In-form Bendemeer’s transformation from pauper to prince is incomplete, says their coach Paul Craig.
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Last year’s winless wooden spooners remained in second place on the Group 4 Second Division ladder, and made it four straight wins, after defeating a red-hot Uralla 32-28 at Bendemeer on Saturday.
But Craig hopes the best is yet to come for the Mountain Men.
“Again, we’ve still got a lot to work on,” he said.
“It isn’t the time of the season to be peaking and playing great football.
“We’ll try and save our great football and fine-tune our game for the end of the year.”
Still, Craig acknowledged that the side was well placed with two months of regular season footy left.
Most importantly, he said his players now believed in themselves. “A lot of the boys are very confident in their game, and confident in each other as well, which is a big positive,” he said.
Craig hailed the performance of fullback Adam Ruttley against Uralla, who were going for six consecutive wins.
For the third straight game, Ruttley bagged a try hat-trick and the referee’s three points.
“In a [2016 Bendemeer] side that struggled to match other sides, he was a standout in every game,” Craig said. “This year he’s got other good footballers around him and he can play a great game off the back of them.”
In other games, Werris Creek crushed Bingara 80-12, Manilla edged Walcha 40-32, Bundarra beat Dungowan 30-22 and Barraba downed Boggabri 22-12.