PREMIERS Dungowan proved that last year was no fluke, again bringing a previously unbeaten Kootingal unstuck to really open the table up in a very tight Second Division season.
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Second-rower Clint Ridley was at his best for the game and would have been unlucky not to top the tackle count and run metres after a very busy match.
The hosts outscored the visitors three tries to two but where the Cowboys really won it was their defence, especially on the line, with Ridley cutting down the big men all day with textbook tackles and a few big hits in a game with plenty of feeling.
“There was plenty of niggle out there from the start,” Ridley said.
“It was a bit scrappy but our first 15 minutes was pretty good considering how stop-start it was.”
After mostly playing lock last year, Ridley is loving being back in the second row, and running off Matt Wilson on the Cowboy’s dangerous left edge.
Centre Mitch Brown and winger Ethan Sherlock make up the outside backs on that side, combining well to score the winning try in a game that was mostly fought in the middle.
“We work on that edge with Wilson a lot,” Ridley said.
“I got a lot of runs and metres in the middle and I love running off Matt.”
“Zander (Smith), Dylan (O’Brien) and Fergs (Shaun Ferguson are new on the other side but coming together well.”
Dummy half Lochie Collins was also good on the weekend, getting quick plays of the ball in tough conditions which earnt him one point from the referees.
Ridley picked up all three awards for the first time in his career, as well as earning the praise of coach Luke Taylor.
He tallied three points from the referee, as well as three points from the club and players’ player in the sheds.
“He (Ridley) was far and away the best on the field,” Taylor said.
“His work rate is phenomenal – he must have taken 30 hit-ups at least.”
The hard-working back-rower is in his second year at the club, after previously playing for West Lions and sitting out a year.
He was joined in the premiership last year by his older brother Corey, who came off the bench on Saturday along with younger brother Kyle, who has just signed up this season.
“It is great to play with them,” Ridley said.
“There is always that brotherly rivalry though.”
With six sets of brothers and a father-son duo on the books this season, there is bound to be plenty of rivalry at Dungowan.