Cover Photo: Tahlia Crane Photography

Tallon Smith

Despite still taking home another valuable competition point, Tumut has been left to rue what could have been its first win of the season after a 28-all draw with Young at Twickenham Oval on Sunday.

The Blues were forced to settle for a second draw inside the opening month of the competition after surrendering the lead three times against the Cherrypickers, with the home side pushing last year’s preliminary finalists all the way in their best showing of the year so far.

Tumut coach Dean Bristow was disappointed after his side put itself into the position to win the game multiple times only to fall agonisingly short of a maiden victory of the campaign, but remained positive about their progress week to week.

“It was a game that we should have closed out, we had chances to, we had leads throughout the game, and we had a golden opportunity late in the game to win it, so it definitely felt like a loss from our perspective to not take the two points away,” he said.

“Super proud of the guys’ efforts, they have got a really good side on paper, Young, and they are big and they’re physical.

“They have got a lot more experience than what we do, we are a young local team, so there’s a lot of positives to take out of it, but it’s still disappointing that we didn’t ice the game.”

The Blues opened the scoring inside the opening two minutes through skipper Jordan Anderson, before fullback Malik Aitken fought his way over from a standing start four minutes later to open up a 10-0 advantage.

Centre Cooper Smith and Jonah Latu then hit back for Young to level the game, with the latter receiving a crisp pass from hooker Charlie Woolford to crash over.

However, a right hand shift saw the Blues reclaim the lead 16-10 heading into the break, with Callum Rossiter and Mailk Aitken linking to send winger Toby Tanks over in his first grade debut.

That scoreline improved further for Tumut nine minutes after half time when Aitken went over, before Young hooker Jesse Corcoran burrowed over from dummy half and co-coach Jayke Hogan also found the line to level the game again at 22-all.

Hooker Parish Bellette put the Blues back in front 28-22 with 10 minutes remaining, after collecting a ricochet from a Bailey Piper grubber to score under the sticks, bringing Tumut as close as it has been all season to a victory.

However, a long range effort finished by Charlie Woolford in the 75th minute saw the Cherrypickers again even up the scores, and despite a late chance where Rossiter appeared set for a field goal, rushing Young defence saw him spill the ball, resulting in the side’s second draw in a month following their round 1 stalemate against Brothers.

Although the game ended in a deadlock, the match marked an improvement from previous weeks for Tumut, especially compared to the side’s previous home game which ended in a 36-0 defeat to local rivals Gundagai.

Bristow said that the Blues approached the match with a point to prove on their home turf, and were up for the contest against a strong Cherrypickers team.

“We were really upbeat for it and really looking for that challenge to prove ourselves,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say [we were] embarrassed, but the scoreboard got away from us in our first home game against Gundagai, so we were keen to come back and prove a point at home in front of our fans.

“We thought taking on Young was a great opportunity to do that and then looking at the game, it felt like a loss to us guys.”

As for the areas that have let the side down, the coach said while the effort has been there all year, it has been errors in crucial moments that have cost the side.

“The boys’ effort and enthusiasm has been there, there’s just little parts of our game that we need to be better at,” Bristow said. 

“We have got a young side there, so it is a part of the learning experience for us, there’s just moments within games where we’re losing battles or losing moments, not executing.”

Finals still firmly on the radar

With a quarter of the regular season played, the youthful Blues have accrued just two points, leaving the side sitting in second last place, a point above the side they drew with in round one, Wagga Brothers.

Despite being in this position and yet to notch up a victory, Bristow said finals football remains firmly on the club’s radar this season.

“We want to play finals, you are silly if you don’t to be honest, and I think we’ve got the team there to do it,” he said.

“I know we’re a young side and a lot of people probably don’t give us a chance, but I do, it is a competition where there’s honestly not much between and team and any team can win on any given day I feel, it’s just a matter of turning up week in, week out.

“We take a lot of belief and confidence to know that we can mix and match it with the best sides in the comp and we take some learnings out of it as well.

“We learn [from] these games where we’ve done wrong and where we can improve so we make sure that we can close them out and take two points away from them, because every competition point is going to be pretty vital in this competition with the tightness of it, there won’t be much between making finals and missing finals.”

The Blues will face Wagga Kangaroos in their next game at Geohex Park this Saturday, with kick off set for 2:35pm.