Tallon Smith

An Albury Thunder side already missing star half Paul Karaitiana for the season overcame the loss of fullback and fellow Group 9 representative Vili Cerei to post its first points of the season with a 36-12 victory over Wagga Brothers at Greenfield Park on Sunday.

A head injury to the star triggered a re-shuffle for the Thunder, with hooker Blake Grounds moving into the halves to accommodate Lachy Munro’s shift to his familiar role at the back.

It was Brothers who opened the scoring through former Albury player Riley Ivanku, who ran a good line off a pass from five-eighth Bailie Lyttle to crash over for a 4-0 lead after two minutes.

Albury hit back nine minutes later after an offload was distributed to Cerei who raced in under the posts, before Brothers reclaimed the advantage 8-6 following a brilliant dash from hooker Zac Riley, who linked with winger Tamani Aramoana for a try in the corner.

However, the Thunder took a 12-8 lead to the sheds at half time following some individual brilliance from Munro, before establishing control early in the second half, with Siale Lavulavu’s try five minutes after half time followed by another to Jordan Uinipaulo.

Joe Hill was the next Albury player to cross the line after Brothers fullback Tyson Williams spilled a Jacob Tobok kick in the corner, before Zac Leary hit back for the Wagga outfit.

In the end though, it was to be the Thunder’s day, with two late tries to Hugh Duncan and Lavulavu to complete his double sealing a 24-point victory for the home side.

After a round one loss to Kangaroos at home, Albury coach Etu Uaisele said it was pleasing to end up on the right side of the result against an improved Brothers side.

“It’s always good to get the first win and [put on] a good score against a good side, Brothers are not an easy side to play against this year,” he said.

After a tight first half where the side spent plenty of time on the scoreboard, a strong second stanza saw the Thunder outscore their opponents five tries to one.

Uaisele said that it was hard to single out a star performer, with the coach impressed with the efforts of all of his players, but especially Grounds following his mid-game move to five-eighth.

“It was a hard one for me yesterday to choose who played well because they all played well in the second half,” he said.

“I thought Blake Grounds stood out in the halves when Vili got injured and Lachy went back to fullback, he’s given me another option there if anyone goes down in the halves.”

Another player who left a good impression on the coach following his first match of the season was fifth-year Thunder veteran Nathan Darby, with Uaisele impressed with his impact in the middle despite being sent to the sin bin along with Brothers captain Cleve McGhie.

“[It’s] good to have Darbs back, he gave [us] a push there in the middle and I thought he went well for his first game this year.”

As for Cerei, Uaisele said that the Thunder custodian will seek medical advice this week, and is still a chance of featuring in Sunday’s away clash with Gundagai.

“He has got a doctor’s appointment this week and hopefully he gets cleared,” he said.

“It wasn’t a bad one, but he did get a bit dizzy and stuff.

“If he gets cleared then he’ll play this week.”