NORTH Tamworth’s Zac Russ and West Lions’ Tom Hine polled three pointers in The Northern Daily Leader Group 4 Player of the Year Award on Sunday and moved up to six points on the table.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The pair now sit four points behind leader Chris Vidler in an award that is hotting up.
They are in equal eighth with West Tamworth fullback Dylan Lake.
Between them and Vidler lie some handy players – Chris Hunt, Matt Nean, Scott Blanch, Lachlan Cameron (who polled the two points against West Lions on Sunday), Sam Sadler and Norths prop Bill Jeffery.
Some had eventful days on Sunday, Hunt spending 10 minutes in the bin for a second-half disagreement with Russ, Blanch terrorising Oxley Diggers with some astute runs and passes from dummy half and Jeffery keeping it tight for the Bears in their suffocating 46-nil win over the Diggers.
Bear captain-coach Russ was delighted to not only win Sunday’s clash with the Diggers but receive the three points.
He had crossed for two good tries in his side’s nine-try effort.
“That’s great,” he said after being advised of the refereeing decisions.
“I was a bit iffy coming into this game with an ankle so it was good to get back into it.
“We had plenty of good players too and had a few boys filling in too.
“We had two boys out of the Under 18s, Cameron Howard and Patrick Lyons-Cain. They also played reserve grade.
Then Jay (Steven) Graham played a full game of reserve grade for us and then first grade too and Lukey Byrnes also played both.”
Damien Berry also played reserve grade and came into first grade, toeing a loose ball through to regather and produce one of the best 10-point dives seen at Jack Woolaston Oval for a while.
He also became embroiled in a late scuffle that showed his featherweight boxing might be better suited for the gym before spending the last few minutes in the sin bin.
It was a thrilling day for the 54kg jockey-sized youngster.
