Tallon Smith
Four tries to veteran forward Michael Mogliotti helped Tullibigeal-Lakes United seal a place in the top three with a 46-10 victory over Darlington Point-Coleambally at the Darlington Point Sportsground on Sunday.
Playing in the front row, Mogliotti crossed for the opening try of the match, before adding three more in the second half to lead the Sharks to their eighth straight win, with Leeton’s loss to the Black and Whites and a final round bye giving the Sharks an unassailable advantage over the Greenies in the battle for third.
Despite the vast gap on the scoreboard, TLU captain Jaden Kelly said the match was a physical grind between sides missing key men, with Sharks stars Cody Collins, Warren Lloyd, Toby Denyer and Brant Frankel sidelined, while the Roosters were without Guy Thompson, Chaise Sergi and brothers Brad and Jai Lyons among others.
“It was a bit of a grind, because we were a bit light on, and Darlington Point were even lighter on, so it’s a bit hard to get a gauge on where anyone is at to be honest,” he said.
“A majority of the boys played first grade and reserve grade for Darlington Point, and that was a massive effort.
“As a club, we have been there before, and it’s not much fun, but they got the two games done and to their credit, they actually got the win in the ressies, so it was a great effort from [those] fellas.
“To be honest, we didn’t play that well, but it was still obviously great to get the result.”
After Mogliotti opened the scoring, Sinelle Thorpe raced in off a sublime ball from Bobby Jones to double the Sharks’ early advantage to 12-0.
Ned Phillips then extended that advantage to 18 points, before Samuela Bulukata hit back for the Roosters.
However, the Sharks dominated the scoring from that point onwards, with Harry Anderson crossing before the break, followed by a second-half hat-trick to Mogliotti to complete his quadruple alongside a runaway try to Max Jones off a centrefield scrum.
Kelly’s seven from eight conversions saw the scoreline reach 46-6, before Jisharn Harrison picked up a consolation four-pointer to leave the final margin at 36 points.
Having tripled his season try tally in one game, Mogliotti’s form explosion has come at the right time for TLU on the eve of the finals, with the 2007 Rookie of the Year one of a number of veterans driving the Sharks’ ascension up the competition ladder.
“It’s a bit of a battle with Mog, when his mind’s on he can do anything,” Kelly said jokingly.
“He is on at the moment, which is great, so we’ll enjoy [it] while he is going well.”
Ahead of the final round bye, TLU will take on Yanco-Wamoon, which remains the last team to have beaten the Sharks with a comfortable 68-10 victory at the Yanco Sportsground in May.
Although the match won’t have any bearing on the Sharks’ finishing position, Kelly said the side is looking forward to another opportunity to test itself against one of the competition’s premier sides, this time at Lake Cargelligo.
“It’s still a massive chance to see where we are at as a footy club,” he said.
“They did a massive job against us in the first round, so we need to peg that back a fair way, and hopefully we can perform well.
“Obviously [playing] at home is a different ball game, so we can just control what we can control and hopefully we get a good result, but if not, it’s not the end of the world, because we will still finish third.”
The Roosters will travel to Hay to take on the Magpies in the second leg of the grand final rematch from last year on Sunday.
TULLIBIGEAL-LAKES UNITED 46 (Michael Mogliotti 4, Sinelle Thorpe, Ned Phillips, Harry Anderson, Max Jones tries; Jaden Kelly 7 goals) DEFEATED DARLINGTON POINT-COLEAMBALLY 10 (Samuela Bulukata, Jisharn Harrison tries; Josh Veivers goal) at Darlington Point Sportsground, Sunday August 9.
