Dev Makoare-Boyce scans the defence.
The Wagga Kangaroos lived up to their namesake over the weekend, making a nuisance of themselves in a close 18-16 win over the Young Cherrypickers. Young looked good early, opening up to an early lead, but ultimately lack of squad depth proved to be a killer as the Roos called upon their predominantly healthy bench to help them get over the line in the Grand Final rematch.
Though Young missed out on the two points, a lot of positives can be taken from the tight loss to the currently undefeated Wagga side, with the team being a better day on conversions away from breaking Roos’s hearts once again.
Cherrypickers President Andrew Smith found things to build off following the game, and expects the team to bounce back against Tumut this weekend, “It was a clash of the titans, extremely physical. We’ve had a few issues with not starting games well this season, but we certainly turned that around. We started well, were on top of them, came into half-time and it was just moments that the Kangaroos came back at us, and scored a couple of tries and got over us.”
“Jake Kambos was excellent. He’s back in his position, as that sort of edge back-rower. He scored a good try; any time he runs the ball, he’s just 110% all in.
“C.J. Hill, our new signing, was excellent at the back. He’s certainly only going to get better once he gels in with the team more.
“In the forwards Che Hyslop was excellent. He did a mountain of defence played the full 80 minutes and had some good carries as well.
“We will field a very similar team to the one we did against Wagga when we play Tumut. Boro Navori came off with a bit of a hamstring injury, we’ll just monitor him, hopefully, he’s just pulled it and he’s not too far away. He’ll be touch and go for the Tumut game.
“We nearly had Jayke Hogan back against Roos, but he wasn’t quite ready, so I dare say he’ll be back against Tumut.
“As far as the rest of the guys that will be it, the rest are all long-term, they’re going to be the end of the year before we’re even thinking of putting them back in the park.
“One positive is we’ve walked away with the Challenge Cup still in our possession. It’s a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t kind of thing. The last two games that we’ve held the Cup, we’ve lost both games, it’s a bittersweet sort of thing, but we’ve still got it.
“We had a 12.5 start against Roos and then lost by two. In the Temora game, we had a 2.5 start and lost by two. It’s just the curse of the two points, two games in a row.
“I’m thinking we will be favourites against Tumut at around the 12.5 mark. It’s hard to tell. They have us 12 and a half against Kangaroos and I didn’t expect that. It throws a bit of a talking point around it.
“When Junee had it (the Cup) they gave Brothers a 20-point start or something, even though most thought, Junee are going to put 40 or 50 on them and they did put 50 on them.
“Kangaroos are the benchmark by far. They are a very good side. They are similar to us in the way they play their footy, in the way they control the game, they’ve got some big middles, kick long and just try and bash, which is pretty much our game too.
“Hopefully we can bag a few wins together and get those points up and get points on the ladder to get into that top four.That’s where you need to be, you can’t be outside the top four without those two byes on offer at the end of the year.
“We just need to build some injury-free momentum. “Last year we barely had any injuries, we were a very consistent footy side. This year we have just been ravaged, which is similar to what Roos was last year. Roos went through a similar thing to us and got ravaged with injuries but got players back at the end of the year. Once we get towards the end of the season we get Tommy Demeio back, that’ll be huge.
“You just have to try and be consistent and win those games that you should be winning. The last three games we’ve lost were combined by 12 points the last three games, it was eight first then two points, and then two points.
“We’re not in a bad position. We haven’t been playing good footy and we’re still bang up there with those sides. Once we get that good consistent footy going, we’ll certainly rock a few boats.”
Elsewhere in Group 9, the Gundagai Tigers came back to beat a brave South City Bulls side, Junee just got the better of Cootamundra, Temora and Albury couldn’t find a winner after 80 minutes sharing the points 22-22, and Tumut were too strong for the winless Wagga Brothers.
Group 9 Draw Saturday, June 21 – Sunday June 22. Gundagai Tigers vs Junee Diesels. Albury Thunder vs Wagga Kangaroos. Young Cherrypickers vs Tumut Blues Sunday 2:35 pm Alfred Oval. Wagga Brothers vs South City Bulls. Cootamundra Bulldogs vs Temora Dragons.
Group 9 Ladder.
1. Wagga Kangaroos, 16pts, 240.
2. Gundagai Tigers, 12pts, 80.
3. Temora Dragons, 11pts, 118.
4. Tumut Blues, 11pts, -4.
5. Young Cherrypickers, 8pts, 122.
6. Albury Thunder, 8pts, 52.
7. Junee Diesels, 6pts, -82.
8. South City Bulls, 4pts, -70.
9. Cootamundra Bulldogs, 4pts, -76.
10. Wagga Brothers, 0pts, -38
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