DYLAN Lake might be just 68kg but the 19-year-old plasterer doesn’t let that lightness worry him in such a brutal body-bashing sport as rugby league.
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He loves it.
And while he might get thrown around like a rag doll at times, he uses his weight and speed to his advantage, making him such a hard target for opposing defenders to grab hold of, let alone tackle.
So far this season Lake has scored seven tries, two against Narrabri in the first round, four more against Oxley Diggers and then the matchwinner against North Tamworth in Saturday’s 30-28 third-round win.
It also earned him his first three-point reward in The Northern Daily Leader-sponsored Group 4 Player of the Year Award.
He’s been executing brilliant attacking plays for a while for the Lions, ever since he started in the Under 16s, graduated through the Under 18s and into the senior ranks.
“We had a tough year last year,” he recalled.
“But we’ve picked up a few players this year. We have a few more experienced players.”
The likes of Matt Nean, who snared the two points in the best and fairest on Saturday to go to the top of the B&F table with five points, Chris Vidler and Kyle Cochrane have returned to the Lions.
Together they produced enough ammunition to win the first of three battles with reigning premiers North Tamworth before the semi-finals.
“That was a very tough win,” Lake said of Saturday’s two-point success.
“We stuck it out to the end, until the 80th minute.”
Lake’s fleetness of foot is a natural talent he uses to attack and defend with in a game he loves.
“I do love playing footie,” he said with a big smile.
“It’s my second job.
“We’ve got a young side too but it’s about time us young blokes stepped up too.”
He said the likes of Tom Hine, Nean and Cochrane all had big games on Saturday.
“Yum Yum (Cochrane) is going real good. He’s a big impact player, great for the team.”
While Lake polled the three points in the West-North battle, Gunnedah fullback Aaron Donnelly handed in an outstanding display for the Gunnedah Bulldogs in their 46-34 win over Oxley Diggers in Gunnedah on Sunday.
They were his first points of the G4 season while captain-coach Trent Hilton snared a point to move to outright second on the table behind Nean.
Oxley Digger pivot Chris Hunt received the two points after a fine effort for his embattled Diggers who overcame two big floggings to start the season with a much better effort at Kitchener Park on Sunday.
