Cover Photo: Tahlia Crane Photography
Tallon Smith
Temora claimed its second minor premiership in four seasons and made a statement in the Group 9 premiership race with a 34-10 victory over Gundagai in a final round top of the table showdown at Anzac Park on Saturday.
After Gundagai crossed for two of the first three tries of the match, the Dragons piled on 30 unanswered points to earn a week off and a home major semi final at Nixon Park on Sunday, September 6.
Having set a goal of making the top three at the start of the year, first-year Group 9 mentor Jordon Burley was more than happy to have exceeded that target, with the result meaning his side has now defeated every other team in the competition.
“[I’m] absolutely stoked with the result, the boys played some really good footy,” the Dragons coach said.
“Some really gutsy efforts in defence was the big highlight for us on the weekend, we had to defend our line for multiple sets at a time, and we stuck strong, and we scrapped and just kept turning up for one another.”
“We will enjoy the weekend off and get back out there and hopefully continue to play good footy.”
It was Gundagai which opened the scoring, with Sailusi Temaka crossing in the corner, before Hamish Starr replied for Temora to bring the scoreline back to 6-4.
A sense of deja vu followed, with Tigers five-eighth Tyron Gorman finding Temaka with a brilliant cut-out pass to send him over for his second try, with the reply again coming from Starr, levelling the game at 10-all.
In the shadows of half time, it was a Will McDermott grubber that proved the major turning point, with Hayden Philp collecting the scraps following an error at the back from the Tigers to score and give the Dragons a 16-10 lead.
From there on, the Dragons clung onto their six-point advantage for a large part of the second half, adding three more tries late to wrap up top spot with a 24-point win.
Having finished as the competition’s top tryscorer (18 tries) by a whopping margin of five, Burley was full of praise for Starr’s efforts both in the match and throughout the season.
“He’s been awesome all year, a few people have said he’s had one of his best years for a while,” he said.
“He’s a quality player, he’s a quality leader, he’s one of our co-captains and he leads from the front.
“He gets the reward of scoring tries, but it’s the other stuff he does that shines bright for me, he’s a worker and he does all those little scrappy things that people probably don’t see, but that’s something that holds him in high regard with me.
“He’s a leader of our side and he’s had a tremendous year.”
As Temora takes advantage of a hard-earned rest, Gundagai will face Junee at Anzac Park on Sunday for the right to travel to Nixon Park for the grand final qualifier in 12 days’ time.
While the side awaits a winner of that contest, Burley said the Dragons will train as normal before attending finals week one fixtures, with no preference as to who they will face in the major semi.
“We’ll train as normal, we’ll probably have a bit of a heavier session on Friday due to not playing, just to keep the load in the legs,” he said.
“We will be over there Sunday to support our league tag and reserve grade, and our ladies’ tackle is on Saturday at Young, so we’ll be there anyway supporting our other grades that are playing, and we’ll have a look.
“Definitely no preference, you have got to play whoever turns up on the day, and I think it’s pretty clear that the top five is full of quality talent.
“You need to turn up, you need to play well against anyone, otherwise you are going to get beat.”
The match between Gundagai and Junee will kick off at 2:30pm on Sunday.
TEMORA 34 (Hamish Starr 2, Jake McGovern 2, Hayden Philp, Bailey Wallace tries; McGovern 5 goals) DEFEATED GUNDAGAI 10 (Sailusi Temaka 2 tries; Corey Wilson goal) at Anzac Park, Saturday August 22.
