Cover Photo: Emmy McMahon

Tallon Smith

Tullibigeal-Lakes United is one win from its first Group 20 grand final in a decade after outlasting Leeton 12-8 in a gruelling minor semi final at Griffith’s Solar Mad Stadium on Saturday.

Facing an 8-0 half time deficit, the Sharks rallied with two tries in the space of four minutes through front rowers Dylan Hately and Warren Lloyd to book a home preliminary final showdown with Yanco-Wamoon at the Lake Cargelligo Recreation Ground on Sunday, September 13.

Despite the clash being scheduled in Griffith due to competition regulations, TLU captain Jaden Kelly said it was pleasing to bounce back from last weekend’s qualifying final loss to the Hawks with a hard-fought win over the Greenies and move into a home grand final qualifier.

“It was a bit weird that we didn’t get the home final straight up from the bylaws, but it’s worked out well in our favour, so we’ll take that,” he said.

“There wasn’t many points on offer out there, that’s for sure, their try coming off the back of our mistake, and our two tries coming from just two charges by our front rowers.

“Both sides defended really well, and it was hard to get some points out there, that’s for sure.”

It took 20 minutes for the first points to be scored, with an error from TLU on a left side shift resulting in a runaway try to Leeton winger Kyson Freer, before a penalty goal in the shadows of the break to Elwyn Ravu extended the Greenies’ lead to 8-0.

The defensive grind continued in the second half until the Sharks finally broke through via a charge from Hately, only for Lloyd to follow suit soon after and put TLU ahead in the blink of an eye.

Those two tries in four minutes were the visitors’ only points of the day, but they proved enough, as the Sharks repelled a number of late Leeton raids to hold on for a memorable four-point finals win.

One of the most pleasing things for the Sharks was limiting the Greenies to just one try after they crossed for 23 in their previous two matches, including 12 in a 60-point elimination final victory over Griffith Black and Whites.

Kelly was impressed with the defensive resolve the side showed, but said the windy conditions also played a role in the low-scoring encounter.

“It was massive, especially [given] that they scored over 120 points in the last two weeks and for us to limit them to one try was really good,” he said.

“In saying that though, the conditions were really tough with that breeze, I know they had it in the first half, but it can play tricks on your mind I think.

“When you’ve got a massive breeze behind you, you think you’re going to do it easy, and it’s always tough in that first 20 minutes regardless of what conditions there are with that grind, and I think we were just fortunate enough to get it in the second half. 

“We were lucky just to score a couple of tries, they didn’t come easy.”

Saturday’s victory means the only thing standing between TLU and a grand final spot is Yanco-Wamoon, a side the Sharks have played twice in the past month for a win and a loss.

The Hawks hold the upper hand head-to-head this season 2-1, and defeated the Sharks in their qualifying final meeting at Yanco just over a week ago, but their clashes so far this season have all gone the way of the home team, including at Lake Cargelligo in the penultimate regular season round.

While Kelly said the loss at Yanco in their most recent meeting did give the side’s confidence a hit, he believes the presence of a large home crowd for the club’s first home final in recent memory will play a role as TLU looks to return to the big dance for the first time since 2016.

“Obviously you’ve got to go into every game with the plan of winning,” he said.

“We know it’s going to be tough, they’re a quality side and they’re massive over the park.

“I think last week we were probably coming off a long run of wins, and to be fair we were probably due to have a loss, so it probably panned out to work out in our favour to have that loss when we had that second chance up our sleeve.

“On the home ground, it’s going to be massive for our supporters and local community, because it’s been a long time since we’ve been successful, and to get a home semi final with us playing it is going to be massive.

“She’s going to be standing room only at that ground on Sunday, and I’m sure they will be very vocal to try and help us get the result.”

Plenty of positives despite ‘deflating’ finish 

For Leeton, Saturday’s loss brings a promising campaign to an end at the same stage as last season, though the side did break its almost three-year finals win drought dating back to the 2023 decider last weekend.

Despite the deflating finish to the campaign, Greenies coach Billy Dickinson said he was happy with how the season went overall, with the young team gaining more first grade experience, including in pressure matches.

“It was a bit of a disappointing way to go out, we thought we had the points in us and the plan to get over them, but it didn’t quite happen on the day,” he said.

“It was quite windy, and we probably didn’t capitalise on the wind enough in the first half, and then it made the second half quite difficult trying to come [up] against two good halves with good kicking games.

“In saying that we did have the chances when we did get down their end, but we just didn’t make the most of [those] opportunities and that cost us.

“Overall for the year, it’s another year of first grade for these young fellas.

“If we keep this big core together, success isn’t too far away I think.

“It’s deflating to lose, but with these young fellas, you’re always learning something and they’re always taking something away, so I feel like it will benefit them in the future.

“We did get one finals win and we probably thought we had the team to go further with it, but it didn’t quite happen on the day.”

TULLIBIGEAL-LAKES UNITED 12 (Dylan Hately, Warren Lloyd tries; Jaden Kelly 2 goals) DEFEATED LEETON 8 (Kyson Freer try; Elwyn Ravu 2 goals) at Solar Mad Stadium Griffith, Saturday September 5.