Tallon Smith

The Gerringong Lions have extended their winning run to open the Group 7 season to three games following a hard-fought 12-10 victory over Kiama at the Kiama Showground on Anzac Day.

With a side strengthened by the inclusion of Beau Doosey in his first game back from injury, the Lions faced a sterner test than in their two previous outings, with two tries scored by Tyrell Taione and Tyler Dolenc proving enough to overcome a gallant Knights outfit in the low-scoring contest.

Gerringong co-coach Daniel Brown said that the match was a really tough contest, with the Lions’ grit and determination in defence seeing them emerge victorious in a battle that went down to the final play.

“It could have really gone either way, I think we did well to hold on,” he said.

“Kiama, I just think they’ve proved again with the way they’ve started that they’re going to be thereabouts towards the end of the season.

“They’re a physical team and they’re a fit team so they pushed us all the way and I think just yesterday we were good enough to hold on.”

After a red-hot start the the year saw the Lions flex their muscle consecutive shutouts against Warilla (46-0) and Berry-Shoalhaven Heads (60-0), Saturday’s game was a very different one, with only four tries scored in total.

Aside from the obvious fact that they were facing the defending premiers, Brown said that another reason for the match being such a closely contested defensive grind was the local derby element, with neither Kiama or Gerringong wanting to give an inch.

“Local derbies definitely contribute to it, everyone’s up for it and there was a good crowd behind it,” he said. 

“I think if you look over the years, especially for probably the last seven, eight, ten years even, most of those games have probably been low-scoring or at least tight.

“I think the two teams are very similar in a way, Kiama are a team that are happy to go with you for the whole game, and they’d be a team happy to beat you 2-0 if they wanted to, and we’re a team a bit like that as well, we can go the distance, and we saw that [on Saturday].”

With the aforementioned large victories to start the year, the Lions showed their attacking might in the opening two games of the season, outscoring their opponents 106-0.

Reflecting on the big wins to start the year, Brown said that it was a confidence boost for the side’s newer players, with Saturday’s low-scoring affair providing a different challenge.

“We had some new-ish players that [are] either first, second or third year in first grade, so I think it was good for them just to start the season strong,” he said.

“[In] the little areas that we focused on as a club, we’re doing really well, and I think that sort of showed in the scorelines.

“[Saturday] was definitely our toughest game, but those first two games put us in good stead for the way we want to play our footy.”

Next up for the Lions is a showdown with perennial contenders Shellharbour Sharks, a team the Lions are well acquainted with after their consecutive grand final victories in 2023 and 2024.

Heading into the huge clash at Michael Cronin Oval on Saturday, Brown said he expects the Sharks to be hungry after losing their undefeated status in a thrilling game against Stingrays on Sunday.

“I think it will be a close game again, it always is against them,” he said.

“They’re a physical team and generally they are always a bit bigger than us, so we’ll have to be smart about the way we play and I think it will be a good battle.

“They’re going to be right up for it, especially after losing [on Sunday] to Stingrays, I think they’ll want to get back on the winners’ sheet.

“When you’re coming up against teams who are undefeated or are going well, you always step up in those games, so that’s definitely what they’ll be doing.”

Around the Grounds

Looking at other games from round three, Shellharbour Stingrays channelled the efforts of Albion Park-Oak Flats against them the week prior, passing on the favour to the Sharks with a 78th minute matchwinner from James Ralphs to take a 24-20 victory at Ron Costello Oval on Sunday.

The local derby win was made even sweeter by the fact Ralphs, a former Sharks skipper, crossed for the match winner, with the late try completing a double for the Stingrays prop.

Moving back to Saturday action, Albion Park-Oak Flats kept its unbeaten record intact, with two late tries securing a 28-20 win over Milton-Ulladulla at Bill Andriske Oval.

After the Eagles took a 16-10 lead into the sheds, the Bulldogs hit back early in the second half, with centre Blake Jones collecting a grubber near his own line and going the length of the field to reduce the margin to two, before Kye Lynch crashed over off a short ball from Jayden Millard to give Milton-Ulladulla a 20-16 advantage.

However, down by four with eight minutes to play, the Eagles reclaimed the lead with a try to captain Josh Sainsbury under the posts, before Rydge Smith beat multiple defenders out wide to seal the deal and a third win for the side in three starts.

Meanwhile, in other results, Berry-Shoalhaven Heads put their big defeat to Gerringong behind them with a second victory in the opening three rounds over Jamberoo 22-14 on Saturday, and Nowra-Bomaderry also secured its second win of the year 32-6 over Warilla-Lake South on Sunday.