Group 4: Werris Creek Magpies defeat North Tamworth Bears after Tickle injury

After today's first grade game between the Werris Creek Magpies and North Tamworth Bears, Dave Stewart was under no illusions about what motivated his side.

The Magpies co-coach spoke to the Leader after their 22-14 win over the Bears in Werris Creek today.

And while the victory was pleasing for the Werris Creek fans, players, and coaching staff, captain-coach Cody Tickle clearly dominated their thoughts.

The forward, who Stewart described as "a massive part of the club", was badly injured on the verge of half time. During an aggressive run in an attempt to score, Tickle was brought to ground by several North Tamworth defenders.

But when they stood, he stayed down, groaning in agony.

Tickle had dislocated his left hip amid the chaos, and was quickly tended to by the trainers.

Half time was called, with the Bears four points in front, and a half-hour intermission ensued while Tickle was treated and the paramedics travelled from Quirindi.

When the match resumed, Werris Creek came out with fire in their eyes, wanting more than anything to get the win for their downed leader.

"They responded in bucketloads today, especially after the injury to Cody," Stewart said.

"He's a major part of the leadership in this club, and for them to respond the way they did in the second half was an unbelievable effort."

The Magpies scored two unanswered tries in the last 40 minutes of the game, in what Stewart described as "one of the best wins I've seen at this ground in a long time".

At the time of the interview, Stewart had no further details to share about Tickle's injury, but confirmed that it would end the lock's season.

North Tamworth coach, Paul Boyce, offered words of support to Tickle and the Magpies following the game.

"I'm not going to take anything away from Werris Creek, they played extremely well," Boyce said.

"We hope Cody's all right. They had to get over the shock of that, and they did that, and our blokes didn't respond."

Boyce was unequivocal in assessing his side's effort, and said it was a "disgusting" match from the Bears.

"We've got a lot of issues with our game, and we certainly need to improve in a lot of areas," he said.

"If we don't fix it soon, we might find ourselves missing out on finals."

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