WEE WAA Panthers overwhelmed Gunnedah in a slashing second half performance at Kitchener Park, Gunnedah yesterday to retain a three way share of second place on the Hazelton Cup first grade premiership table.
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The Panthers, down to 11 men at one stage, led a determined Bulldogs 20-12 at half-time but then ran away with the game for a 52-22 win.
They also played most of the second half short a man after winger Wade Mallinson was sent off early. Then Jarred Hetherington spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin as well.
Wee Waa centre Matt Hogan said the Panthers actually played better with 11 and 12 men on the field in the second half.
“Lee gave us a bit of a rev up at half-time for not sticking to the game plan,” Hogan said.
“Then we had Wade sent off and Jarred sin-binned and were down to 11 men at one stage. But that’s when we played our best.
Gunnedah coach David McCann was confident at half time.
“I thought we were a good chance at half-time,” he said.
“I thought our condition was a little bit better than theirs and all we had to to was complete our sets of six and get a 50 per cent share of the ball. We never managed to that… just gave too much ball back in the second half. Our defence was skinny in broken play as well. All in all it was a real disappointing half of football. We’re just letting ourselves down.”
Gunnedah had Northern Division representatives Peter Ryman and Troy Stone backing up but Ryman only played the first 40 after clashing heads with a team-mate.
Bulldog second rower Shea Sheridan stood out for Gunnedah with prop Sean Torrens.
“Dicko Turner saw a bit more ball today and Jamie Lucas is something of a Mr Consistency for us,” McCann said.
“Justin Fisher also did some good things in his first game back.”
McCann said Wee Waa centres Hogan and Tom Wilson created plenty of problems for his side with their dangerous running.
“Ant Saddler had his normal solid game too,” he said.
“He’s nothing flash but smashes it up all the time and it takes two or three defenders to drag him down.”
Hogan said he, Wilson and the rest of the backline “enjoyed ourselves”.
“We had a bit of fun out wide,” he said.
Hogan said five-eighth Matt Evans had a strong game while Lee Stanford, Tony Reynolds and Greg Madden also played well.
“I thought Lee had his best game of the season,” he said.
HAZELTON CUP GROUP 4 TABLES
Unofficial
First grade: West Lions 10, Moree 8, North Tamworth 8, Wee Waa 8, Coonabarabran 4, Werris Creek 2, Gunnedah 0, Narrabri 0.
Reserve grade: Moree 10, North Tamworth 8, Wee Waa 7, Werris Creek 5, West Lions 4, Coonabarabran 2, Narrabri 2, Gunnedah 2.
Under 18s: North Tamworth 9, West Lions 8, Narrabri 7, Moree 6, Coonabarabran 6, Werris Creek 4, Gunnedah 2.
Under 16s: West Lions 8, Farrer 8, Wee Waa 6, Coonabarabran 4, Gunnedah 4, Werris Creek 4, North Tamworth 2, Narrabri 0.
