Recap

Dirty Reds continue to lead the way

The competition-leading Goulburn Worker’s Club Dirty Reds have retained their spot on the top of the ladder after a one-sided but uninspiring 46-0 win against East Canberra.

With just one win under their belt, Easts were expected to be a beatable opponent, but that may have been part of the problem as the Reds made hard work of it at times.

Goulburn got off to a positive start, posting four tries within the first twenty minutes – two of those to Connor Ferguson in only his second first grade match.

Until that stage, the Reds seemed to have their mojo and were clinical and enthusiastic.

But the momentum slowly ground to a halt, bogging down at the breakdown. Goulburn struggled to dominate at the contest and seemed flat in attack for the second section of the first half and led 24-0 at the break.

Back on deck for the second half, and Henry Cooper added a try five minutes in but it was difficult to build momentum with Easts infringements mounting up. Two Easts players were shown yellow cards, in the 47^th and 50^th minutes, and tries ensued to Jordan Lees and Matt Spratley, and later to Jordan Wilcox.

But there was an unusually high incidence of dropped ball and handling errors throughout the second half cruelling what could have been a higher score.

Despite the convincing scoreline, coach and players alike agreed it was anything but a convincing performance and one which would have seen them struggle against a stronger side.

Though typically keen to focus on the positives, while congratulating the team on the win Coach Ben Pearson also emphasised that this was a long way short of the level they needed to maintain their position in the competition, and that this was a warning call for the areas of their game that have slipped.

Matt Spratley’s two tries takes his season tally to 18 – three tries short of the club record for most tries in a year held by Mik Webber. Also scoring a pair were Jordan Lees and Connor Ferguson.

Best and fairest points went to Mik Webber (3), Jordan Lees (2) and Brad Muddiman (1) with Lees also voted Players Player.

Goulburn 46 (Connor Ferguson 2, Matt Spratley 2, Jordan Lees 2, Henry Cooper, Jordan Wilcox tries, Mik Webber 3 conversions) bt Easts 0.

The Men’s teams have next weekend off and will play away against Gungahlin the following week.

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Dirty Twos match fitness run against invitational Easts

The Dirty Twos played a “friendly” non-competition match against what appeared to be an invitational fourth grade side.

Having formed after the start of the season, Easts fourths play games that aren’t for competition points against teams that have the bye, and in the middle of two club byes the Dirty Twos used to opportunity for match fitness.

The bigger, faster Easts players dominated Goulburn, and if their players aren’t playing for higher grade Canberra clubs they should be. Michael McKillop scored a try for Goulburn and Grant Mooney converted.

Easts scored 54-7 in the friendly but, as a non-competition match, Goulburn retained the competition points for the bye.

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