Cover Photo: Nat O’Reilly
Tallon Smith
Wagga Kangaroos fended off a late charge from rivals Wagga Brothers to claim the Weissel Cup with a thrilling 28-24 victory in a local derby grand final at Geohex Park on Sunday.
After Brothers hooker Xavier Williams-Byers opened the scoring in the seventh minute, the Kangaroos sprung into action with tries to Jameson Elliott, Max Oliver and Jedd Wardman giving the side a 16-4 lead at the break.
A penalty goal to Tyler Cunneen saw the lead grow further, before Murray Baker’s try extended the advantage to 22-4.
Brothers hit back through Logan Foster after supporting a break made by Luke Anderson, but Kobe Gustowski returned serve almost immediately with a 75 metre runaway try down the short side out of dummy half to re-establish an 18-point advantage.
However, the Kangaroos were far from safe, with Brothers crossing three times in the space of eight minutes through Jett Putland, Riley Ivanku and Oliver Kimber to close to within four points.
In the end though the Kangaroos defence held firm in a frantic final minute, with a tackle over the sideline sealing a memorable four-point victory.
Kangaroos coach Matt Pike was impressed with the way his side held on to claim the win after dominating the first 50 minutes of the 60-minute match.
“It was a big effort by all the boys, I felt like we did enough early to put them to the sword a bit,” he said.
“We knew they were never going to go away, but it was a nail-biter towards the end there, they were coming home pretty hard.”
Player of the match honours went to Kangaroos halfback Gustowski, whose afternoon was highlighted by a try that ultimately proved to be the difference in securing the premiership.
Pike said his number seven had a “solid” game, and played his role as a director alongside five-eighth Diezel Watson well.
“I asked both our halves just to be directors on the day and let our middles take control, which they did,” he said.
“They just kicked the ball high and gave our back rowers and outside backs a chance to chase the ball and work them over in defence.
“Kobe came up with a clutch play down the sideline from dummy half, and I felt like he nearly broke their back down the sideline with that play when he went three-quarters of the length of the field to score a try.”
Aside from the match itself, one highlight of the under 18s competition this season has been the dominance of the three Wagga Wagga clubs, with the Roos and Brothers facing off in the big dance, while Southcity was eliminated in the preliminary final.
Pike said the strong performances of the Wagga clubs this season, which he labelled “good for the game” in the city, stems from the fact that the three teams supplied a large percentage of the players to the Riverina Bulls’ Laurie Daley Cup representative side in the pre-season.
“I reckon between Brothers, Southcity and Kangaroos made up the fair majority of that Riverina Bulls side, so the game in Wagga itself is in pretty good hands I feel,” he said.
“I guess it will be interesting to see how many of them play on, the older guys, and continue and make their mark in the seniors of Group 9.
“I’d like to hope that most of them will play on and continue their career.”
The victory also saw Kangaroos gain redemption for last season’s heartbreaking grand final loss to Cootamundra.
WAGGA KANGAROOS 28 (Jameson Elliott, Max Oliver, Jedd Wardman, Murray Baker, Kobe Gustowski tries; Tyler Cunneen 4 goals) DEFEATED WAGGA BROTEHRS 24 (Xavier Williams-Byers, Logan Foster, Jett Putland, Riley Ivanku, Oliver Kimber tries; Jones Russell 2 goals) at Geohex Park, Sunday September 20.
