Cover Photo: Tahlia Crane Photography

Tallon Smith

They may have left it late, but the Temora Dragons have retained top spot on the Group 9 ladder after emerging with a last-gasp 24-20 comeback victory over the Wagga Kangaroos at Geohex Park on Saturday afternoon.

After dominating the Kangaroos 70-4 in their previous meeting, the Dragons found themselves down 20-12 with 10 minutes remaining, before rallying late with two tries, the second off the back of a monster 40-20 from halfback Jake McGovern, to take the lead for the first time all afternoon and the two competition points.

Temora coach Jordon Burley said while it was pleasing to come away with the victory, his side was lucky to be in the game after falling behind by three scores early.

“Roos certainly came out to play, which I knew they would, I warned our boys, but we still missed the jump big time,” he said. 

“We were well off the pace for that first 20 and they jumped out to a 16-0 lead, so we had to aim up and change, which we did.

“To our credit, we fought back and got ourselves back into the game.

“We were lucky that we were able to fight back today, but there will be some weeks that if you do give a lead like that away, it’s pretty hard to get back.”

The Kangaroos opened the scoring in the sixth minute after a brilliant cut out pass from Zeik Foster found winger Joel Kelly, with the early advantage extended to 16-0 twelve minutes later after Gus Clark and Brayden O’Reilly both crossed for tries.

Needing a response, the Dragons hit back with successive tries of their own, the first to Tyler Madden off a brilliant short ball from McGovern, followed by a great effort from Billy Reardon who showed incredible reflexes to take a ricochet on the goal line and close the gap to 16-12 at half time.

A 27-minute stalemate ensued after the interval, before it was emphatically broken by Kangaroos halfback James Smart, who took off from first receiver to slice through the middle of the Temora defence and give the Wagga side a 20-12 lead.

However, the ladder leaders still had plenty of tricks up their sleeve, and when Sam Burley crashed over under the posts and a booming 40-20 from McGovern was followed up by McDermott’s winner, the Dragons had completed one of the escapes of the season.

The crucial play is just the latest key moment in a stellar season for McGovern, whose superior four from four goalkicking performance was the difference after the sides scored four tries apiece over the 80 minutes.

Following his latest strong showing, Burley was quick to point out that the playmaker’s success is built upon work ethic and consistent practice.

“Jake’s down there 45 minutes before every training run, practising kicking his goals and that’s proven to win a few games this year, he obviously kicked one after the siren [against Cootamundra],” he said.

“He’s been pretty good, and when he does have a bad game, you’ll find him down there kicking goals trying to make up for it.

“He’s been awesome, and that 40-20 to give us possession with three minutes to go was just huge.

“He’s getting better and better each game.”

In front of second-placed Gundagai on points differential, the Dragons’ chances of a minor premiership will likely hinge on their final round showdown with the Tigers at Anzac Park on August 22.

Despite the temptation to look ahead to that fixture and a potential first place finish, Burley said the side’s goal remains simply to maintain its place in the top three, while his focus is on the more immediate tasks of tackling Wagga Brothers and Albury at home.

“I think [I’m] still pretty happy to finish in the top three, obviously if we manage to finish first, then that’s great as well, but I wouldn’t say it’s the end goal,” he said.

“We have got two home games, which is nice, coming up, but again Brothers are playing really good footy and I think they will be a completely different side to when we played them last, they just pushed Gundagai. 

“Albury, same thing, beat Gundagai last week playing really good footy, so I honestly can’t look past those … before we even get to that last round game.

“We just have to [things] take week in, week out, and like we’ve shown today for a large chunk of the game, if you don’t turn up ready to play whoever’s in front of you, you can be behind in the blink of an eye.

“We need to stay consistent and stay switched on in all games, and I think if we do that we’ve proven that we play really good footy.

“Ladder position is nice, but the main goal is to be there on the last day in September.”

Kangaroos’ next match following the general bye is an away clash with Tumut.

The ladder is: Temora (20 points), Gundagai (20), Young (17), Junee (16), Wagga Kangaroos (12), Cootamundra (12), Southcity (12), Albury (10), Tumut (6), Wagga Brothers (5).

TEMORA 24 (Tyler Madden, Billy Reardon, Sam Burley, Will McDermott tires; Jake McGovern 4 goals) DEFEATED WAGGA KANGAROOS 20 (Joel Kelly, Gus Clark, Brayden O’Reilly, James Smart tries; Smart 2 goals) at Geohex Park, Saturday July 25.