THE Tumut Blues had a day to forget against the Junee Diesels at Laurie Daley Oval on Saturday, the depleted first grade side suffering their biggest loss of the season, 54-12.
As has happened frequently in recent weeks, the Blues started well but were later overwhelmed.
Captain-coach Zac Masters, who did not play due to a back injury, said the Blues put in a pretty good effort for the first 20 minutes, but then Junee, who he said had improved since the two teams last met, ran away with it.
“In the first 20 minutes we held them out the whole time, but five or six calls went against us, and we finally broke,” Masters said.
“We were missing so much experience,” he said, in reference to the absence of Lewis Arragon, Kyle Danilczak, Lochlan McGill and himself.
He felt the referee didn’t make it easy for Tumut, especially with the mounting pressure in defence.
“I was pretty filthy to be honest,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of young blokes out there tackling their guts out, but they can’t do it all game.”
It wasn’t all bad news for Tumut, as they mounted a mini-fightback in the second half, with Shay Thomas and Trae King scoring tries. Unfortunately this was snuffed out.
“They (Junee) got a seven tackle set and a penalty, and got to the other end and scored, and that was the nail in the coffin.”
Masters said Jordan Anderson, who captained the side in his absence and played his 104th game for the club, was by far the Blues’ best player.
“The usual suspects like Malik Aitken played well and Chris Hartshorn played well.”
Masters said his players were disappointed after the game, but he provided a positive slant for them.
“I spoke to them and said this was a good opportunity for a taste of first grade,” he said.
“If they aspire to this for the future, they know what they’ve got to do.”
The Blues face the Southcity Bulls in Wagga next weekend.
“That will be another tough test but we should have a few players back,” Masters said.
This will include Lewis Arragon, who will be available on and off for the rest of the season (four matches) due to work commitments.
Unfortunately the Blues’ reserve grade team had to forfeit their match due to only nine players being available. The Tumut Bulls, for which several of the Blues reserve graders play, were in action at the same time, further depleting the team.
The Blues League Taggers lost 18-16 to Junee, with a Kate Foley goal proving the difference. Sharlie Thomas, Demi Sturt and Sophie Day scored tries for the Blues.
Blues coach Courtney Barratt said it was a disappointing loss but the Tumut girls played really well.
“I couldn’t have asked for more from them; everyone gave 100 per cent but things didn’t go our way,” she said.
“We had the majority of the possession but couldn’t capitalise on it. It will have us more fired up for the match against Southcity.”
