The first thing that probably went through the minds of many people when they saw Gunnedah had pipped Collegian 34-28 at Jack Woolaston Oval on Saturday was this: it must be a mistake.
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No mistake, people. The minnows of the Group 4 First Division, a team routinely dispatched with ridiculous ease, almost beat a team who last week planted a flag staking a claim for the premiership with a 42-22 win over the previously undefeated Narrabri.
It was an individual piece of brilliance that sunk the Warriors. With the score locked at 28-all and just over a minute on the clock, Bulldogs hooker Callum Hayne went from dummy half near the halfway line and dissected the field to score.
Hayne’s father, first-year Bulldogs coach Sean Hayne, said Collegian were the better side and deserved to win. “In all honesty, they played better than us,” he said. “They wanted it more. They turned up with a better attitude.”
Warriors coach Mick Schmiedel attributed his side’s best performance of the year “by a mile” to self-belief.
“I give full credit to our guys,” he said. “They went into the game believing they could win. I asked them before the game whether they could win and they said, ‘Yes’. Sometimes that’s half the battle.”
After beating fellow strugglers Wee Waa last week to record their first win of the season after a series of disastrous results, Collegian are suddenly, inexplicably, looking somewhat respectable.
Schmiedel rightfully said it was premature to call the Bulldogs result a turning point for the Warriors, now in their fourth season in the league, but added: “It will be a turning point in respect to our belief – that we’re capable of pushing the big sides.
“We’re still a long way off winning competitions or even making semi-finals. Our aim at the moment, as it has been the last three years, is to try and be competitive with all teams in the competition. In four years the only team we haven’t been competitive with is North Tamworth. That’s the aim at the moment – to give them a good competitive game.”
With wind now filling previous limp sails, Schmiedel is disappointed the Warriors have to wait a fortnight for their next assignment, reigning premiers North Tamworth, because of the June long weekend. The Queen is messing with the Warriors’ momentum. Bad Elizabeth.
“I’m not a fan of byes and weekends off. It can ruin momentum,” Schmiedel said. “I’m not saying we’ll come out and beat Norths by any stretch of the imagination. But it would have been nice to push Gunnedah and come up against Norths (the following week) and know where we’re at.”
