Tallon Smith
The Dapto Canaries have made the most of an unusual fixturing situation to return the favour for last week’s loss with a 46-8 victory over Collegians at the Dapto Showground.
After the sides’ round five match was postponed due to inclement weather, the Collie Dogs downed the Canaries 16-14 in a catch up game last weekend, only for Dapto to reverse the result emphatically a week later.
Dapto captain-coach Tom Freebairn said after the disappointment of the loss on July 11, he was pleased to see such a strong response from his side the second time around.
“Collies came out the first week we played them, and they walked away with the choccies and beat us by two points, and we needed to respond, and I couldn’t ask more of my playing group,” he said.
“We did such a good job, and to do it at home, we had our old boys’ day on, so it was a special day to really turn it around, and [to] turn it around in the way we did is really promising and positive for us.”
One of the stars of the show was Canaries five-eighth Troy Pieper, who crossed for two tries in addition to booting five goals for a personal haul of 18 points.
Despite his significant contribution in attack, the most outstanding aspect of his game in the eyes of his coach has been the improvement in the veteran half’s defence.
“Pieps, the old saying, aging like fine wine, he’s just doing the things that we ask of him,” he said.
“We know that he has got a fantastic running game, we know he can score points, we know he can kick goals, but the thing that has been most pleasing from a coaching perspective and also playing alongside him is his defence.
“His ability to get in front of players and working on those little areas that he knew personally that he really wanted to work on at the start of the year is starting to pay off for him.”
Meanwhile, Freebairn also praised the efforts of centre Logen Dillon, who joined Pieper with two tries in the 38-point victory.
“Logen Dillon, that’s what he has been brought to the club to do is score tries and make something out of nothing really,” he said.
“[We] just give him the ball and let him do his thing, he’s an athletic young man.”
Next up for the Canaries is a clash with the Corrimal Cougars, who are on a six-game winning streak and have already beaten Dapto twice this season.
Freebairn said the Cougars’ recent form comes at no surprise to him, with the focus for Dapto heading into Saturday’s match being on playing their own brand of football.
“Corrimal, they are in form, and I think I said it at the start of the year, they have a lot of very good pieces to their squad and their team, and if they figure it out they are going to be a very hard team to beat,” he said.
“We need to go into it with our mentality that we are going to play Dapto footy, and I believe that should get us the win.
“The outlook of the season is, we have just got to keep winning, and keep competing in games when we can and look to get as high [as] the ladder as we can, and then when finals come, which is five weeks away, that is a whole [new] ball game as well.”
Looking at other results across round 10 of the Harrigan Cup, Thirroul got the better of Wests 20-18 in a thriller at Sid Parrish Park, while Corrimal flexed its muscle in a 68-6 victory over Sutherland-Loftus in a curtain-raiser to the Newtown Jets’ annual Beer, Footy and Food festival match at Henson Park.
This weekend’s other matches will see Wests face Collegians and Thirroul host Sutherland-Loftus.
DAPTO 46 (Logen Dillon 2, Troy Pieper 2, Jack Gibbons, Jackson Rieck, Braxton Wallace, Kieren Moss, Giordan Patea tries; Pieper 5 goals) DEFEATED COLLEGIANS 8 (Cooper Barnes, Tex Anderson tries) at Dapto Showground, Saturday July 18.
