A-Grade V’s Como Round 1

Won – 48-12

Welcome to our first report for the season and I’m pleased to let you know that we not only got off to a good start for the season in A-Grade, but also had good wins in both A-Reserves and our Under 20’s squad seeing convincing wins in all three grades. For A-grade though, we took on Como-Jannali on their home turf in front of a vocal crowd and a very warm sunny afternoon.

Today’s game was always going to be a good test for our side as with no pre season trials up our sleeves and a number of new players slotting into key positions, our Coach Aaron Palmer had quite a bit to take into consideration leading into this game. It wasn’t long though before any concerns he may have had were put to bed when Matt Stubbs crossed over within the first 5 minutes of the game after a nice line break and off load from Chris Wood. After some brilliance in the first 10 minutes of the game we did have a moment s laps letting Como over and converting levelling the scores to 6 all. It’s about here though where things changed and you would have been hard pressed thinking that this was the first run this side has had together, let alone taking on another side. One of our new recruits Jack Fairhall had an absolute blinder playing five-eight. Jack teamed up well with Chris Wood seeing the pair of them instrumental in a number of the tries scored today and comes to defence, neither of these guys could be accused of taking it easy out there.

As in previous years, both Nathan Bullock and Scott Nancarrow had very solid games up front as did Ben Leahy and Kirt Ridley off the bench. Scott in particular seemed to be involved in just about every play around the paddock today which is why I guess he got the 2 points award from the players, player. In any side you always wish for a good kicker and we are fortunate enough to have Mitch Neylan back within our side and his results today of successfully converting 8 from 8 goals speaks for itself.

Last year we were fortunate to have Matt Stubbs come down from Bosco to play within our A-grade squad and anyone who read my reports or who was fortunate to see this young guy play would know how much of an asset he was to our side. Following last year’s season Newtown was quick to enter into discussions with Matt and we thought we had lost him. Well the good news is he is back to go another season with the Dragons and better still he has brought his brother along. Yes that is right, we now have two Stubbs and if a masterful try the pair of them put on in today’s game is anything to go by we are in for an entertaining season from these two.

In the wash up though this was a good result for our first competition game seeing our side stick to our game plan, making very few mistakes and completing our sets leaving Fats and the side happy with this result. Our next game is against Cronulla Caringbah and they have been talking up their side, so who knows what where in for but no doubt we will be ready. Your support at this game would be hugely appreciated and don’t forget Presentation back in the Clubhouse after the game.

Lastly I would just like to congratulate Dennis Marsh who in his last game for the Dragon reached the sensational milestone of playing 200 games for the Engadine Dragons. Well done mate and we look forward to seeing you play your next 200 games.

Tries:

X1 Pat Carr

X2 Matt Stubbs

X1 Andrew Johnston

X1 Chris Wood

X1 Jack Fairhall

X1 Regan Hyde

X1 Paul Smith

X1 Chris Woods

Goals:

X8 Mitch Neylan

Field Goal:

3-2-1- awards went as follows:

Chris Wood

Scott Nanacarrow

Jack Fairhall

Dinner Awards:

David Stubbs

Matt Stubbs

A-Reserve V’s St Joseph’s Round 1

Won – 26-4

The first hit-out for the rezzies was successful with a 26 to 4 win against St Joeys at Kareela. 

In the pre-game warm up Adam Jones told the team he wanted them to keep it simple, complete sets and play the game in the oppositions half. It took a while to get our act together and we took what seemed ages to get our first kick away to finish a set.

Nappa led the charge with some strong running and great offloads and was rewarded with a hard earned try. Dom played strongly taking the ball up and putting in some ferocious defence even though he played with a hamstring injury. Tyran was one of our best performers especially in attack along with Ebby who gave a classy performance playing at fullback. Jesse showed a clean pair of heels and was rewarded with two tries. Benny crossed the stripe with some smart work from dummy half on the line and Dan made some good hit ups, was one of our best defenders and also scored a four pointer. It was a good team effort in attack and we defended very well in the second half to keep Joeys scoreless. If we can learn to treat the ball with a bit more respect and get to the full five tackles and a kick away we can look forward to more wins.

