Tallon Smith
West Wyalong has produced one of the grittiest away wins in its history after taking down two-time defending premiers Darlington Point-Coleambally 52-16 at the Darlington Point Sportsground on Sunday afternoon.
Wooden spooners last season, the Mallee Men overcame the unavailability of several key players to defeat the competition heavyweights on their home ground in a remarkable turnaround from their last start loss to Griffith Waratahs.
West Wyalong coach Luke Clarke said that the win capped an awesome day for the club, particularly given the circumstances leading into the game and the uncertainty around player numbers due to work commitments.
“It was an awesome day for the club, driving over on the bus we were contemplating forfeiting reserve grade and ended up scraping together 13,” he said.
“We had a shutdown on the mine, so we had to use a bit of depth again, a few of our 18s, and a couple of reserve graders in our squad.
“A couple of the boys obviously played reserve grade and then played first grade, [and] when we were warming up, we only had 11 boys warming up in first grade.”
“Having blokes like Braiden Jones, Logan [Collins], Kepas [Kepesa] and Oscar [Wood], four or five of the boys that are in our starting squad unavailable and blokes step up and show that heart and ticker, it was just a great team effort, I was definitely one very proud coach yesterday for sure.”
After the Mallee Men raced out of the blocks to an early 10-0 lead, the Roosters mounted a first half comeback, taking a two point advantage into the sheds at the break after West Wyalong scored late to narrow the gap to 16-14.
That was to be the last time DPC troubled the scorers however, with the Mallee Men running in seven second half tries to record a 36-point win.
Clarke said that his side’s dominance after the break was just reward for their efforts over the pre-season, with the summer fitness drills paying dividends when it mattered after a bruising opening to the game.
“[In] the second half, everything clicked for us, we completed well, our fitness and all our hard work in the pre-season really showed,” he said.
“They were a big side, and speaking to their coach they probably haven’t been training as hard as they should have and we started making some inroads through the middle and scored a lot of tries out on the edges.
“It was just a really good team effort, and really good for the club, it was a really good club win yesterday.”
The star of the show for West Wyalong was centre Lockie Miller, who scored a hat-trick of four pointers in a damaging display of his attacking prowess.
After suffering several injury setbacks over his career, including a shoulder dislocation at the West Wyalong Knockout in February, Clarke said it was great to see Miller regaining some confidence both with and without the football.
“It’s awesome to see him do that, he’s a confidence player, he hadn’t played for years, and just getting that contact back on that shoulder dislocation, it’s been a week by week confidence thing with him,” he said.
“We always know he’s got the attack in him, so [we’re] just giving him that bit of defence on that shoulder, but it’s awesome to have Lockie out there.
“When he’s on he’s really good, he’s a very good destructive ball runner.”
Meanwhile, the Mallee Men’s reserve grade side also emerged from Darlington Point with the two competition points, running out 38-4 winners in a strong display of their own,
“We had just reserve grade and first grade play yesterday, and we won quite handsomely in reserve grade too,” he said.
“As I said [they had] 13 players, no reserves, which is a really massive effort.
“So very proud of all the boys yesterday.”
Next up for West Wyalong is the club’s first home game of the year, in which they will welcome Yanco-Wamoon to Ron Crowe Oval.
When asked about how the side will approach the match against an in-form Hawks team coming off a strong round one win, Clarke said that discipline will be key to the victory.
“Just speaking to Benny [Jeffery] yesterday he is sort of predicting them [Yanco] to be the team to beat, but if we can complete our sets and control what we can control, no stupid penalties, I think we’ve definitely got the strike power,” he said.
“I haven’t seen them play, but [from] all reports they’re looking very impressive, so if we can just do what we do best, complete our sets and defend well, we’re in with a good chance.
“We’ve got a few blokes back on deck this week, so it’s actually going to be a bit of a selection headache hopefully.”
Looking at other first grade results from around Group 20, the TLU Sharks remain unbeaten through two rounds after a last-gasp 32-30 win over the Griffith Black and Whites at the Lake Cargelligo Recreation Ground.
With the scores level and a minute remaining, evergreen Sharks halfback Jaden Kelly stepped up to nail a clutch kick out wide, sealing the deal for his side and maintaining the perfect record of coaching duo Craig Morriss and Cody Collins.
The Yenda Blueheelers also moved to a 2-0 record in the first grade competition after defeating the Hay Magpies 20-6 in a tough game at Hay Park Oval.
Hooker Bohdy Brady starred for Yenda, scoring two of the side’s four tries to help hand last year’s grand finalists their second straight loss to begin the year.
Finally, the Griffith Waratah Tigers also secured their second win of the season after outlasting Leeton 20-18 in a thriller on Saturday evening.
The win sees Waratahs locked in a three-way tie for first with TLU and Yenda, although with an advantage in points differential.
