Bendemeer coach Paul Craig’s despair at his side’s desperate four-point loss to Kootingal-Moonbi on the weekend took hold of him and he vented in a brief rant to himself as his exhausted charges mingled nearby.
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Craig – in his first season as the Mountain Men’s coach after retiring as a player for the club last season – had hyped the match up.
It was to have been third-placed Bendemeer’s chance to show the league community how much it had grown since 2016’s winless, desolate wooden spoon season.
You sensed beating the competition-leading Roosters in front of the Mountain Men faithful on the mountain, on the day the two clubs celebrated their traditional rivalry playing for the Ab Fisher Memorial Shield, would have served as Bendemeer’s coming out party, in a way.
A late penalty and a quick blindside play involving Roosters halfback Ryan Martin and hooker Joshua Crittenden that sent winger Tom Gould crashing over in the corner and the party was over – the final score 40-36.
Bendemeer’s chance to record their sixth win of the season and join the Roosters on 12 points was dangled in front of them and, as is the sports gods’ wont, yanked away.
Post-match, a forlorn Craig seemed to struggle to make sense of sports’ cruelty. But he drew comfort from the heart displayed by his players, and it seemed that the longer he spoke the more his words were reinforced by resolve.
“We like to win. That’s why we go out on the footy field,” he said. “I am disappointed. But, again, the boys stood up. They played real well. They dug deep and grinded.
“Kooty were the team to beat. And unfortunately we didn’t get them points today. But we get another shot at them later in the year and I’m sure we’ll do all right.
“(We’ve) come a long, long way. Some new footballers and just a fresh take on their football up here and they’re doing really well.”
An entertaining first half was highlighted by Bendemeer five-eighth Fletcher Tanner scoring two tries and Martin climbing high to catch a bomb from five-eighth Jordan Sharpe and then pirouetting and racing about 20 metres to score. Martin’s conversion made it 24-18.
Bendemeer fullback Harlee Millgate exemplified the fight shown by the Mountain Men, with his gritty four-pointer from close range making it 24-all at halftime.
That effort set in motion a trend that remained until the match-winner: Kooty scoring and Bendemeer replying.
Early in the second half, Rooster replacement forward Nicholas Allen, who looks like he would trample people to get to a buffet, sniffed a try and duly scored from close range.
Bendemeer responded with a bullocking try to replacement Dwight Millgate, before Crittenden and Sharpe worked a slick blindside play that resulted in Sharpe crossing.
Mountain Men halfback Adam Ruttley kept the tit-for-tat theme going when he took a tick tap and raced some 25 metres to score.