The ‘Package’

3 Viliam Napa’a

2 Dominic Paranihi

1 Tyran Hall

Players player award: Kain Ebb   

Beer awards: Benny Cotton and Michael Warren

A-Grade V’s Cronulla-Caringbah Round 2

Won – 18-0

Playing his 250 game for the Dragons today was Nathan Bullock (Ritto) and rightly so he led our side out onto the park for our first home game of the season. Congratulation mate on reaching such a great milestone and I look forward to reporting on the day you reach 500 games.  

Congratulations also to Chris Wood who has been voted in a Club Captain for the 2011 season. Chris is a well liked member around the club always willing to help out where required and we wish Chris every success in his role as Club Captain. 

We enjoyed a very good win today against Cronulla-Caringbah in what was some very wet conditions putting our lads to the test. And walking away 18-0 Victors, they proved that they are very capable of playing wet footy and in-particular how well they play as a team always talking and sticking to the game plan. It was our Big Guy’s that led the way today, both defensively and in attack seeing some big metres made by Nathan Bullock, Scott Nancarrow and Regan Hyde. Defensively it was encouraging seeing how well we scrambled together as a team when the opposition is on our line and looking every bit ready to cross over.  But in the end the plan was to kick deep into the opposition’s territory and tackle our way to victory and this is what the guys did so well. 

We won the toss and took the uphill run and it wasn’t long before we were awarded a penalty right in front of the post seeing Mitch get our first point for the afternoon. It wasn’t long after that the ever illusive Matt Stubbs went about teasing the opposition with one of his classic catch me if you can runs, eventually seeing him offload a beautifully well timed pass to a full paced James Andrew up the left wing resulting in our first try for the afternoon (James eventually bagged two tries for the afternoon). Mitch Neylan took the conversion at goal and was successful but I feel this particular kick should get a wrap as he kicked from the sideline with driving rain coming down and a head wind blowing in his face.  Further points today came from a well timed intercepted pass by Pat Carr followed by a 50 metre run that would have seen a V8 Super Car struggling to catch him. Today also seen the return of one of the best ball boys a team could get with Bailey Ferguson braving the wet conditions to stand beside the squad on the sideline ever ready to run the kicking tee out, or offer advice on how he sees the game going. Good on you Champ from all your team mates! 

Big thanks from all the A-Grade squad to the supporters that came down and braved out the weather to cheer our side to victory and we hope you enjoyed the win as much as we did.

Tries:

X1  Pat Carr sponsored by Aquinas Colts

X2 James Andrew sponsored by Micks Quality Family Meat

Goals:

X3 Mitch Neylan sponsored by Absent Rubbish Removals

Field Goal:

3-2-1- awards went as follows:

Nathan Bullock sponsored by Kwick and Easy Vending

Scott Nanacarrow sponsored by KJ Flint bricklaying

Regan Hyde sponsored by Jet Building Services

Dinner Awards:

Andrew Johnston sponsored by Epic Plumbing Solutions

Mitch Neylan sponsored by Absent Rubbish Removals

A Reserve V’s Menai Round 2

This week the rezzies took on Menai at Anzac. We looked good while in possession and had some really good passages of play but had all sorts of trouble when we turned over the ball. Realistically Menai outplayed us all over the park but we gave them too many opportunities with cheap turnover of the ball. Our best performers on the day were Steve Ring, Dan Brubaker and Michael Warren. Unfortunately we lost Ben Leah with a torn hamstring and his strong running and defence was sorely missed. Ben Cotton also had to withdraw with injury and his dummy half play was missed. Not much more to say with the score line as it was, only that we have plenty of work to do to turn things around for our next game against arch rivals Bosco. Also we need better attendance at training, if you want to compete in this competition training is the glue that holds the thing together. Turning up on Sunday unprepared puts us on the back foot from the start of the contest.

Awards went to Dan Brubaker, Steve Ring and Michael Warren.

Steve Ring won the players player award

Logan McLinchy and Cameron Ring won the beer awards

The Package