Tallon Smith
A stunning showing from five-eighth Stu Dunbar ensured Junee enters next Sunday’s qualifying final against Gundagai on the back of a six-game winning streak courtesy of a 48-22 victory over Wagga Brothers at Geohex Park on Saturday.
After the sides entered the sheds level at 12-all at half time, Dunbar was involved in five of the Diesels’ six second half tries that sealed the 26-point triumph, though Brothers’ good opening 40 minutes saw them finish the year with the Challenge Cup thanks to a +30.5 start.
Despite another incomplete performance, Junee co-coach Damian Willis was happy that the side managed to secure another gritty victory heading into its first finals series since 2018.
“It wasn’t our best performance, but we haven’t had a really good performance in probably the last five weeks, and we’ve won ugly,” he said.
“The second half was definitely better, we completed a lot higher, and that’s what we needed to do.
“Moving into the semi finals series with another win, we build that momentum, and we go to Gundagai and hopefully we can do a job on them.”
After Brothers took an early 2-0 lead through a penalty goal to Cohen Benson, it was Junee hooker Hayden Diggins who found his way over from dummy half for the first try of the match, before an intercept saw Cleve McGhie race 90 metres in reply for the Wagga side.
The Diesels again hit the front 12-8 after Jack Schubert ran a great line to cross, but again Brothers found the answer in the form of McGhie’s second after Benson nailed his second 40-20 of the opening half, leaving the scores locked at 12-all at the break.
Junee started the second stanza the better of the two sides with three quick tries, the first to Nick Hogarth off a short side play, before Jack Walker and Daniel Foley extended the visitors’ advantage to 30-12.
However, Brothers again hit back with a quickfire pair of their own to winger Joey Tolhurst and Benson to reduce the margin to 10.
That proved to be the end of the fightback though, with Junee adding three more tries in the form of a double to Tevita Toloi and another to Quaider Kea to run out 26-point winners.
Amongst a strong team, Dunbar was the standout, finishing with three try assists, six try involvements and eight goals from eight attempts to steer the side to victory.
Having played rugby union at the highest level, Willis said the former Melbourne Rebels and Australia Sevens fly-half has added plenty of big-game experience and energy to Junee’s line-up this season.
“Stu being a former Wallaby, he’s brought a lot of class to our football side, a lot of professionalism,” he said.
“The boys feed off him week in, week out, they love having him around.
“He’s released the shackles a bit in terms of the way he does some stuff with the boys, and he’s a really good clubman and he does a great job for us.
“He’s been one of the form five-eighths of the competition this year and I think he should be right up there in the Weissel Medal count.”
Another highlight for the Diesels was the return of Toloi from injury, with the centre getting through the match in preparation for the postseason.
“Tevita has been injured with that ankle, he’s still probably hampered a little bit at the moment, but hopefully he gets into rehab this week and sorts his ankle out,” Willis said.
“He’s just a class player, he’s so good, he’s tough and strong, he gets us out of trouble.”
Looking to their finals opener, the Diesels will travel to Gundagai after Temora claimed the minor premiership and earned a week off with a 34-10 victory over the Tigers at Anzac Park on Saturday.
Despite the challenge that awaits them, Junee will enter the match with confidence derived from their round one victory at the same venue.
Willis said he didn’t have a preference of week one opponent, with the side needing to beat both clubs at some point during the finals if it wants to end a 40-year premiership drought.
“I wasn’t fussed either way, I don’t think the boys are either, we’ve got that mindset of we have to beat everyone to win it,” he said.
“We got close against Temora a few months ago, and that was a very close game, and we were lucky enough to beat Gundagai [in] the first round, and they returned serve [in Junee].
“Gundagai are a class act as everyone knows, and so are Temora, they’re throwing the footy around and scoring plenty of points, so we will have to do our homework on both sides regardless.
“At Anzac Park on a Sunday, the crowd goes pretty wild there, and they love their footy on Sundays.
“We’ll get back to the drawing board, have a look at what they’ve produced today, and do a bit of video and work our game plan around that.”
Meanwhile, having secured two wins and a draw this season after going 0-16 in 2025, things are looking up for Brothers.
Aside from winning the Challenge Cup, one particular bright spot for the side in the defeat was the kicking game of halfback Benson, with the young playmaker nailing two 40-20s and putting Junee under pressure with several deep kicks early in the tackle count.
Brothers coach Blake Dunn was pleased with Benson’s kick selection and timing, as well as his continued improvement over the course of the season.
“It was good to see, sometimes we wait too long to get to our kick, and sometimes it turns into errors for us, so it was good to see Coh do that, he’s certainly got the skill for it,” he said.
“Coh’s grown over the course of the season, I think he’s still got a lot of growth left in him and that’s exciting.
“We’ve got to remember he is only 20 years old, so I look forward to working with him for the next couple of years.”
In other results from around the Group, Southcity stole fifth spot from Wagga Kangaroos after defeating Cootamundra 48-4 on Sunday, after Kangaroos set them a task of chasing a 41 point differential gap with a 44-20 victory over Young a day earlier.
The Bulls will face Young in the elimination final at Alfred Oval next weekend.
Albury finished its campaign with a 36-30 win over Tumut in the weekend’s remaining fixture.
The final ladder: Temora (26 points), Gundagai (24), Junee (22), Young (17), Southcity (16, +44 differential), Wagga Kangaroos (16, +40), Cootamundra (14), Albury (12), Tumut (8), Wagga Brothers (5).
JUNEE 48 (Tevita Toloi 2, Hayden Diggins, Jack Schubert, Nick Hogarth, Jack Walker, Daniel Foley, Quaider Kea tries; Stu Dunbar 8 goals) DEFEATED WAGGA BROTHERS 22 (Cleve McGhie 2, Joey Tolhurst, Cohen Benson tries; Benson 2, Zac Leary goals), at Geohex Park, Saturday August 22.
