Moree Boomerangs reserve grade side proved their dominance during Sunday’s Group 19 grand finals, with a big win against rivals Narwan Eels to claim their fifth straight premiership.
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The Boomerangs managed to pull off a 36-point victory against the Eels in what was their eighth consecutive grand final match, a testament to their strength according to Moree Boomerangs president Mitch Johnson.
“They’re a strong side, they’ve been in the grand final every year for the past eight years, so they’re a solid outfit,” he said.
“A lot of blokes in there would probably play at A grade in other clubs, so they’re always hard to beat.
“There’s some guys in that team now that have played eight grand finals straight. They’ve got the young blokes coming through with them, so they’re a really hard side to crack.
“They came away with a 30-odd point plus victory, so that’s a big win in a grand final, but as I said, they’re a great side and to be in eight grand finals in a row has got to be a record somewhere.”
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The Boomerangs got off to an early lead with a try by Hayden McGrady, converted by Anthony Robinson. However the Eels were hot on their Eels, evening the score to 6-all.
Two more tries and a conversion by the Rangs brought the score 16-6 at the end of the first half.
The Rangs’ dominance shone through in the second half as they ran away with the match, not only scoring an impressive five tries but preventing the Eels from putting another point on the board.
The final score was 42-6.
“They just showed how dominant they’ve been in that competition for a while now,” Johnson said.
“They took full advantage, they were up about 10 points at half time, so I always thought they’d have the speed and the endurance and they’ve done a lot of fitness work, so I thought they’d come home strong in the last 20.
“They piled on four tries in the last 20 minutes, so it just showed they were on song today and that’s what it takes to win.”
Johnson said reserves’ centres were strong on Sunday, while the mix of experience and youth just adds to the dynamics.
“I thought Tristan Ward in the second row was really strong and Cracker out wide in the centres, he played a good game too,” he said.
“Again, we’ve got blokes there with a lot of experience, young Niffy Cope [Chris Copeland], he sort of runs around as captain of the side from time to time in the last few years, he played well at hooker.
“There’s just a good bunch of blokes there, we’ve got some older guys, Jeremy Smith playing up front and a lot of the younger guys coming through with speed like Zeke Dennis for fullback.
“It’s just a good well-rounded side, you’ve got the experience up front with a few older guys and then you’ve got the younger blokes and the youth and the speed coming through.”
Colin Hammond was named best on field.