10th July 2022 Indigenous Round
Warilla Gorillas v Albion Park Oak-Flats Eagles
Author: Sophie Gleeson
This week was NAIDOC week, a week to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There was no better way to celebrate NAIDOC week, than Group 7 holding an Indigenous Round. I spoke with Tyrone Roberts who is a proud Dunghutti man about the importance of this round.
Tyrone said "Indigenous Round means alot to me, it's very important to show who we are and be recognised". I asked if there was anything he did differently to prepare himself for this game compared to others, he assured me all he wanted to do was "try and show some black magic". Tyrone is "hopeful that incorporating events like NAIDOC week will help give an insight into the culture". We were very fortunate to have Rick Pagett & Mark Mongta, two Indigenous men, who did Welcome to Country and played the Didgeridoo before the game. I wondered if we could do more in celeberating and acknowledging the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples during this round and after speaking to Tyrone, he believed a "smoking ceremony and dancers" would be a great inclusion.
The Gorillas took on 7th placed Albion Park Oak-Flats Eagles on Sunday at Cec Glenholmes Oval, in pretty average conditions. After a huge week of heavy rainfall, fortunately the ground held up well and we were able to fit the game in. For the whole 80 minutes of play, the rain couldn't make up it's mind, constantly stopping and starting.
Warilla started the game on fire when Fullback Justin Jones crashed over the line within the first two minutes of play. Jake Brisbane successfully converted and we were up 6-0. It didn't take long for Albion Park to get on the scoreboard, it was shifted out wide and offloaded to Centre Cooper Tunbridge who got the 4 points. After some great play in the middle, some 15 minutes later, Jake Brisbane dived over the line to cement a 12-4 lead to then convert his own.
25 minutes into the first half, Dane Nelson made a quick run and play the ball where it was in the hands of Lleyton Hughes. Hughes shifted the ball to Beau Henry and after a dummy or two, he found the line. After an unsuccessful coversion, the score was in favour of the Gorillas 16-4. The boys were hungry for more, the ball found Tyrone Roberts who made a huge linebreak. Unfortunately, he was taken over touch, but you could see things were only just starting to heat up. The boys headed off to the sheds at half time in a good position.
Albion Park did their best to get over the line early on in the second half but a huge try saving effort by Aaron Henry on the line, kept them scoreless. It felt like Doomsday when only two minutes later the Eagles were setting up a play close to the line, Jamie Burns had other plans, with a huge tackle on #4 Donte Efaraimo. Not only was Burns deadly in defence, within minutes he was crashing over the try line himself.
The score stood at 22-4 with 20 minutes to go in the second half, that was until Beau Henry put his foot to the ball, kicking across field to land just perfectly for winger Koziie Mafu. The boys were relentless in attacking and after a few good plays directed by Dane Nelson, on the 65th minute Guy Rosewarn found a hole and took his opportunity to get the ball down.
After a penalty awarded to Warilla just before fulltime, the boys packed the scrum and there was time for just one more play. The ball was shifted out wide by Jake Brisbane and found the hands of Centre Kye Deane adding the final points to the board. It was full time at Cec Glenholmes Oval and the score was in favour of the Gorillas 36-4, enough to keep them at equal first with Gerringong Lions on the Group 7 ladder.
It was an excellent effort by the boys to keep Albion Park scoreless in the second half. Their defence was key this week and there were some huge efforts made by all players. The boys attack through the middle and clever game plays were what got them over the line in the end.
I spoke with Jamie Burns, one of the games key players in both defence and attack, truly the MVP of this round (in my opinion) He thought they "played a tough game, alot of people stood up out of position and played some solid footy, with the wet weather these games are about who wants it and we did, that's been our attitude all year, I'm really liking where we're at and once a few more of the boys come back in, alot of the little things start becoming a bit easier".
There are a few boys missing due to injuries and set backs, however, in the coming weeks they will slowly start filtering back into the side.
Next week the Warilla Gorillas are back at home taking on a strong, big bodied Shellharbour Stingrays side, currently sitting in fifth position on the ladder. Their position shouldn't settle the Gorillas as the Stingrays put on a 38-16 clinic against the Jamberoo Superoos over the weekend.