Tallon Smith
Gundagai will get the chance to defend its Group 9 title on grand final day after qualifying for the decider with a comprehensive 42-6 victory over Temora in the major semi final at Nixon Park on Sunday.
The Tigers ran in 36 unanswered points in a dominant display, earning a return to the big dance and sending the Dragons to a sudden-death preliminary final showdown with Southcity at Harris Park this coming weekend.
Gundagai coach Hayden Ashcroft was happy to back up last week’s 24-point qualifying final win over Junee with another impressive performance to earn a week off into the biggest game of the year.
“Off the back of last week, we had a very convincing win against Junee, so we took a lot of confidence out of that,” he said.
“We knew Temora were going to be difficult over here, but we focused on us this week and had a really good preparation, and the feeling around the club at the moment is really good.
“Super pleased, especially with a result like that, couldn’t really be more pleased with how we performed today.”
Gundagai opened the scoring in the fifth minute after winger Sailusi Temaka contested a Tyron Gorman kick and won the ball, only for Temora to hit back through prop Tyler Madden from short range and level the scores at 6-all.
Gorman re-established the Tigers’ lead soon after with a simple show and go near the line, before Derek Hay extended that advantage to 10 points following by a break through the middle from Will Herring.
A powerful cross-field run from Gabriel Gul then set up a fourth Gundagai try to James Morgan, giving the visitors a 20-6 lead at half time.
The interval proved to be no disruption to the Tigers’ momentum, with Gul crossing for a try of his own early in the second half, before James Luff fought his way over from dummy half to extend the gap to 26.
Not done there, two more tries to Herring and Morgan pushed the final margin out to 36 points, earning the Tigers a 14th grand final berth in 25 completed seasons.
Having lost to Temora 34-10 just two weeks ago in the final round at Anzac Park, the scoreline marked a 60-point head-to-head turnaround in the space of a fortnight.
When asked about whether the Tigers had a point to prove, Ashcroft said the side didn’t spend much time dwelling on the result of the minor premiership-deciding clash.
“We didn’t really get too caught up on that minor premiership and last round game,” he said.
“Obviously everyone wants to finish first on the table, but I think looking back at it we’ve had a really good run in, into Junee, obviously having a good win here today, and then the week off into the grand final.
“We’ve been a club that’s done it a number of ways, [from] playing all rounds of finals through to obviously enjoying the week off now.
“[There was] no real pressure on that last round game, but moreso just being able to find another level in this finals campaign which I think we have.
“I’m super pleased with the result last week and how confident we were coming in today, and then the result today.”
As for who impressed him in the victory, Ashcroft named several of his teammates, but began with one of the side’s two representative centres.
“Gul, he’s a different level, I think he was really good,” he said.
“He was actually quite sick through the week, so to have him come out and play that level of football, he was awesome.
“But look, you could go through the list, Wilson Hamblin always turns up every week, I think Derek was great, Tyron, his kicking game early on really put them under pressure as well.
“I would say Joe Tahaafe up through the middle is probably one of the most underrated front rowers in this comp and someone that just constantly does his job, and does it well, so he was pretty impressive today.
“I think to be honest, it was just an absolute team effort
“The first 15 minutes defensively was something we focused on, and I think everyone just turned up.”
Meanwhile, the result was a disappointing one for the Dragons, who were looking to book a spot in their first grand final in 20 years in front of a vocal home crowd.
Temora coach Jordon Burley said the performance was the side’s worst of the season, with the side getting “plenty of lessons” from the defending premiers.
“We just didn’t turn up today, probably saved our worst game all year for today to be honest,” he said.
“We didn’t capitalise when we had possession, and we just didn’t build any pressure.
“Gundy did that, full credit to them.
“They played really well today, taught us a few lessons and we’ve earned the right to have a second chance, so we’ll lick our wounds and we’ll go again next week.”
As for next week, the Dragons face the challenge of stopping a Southcity side on a four-game winning streak in a winner-takes-all grand final qualifier at Harris Park.
Burley said while he expects a tough match, his side knows what it needs to work on to give itself the best chance of securing a place in the last game of the season.
“Any team you play this year is going to be tough, and if we don’t turn up with the right attitude and work hard, it’s going to go against us, and we know that, we’ve got plenty of experience and plenty of boys in there that are willing to do that,” he said.
“We’ll work hard this week and have a look at a few little things that went wrong, but I think the majority we already know, and we’ll try and fix that.”
GUNDAGAI 42 (James Morgan 2, Sailusi Temaka, Tyron Gorman, Derek Hay, Gabriel Gul, James Luff, Will Herring tries; Corey Wilson 5 goals) DEFEATED TEMORA 6 (Tyler Madden try; Jake McGovern goal) at Nixon Park, Sunday September 6.
