Cover Photo: Kate Johnson

Tallon Smith

They may have only just snuck in, but the Southcity Bulls only needed one game of the finals series to announce themselves as legitimate Group 9 premiership contenders with a comprehensive 34-6 victory over Young in the elimination final at Alfred Oval on Saturday.

After the sides were locked at 6-all as half time approached, Nathan Rose produced his second four-try performance in as many weeks to blow the game wide open and seal the Bulls a place in the minor semi final at Junee’s Laurie Daley Oval next Saturday.

Despite the result being the side’s third comfortable victory in a row, Southcity coach Luke McBeath said his side has plenty of improvement left in it and will need to continue to step up as it moves through the postseason.

“It was a pretty convincing win, but I still think we’ve got a lot of improvement in us as well,” he said.

“The first half there probably wasn’t our best performance, but it was nice then to put it to bed there in the second half.

“I think we’ve still got a long way to go and we will have to improve again to keep progressing through the finals series.”

It was the Bulls who opened the scoring through Josh Siegwalt in the eighth minute, with the halfback finding his way over from dummy half, before opposite number Kane Ball replied 15 minutes later to level the game at 6-all.

That scoreline remained until just prior to the break, when Rose stepped through multiple tackles to crash over next to the posts and give the Bulls a 12-6 half time lead.

However, that was just the beginning of the veteran five-eighth’s latest quadruple, with his second try coming off a grubber for himself nine minutes into the second stanza, before an offload from fullback Jumarne Little-Kearnes set up another.

A wayward Cherrypickers pass provided Rose the opportunity to race away for his fourth, before Jesse Fitzhenry put the finishing touches on the 28-point victory with a late four-pointer.

Having played a starring role alongside Mathew Lyons in the two wins that catapulted the Bulls into the finals before steering them to a playoff victory, Rose is doing exactly what he was brought back to Southcity for.

“He’s a great person to have in your team, any opportunity he’ll capitalise on it, and he did that yesterday,” McBeath said.

“A couple of tries Nay Nay [Rose] scored, probably not many others score, so it’s nice to have him out there.

“He does give you that bit of breathing space off something that most blokes wouldn’t be able to do.

“I think that takes him to about nine tries in the last three weeks, so he’s finding his way over there.

“It is nice, but it is a team performance, and I think there [were] many blokes out there that contributed to that, and Nay Nay just happened to find the line a few times which was nice.”

Meanwhile, after getting on the board early, a number of errors saw the Bulls cede their early momentum to the Cherrypickers, allowing the home side to level the game and remain square for a large part of the first half.

Despite the rut the side found itself in, McBeath said he was always confident the Bulls would get the job done if they improved their handling and discipline.

“Not taking anything away from Young, I think we were sort of keeping them in the game there a little bit in the first half with some errors and penalties and stuff, and putting pressure on ourselves,” he said.

“I knew if we were able to come out there and just complete our sets on what was a pretty hot day and just wear them out, then I [thought] were [were] going to come over the top of them, and that is what happened.”

Another interesting tactic employed by the Bulls was starting Lewis Marley at hooker, before injecting evergreen star Kyle McCarthy into the match at the 17-minute mark.

While the planned interchange didn’t yield points immediately, McBeath said the strategy is something the side will be looking to continue employing throughout the finals.

“At this stage, with things going the way they are, I will continue to look to do that with Doc [McCarthy],” he said.

“Yesterday, as I said, our first half probably wasn’t the greatest, and when he did come on, that was probably when we made most of our errors and stuff, so he probably didn’t quite get the chances that I would have liked to inject himself into the game, but to start the second half he definitely did.

“It’s nice to be able to bring him on against some tired legs and let him do his thing that he’s been doing for so long.”

Meanwhile, in Sunday’s qualifying final, Gundagai secured a rematch of last week’s minor premiership showdown with Temora after downing Junee 36-12 at Anzac Park.

The Tigers crossed four times in the first half to open up a 20-6 half time lead on the way to the 24-point victory.

Next week’s finals fixtures are below.

Finals Week Two

Minor semi final

Saturday, September 5 – Junee v Southcity, Laurie Daley Oval, 2:30pm

Major semi final

Sunday, September 6 – Temora v Gundagai, Nixon Park, 2:30pm

SOUTHCITY 34 (Nathan Rose 4, Josh Siegwalt, Jesse Fitzhenry tries; Siegwalt 5 goals) DEFEATED YOUNG 6 (Kane Ball try; Che Hyslop goal) at Alfred Oval, Saturday August 29.