Tallon Smith
A stunning leaping effort from recently crowned Weissel Medallist Hamish Starr completed a remarkable comeback to lift Temora into its first grand final in 20 years with a 22-18 victory over Southcity at Harris Park on Sunday.
Down 18-0 after 52 minutes, the Dragons rallied with four tries in 17 minutes, before defending multiple sets on their own line in a tense finish to set up another clash with Gundagai in next weekend’s decider in Wagga Wagga.
After entering the match with the pressure of a 2-8 finals record over the past four years and on top of the three-score deficit, Temora coach Jordon Burley was pleased with the resilience his side showed to overcome the competition’s form team on their home turf.
“I think it shows the belief in the group, we’ve had a few tight games this year where we’ve been backs against the wall and down by points and been able to fight our way back,” he said.
“[It was] really pleasing on a hot day where there was a lot of defending, particularly that first half, we defended a lot of football, and to only be down 18-0, we were probably lucky not to be more for the amount of sets we defended.
“To regroup at half time and come out and do that is really pleasing, and also something really positive to roll into next week with.”
The Bulls started fast with Cody Hodge contesting and taking a Josh Siegwalt kick to open the scoring, before five-eighth Nathan Rose finished off a short side play to double that advantage after 15 minutes.
That 12-0 lead remained until the half-hour mark, when another Southcity shift saw Mat Lyons break through the Temora line and reward Rose for his effort in backing up with his second try of the afternoon, giving the Bulls an 18-point buffer at the break.
Staring down the barrel of a third preliminary final loss in four years and a straight sets exit off the back of last week’s 36-point major semi final loss to Gundagai, the minor premiers sprung into action, with a Josh McCrone offload sparking a chance which back rower Brodie Mirtschin finished to open the side’s account.
Starr then crossed for the first of his two tries, throwing a linebreak assist to centre Will McDermott, before backing up the following play to receive a pass from Brandon Nima and capitalise on the momentum he created to reduce the deficit to six.
That margin was wiped altogether six minutes later when Billy Reardon fooled the defence with a massive dummy and waltzed through untouched to level the game at 18-all.
With both teams now needing a big moment to seal a spot in the big dance, McGovern put up a last tackle kick, allowing Starr to chase through, leap and flip over Bulls fullback Jumarne Little-Kearnes and come down with the football to score one of the more remarkable tries in Group 9 finals history and end a 20-year grand final wait for Temora.
After playing conservatively in the first half, the Dragons returned to their attacking best in the face of another finals exit, a move which paid off in the form of 22 points and a grand final berth.
“We went toe-to-toe there in the early parts of the second half and we started to get a roll on, and we just went back to a few things that we’ve done well throughout the year and it worked well for us,” Burley said.
“We just got on the back of it and put a few good tries on and we jumped out to a lead, but to defend our line for three sets at the end there with the amount of fatigue in the legs, it was courageous I thought, and a really good pillar to take into next week’s grand final.
“We’re stoked, 20 years since we’ve played in a grand final, so couldn’t be happier at the moment.”
As for Starr’s aerial heroics (if you haven’t seen the try, scroll to the bottom of this story), Burley said it was just reward for the effort the fullback puts in week in, week out, which saw him recognised as Group 9’s Best and Fairest player this season.
“He’s been awesome all year, there’s a reason he’s the Weissel Medallist and that try probably sums him up, he’s a superstar,” he said.
“It’s the work off the ball he does that some people don’t see that creates those chances for him to do what he did there.
“He deserves everything he gets, he does a lot of hard work for our team and a lot of one percenters.”
‘Very proud’: Resilience shines in remarkable run despite disappointing end
For Southcity, Sunday’s loss ends a promising late-season run a game short of the grand final.
Sitting seventh and staring down a big differential gap with two rounds to play, the Bulls reeled off two monster victories to seal fifth place in the final seconds of the regular season, before winning two elimination games on the road in Young and Junee to reach the preliminary final.
Despite the disappointment of falling a game short of the decider, Southcity coach Luke McBeath was proud of the effort his side showed to get to the penultimate game of the season after a campaign disrupted by injuries to several key players including Rose, Lyons and Kyle McCarthy.
“It’s very disappointing, but I couldn’t be any prouder of the group that we have got and to come from where we were coming into the last round and to end up making a prelim at home, it’s pretty special,” he said.
“It obviously hurts, especially a game that we were up 18-0 at one stage and we ended up losing 22-18, but there’s probably not much that hasn’t been thrown at us this year and to end up in that position, I’m just very proud of the boys.
“The feeling hurts at the moment, but hopefully we take it to next year and we go a bit better.”
In ending the club’s season, the loss brings to a close the first of at least three seasons for McBeath as Bulls coach.
While he said he would review the season in more depth over the coming weeks, the Turvey Park junior told Battlers he enjoyed returning to his home club after a stint playing in Queensland.
“It’s probably hard to sum up right now, I’ll look over it in the next couple of weeks and we’ll go over what did happen,” he said.
“For me it’s pretty special to come back to my home club, and that’s the fight, I know what Bulls are about.
“We fought all year and we scrapped until the very end, and even today we had a chance at the very end to win it and the boys, they never quit, which I can’t ask for much more than that.
“It’s special to be back home and I’m looking forward to the next few years.”
TEMORA 22 (Hamish Starr 2, Brodie Mirtschin, Billy Reardon tries; Jake McGovern 3 goals) DEFEATED SOUTHCITY 18 (Nathan Rose 2, Cody Hodge tries; Josh Siegwalt 3 goals) at Harris Park, Sunday September 13.
