Charlie Corcoran looking to play-make out of dummy-half.
The Young Cherrypickers have found themselves in unfamiliar territory after back-to-back losses have the reigning premiers teetering on the edge of the finals. The Cherrypickers have plenty of excuses for their recent downturn in form, with the likes of Tom Demeio, Jayke Hogan, and Johnny Mitzier as well as others missing significant time in 2025 and most importantly recent must win matches against top opposition.
Still Young were gritty against the Temora Dragons, going down in a 24-22 nail-biter. The long weekend bye comes at a good time for Young, who will hope to rest a few niggles before a grand final rematch against the Wagga Kangaroos.
The Kangaroos are seven from seven.
Young President Andrew Smith saw plenty of positives from his side.
“It was very close. There was a bit of a gap there until probably the last 15 minutes when we started to work our way back. In the end, we couldn’t quite get there, unfortunately.”
“We’re already missing Jayke Hogan and Tom Demeio from the previous game against Junee, but Dev (Makoare-Boyce), he went down with about 10 minutes to go with a hamstring issue and there were a couple of other little minor bumps and bruises, so in a bit of an injury crisis at the moment.
“It’s part and parcel of football, we were pretty lucky last year with having it pretty clean injury-wise, but this year we’ve had a pretty horrid run and we’re just drawing on that depth in amongst the club to fill the spots and we’ve got guys playing out of position at the moment, as soon as the guys get healthy, it’d be pretty positive to get them back in there.
“The bye is going to do us a lot of justice. Having Roos as our next opponents, and then we’re on to Tumut from there. We’ve got a tough run ahead of us before we get back into that second half of the season. But we had a fairly light start for the year with playing some teams in the lower half of the ladder besides Albury, they’re a good side, but we are stringing a few of the tougher teams together and we just need to get back on in that winning circle.
“We’ll always be fielding our best team, no matter who we are playing. You look at the Junee game where we were expected to win, but you just can never take them teams for granted. We started the year as being the team to chase and everyone that plays us has put a target on us and they always lift against us, so we’ve always got to put those best sides on the field, so barring injury, everyone will be playing.
“We’re hopeful Devon’s (Makoare-Boyce) injury is nothing too serious. We’re hoping he’s just pulled his hamstring, but he’s a pretty tough character, so there could be a slight tear in it.
Until he gets some scans there, we’ll be unsure of that one, but fingers crossed, it’s only minor.
“They were just very fit; fit and fast side. We sort of struggled to get a bit of a moment there at the start of the game. But once Temora started to tire a bit, we started to get on top.”
There were a few bad refereeing decisions that didn’t help Young’s cause.
“Temora has had good form since the start. They’re a very, very consistent side. That’s always tough playing Temora at home, whether you’re on top of the ladder or on the bottom of the ladder, it’s always a tough contest going there.
“We are monitoring Jayke Hogan. His initial fears have been missing for quite a few weeks. It’s looking positive, so we’re hoping to get him right for the Roos game, if he’s not 100% right, obviously, he won’t play that game, but we are certainly hoping to get him back. As far as the other guys here, Tom Demeio is looking at 10 weeks on the sideline, unfortunately, he had surgery on his thumb, but so far, it’s Jayke we are hoping to get back.
“We will also be looking at Johnny to be back towards the end of the season as well. His foot is coming along pretty well. We’re going to get guys back at the back end, we’ve just got to ride out those rounds and toughen our footy up and keep in touch with those top two, three, four sides.
“Johnny was a recruit and he was going well, and unfortunately did his ligaments in his ankle, in his foot, so had to have surgery, but he got in straight away and he’s rehabbing and we’re hoping to have him for the last three rounds, fingers crossed it all goes well and nothing happens.
“That happened in the game against Albury, the second game of the season. He had a good pre-season and played well in the first two rounds and just the football gods weren’t on our side or his.
“They’ll be a really good injection come finals time, so to speak, to have those two guys back. Tommy Demeio is probably in the top three best players in the competition. Every second week or every week, it seems like he’s he’s kicking multiple 40/20s. It’s his presence as well, he just bleeds energy and holds everyone accountable.
He’s a really good leader in the side along with his playing abilities.”
Elsewhere in Group 9, the Albury Thunder were quick to fire like Billy the Kid in a shootout win vs the Junee Diesels, the Cootamundra Bulldogs were too good for the South City Bulls picking up their second win for the season, Gundagai flogged the Wagga Brothers and the Wagga Kangaroos left the Tumut Blues wondering where it all went wrong.
Group 9 Ladder.
1. Wagga Kangaroos, 14pts, 238.
2. Temora Dragons, 10pts, 118.
3. Gundagai Tiger, 10pts, 72.
4. Tumut Blues, 9pts, -26.
5. Young Cherrypickers, 8pts, 124.
6. Albury Thunder, 7pts, 52.
7. South City Bulls, 4pts, -62.
8. Cootamundra Bulldogs, 4pts, -74.
9. Junee Diesels, 4pts, -84.
10. Wagga Brothers, 0pts, -358
-Tully Potts
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