules,” he said.

“We will take the win, we were a bit patchy, very good in attack in stages, but out goal line defence still needs a lot of work

“We’ll take the win and move on.”

After starting the season 11 from 11 and in red-hot form, Waratahs’ form has wavered over the past month, with the side dropping three games either side of a bye to fall back towards the chasing pack behind them.

However, injury has certainly played its role in the dip in the Tigers’ fortunes, with star hooker Sina Tatofi and dashing winger Ulu Akolo headlining a cast of sidelined players over the past few weeks.

“We’ve just been kind of limping through pretty much the last five weeks, because we had the two leading try scorers in the group, they were first and second when they went down injured, we’ve been playing footy without them,” Goldspink said.

“Sina holds our middle together really well, and obviously Ulu’s always been that get out of jail free card.

“If we go back a bit further to the Point game, we also had Elvis Nauer out, and he went virtually a month not playing footy.

“It was his first game back last week against Hay where he was a little bit below his best, and obviously we had Shorne Ngu out this week on top of Sammy Filipo.

“We probably had four first graders out this week, and I just think once we get them all back fit and ready to go that’s when we’ll get a proper judgement on where we’re at.

“We’ll have them back next week, so I think you’ll see a different side to Waratahs moving forward in the next few games.”

The other highlight for the Waratahs was the two-try performance of young fullback Kieran Casey, whose move to the custodian role freed up James Girdler for a move into the halves to combine with Moses Lolohea.

Playing at fullback for the first time, Goldspink said that Casey played well enough that the switch may result in a permanent change to the side’s lineup leading into finals.

“Kieran he’s only 18, and there was Riley Curran on the wing there as well, they’re both under 18s and we’ve been blooding them during the year, giving them games,” he said.

“Kieran’s been playing winger, centre and this is his first game at fullback, and he probably is more of a fullback, he set up well.”

“The important thing for us, we’ve been trying combinations, we really haven’t had a stable five-eighth all year, and I’be got to be honest, pushing James Girdler up to five-eighth seemed to us an extra gear I didn’t know we had.”

“So I’m pretty excited by the combination of Girdler and Moses Lolohea together, the speed of the service to the backs was a lot quicker.

“The way he [Casey] played on the weekend, I don’t see any reason why we can’t stick with that going forward.”

Looking to other games, the Hay Magpies back up their win over Waratahs by beating another title contender in the Leeton Greenies 28-18 at the Hay Park Oval.

In a match that pitted brothers Harley and Noah Hey against one another in the former’s 200th, the Magpies secured a five tries to three victory, led by a double to Brad Pocock, who returned after missing last week’s game in Griffith.

The DPC Roosters joined the Magpies and Waratahs in the winners’ circle courtesy a 40-6 win over the Yanco-Wamoon Hawks at Yanco Sportsground.

Reigning Ray Thorpe Medallist Guy Thompson’s double accounted for two of the Roosters’ seven tries in the dominant win, one that sees them keep pace with Waratahs in the Minor Premiership race on 28 competition points.

The West Wyalong Mallee Men have forfeited a match for the third time this Group 20 season after electing not to fulfil their fixture against Griffith Black and Whites at EW Moore Oval in Griffith.

Off the back of a 72-10 loss to the TLU Sharks in the local derby two weeks ago, the Mallee Men decided to withdraw from the away trip to protect the club’s finals-bound Under 18s, many of whom have been playing regular first grade this season.

Mallee Men Vice President Josh Judd told this masthead that the move was a pre-determined one for that reason, and that the club still intends to field a first grade side when Yenda visit in the final round this coming weekend.

A special note: Congratulations to the Lake Cargelligo Tigers on winning the Northern Riverina FNL Grand Final against Hillston, 15.12.102 to 11.9.75.

A huge congratulations to the players who play football for the Tigers and the TLU Sharks every weekend to keep both clubs going, your commitment to keeping sport alive in your town does not go unnoticed.

Enjoy the celebrations!