Mitch Dening copped a bit of a "razzing" from his Marius Street Family Dental when he debuted at Scully Park on Saturday night.
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He was playing his first games in the Wests Entertainment Group 9's after being unavailable the first week.
His addition was a welcome boost for the Scott Blanch-skippered side as they followed up a 11-4 win over JT Fossey with a 23-6 demolition of Shay Brennan Constructions.
Dening was named Bottlemart Man Of The Match for his side's 17-point win over SBC, after which he received the Bronx cheers from his teammates for claiming the $100 Bottlemart voucher.
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That he was the first MSFD player to receive the man of the match was a source of irony for the side - after all it had won three of its four matches!
However, it might have been that the well-balanced side might have shared the workloads so evenly that there were no standouts in any of the four games.
Not that Dening worried too much.
He just grinned and sat down for a quick chat with the media.
"That's the most runs I've made in 18 months," the 26-year-old centre said.
A plant supervisor and labour co-ordinator for Baiada in Tamworth the former Kootingal centre won a Central North rugby premiership with Pirates in 2019, but if Group 4 is able to run a competition in 2021 is planning to link up again with the Roosters.
"They've got some good young kids running out there," he said.
The MSFD side also has "some good young kids" too and he's also glad to be playing with "some players I don't normally play with".
"I've never played with Blanchy (Scott Blanch) before," he said.
"Always played against him although he did coach me in the Group under-23's a while back."
"Getting to play with him is great, he's such a talented player."
Dening will need to be at his best this Saturday though for his new 9's side. Blanch and a few of the teammates will be missing for his bucks party.
BOTTLEMART MAN OF THE MATCH TABLE
6: Brenton Cochrane (Carey's Freight Lines), Mitch Doring (JT Fossey).
5: Sam Taylor (CFL).
3: Brayden Reid, Ben Williams (CFL), Cody Tickle, Dan Boland (Shay Brennan Constructions), Mitch Dening (Marius Street Family Dental).
2: Phil Beaton (CFL), Scott Blanch, Mitch Sheridan, Trent Taylor, Shuaib Rhodes-Swain (MSFD), Harlee Millgate (JTF).
1: Liam Ball (JTF), Daniel Jobson (SBC), Matt WIlson (MSFD).
