How many times has Blake Fitzpatrick scored 46 points in a single match?
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Just once, in Oberon Tigers' 70-10 walloping of Cargo back on June 18.
While a win of that magnitude against the one-win Blue Heelers isn't anything to write home about in and of itself, the half-back's six try, 11 conversion performance has sparked a resurgence for last year's grand finalists.
"I was just running off the big boys and they'd get through the line, pop it to me and the try line was right there," Fitzpatrick said.
"They made it very easy for me. I didn't even know I'd scored that many points until they announced it over the speaker at the end of the game."
The boys from Oberon have rattled off wins against Peak Hill (who we'll get to later) and most recently the Orange United Warriors in a gritty 22-18 performance at Wade Park since that victory against Cargo.
This stretch of wins came at the right time for the Tigers as well.
They had lost four out of five games and were looking likely to be playing an away elimination game come finals time. Now, they sit in fifth place, just four points back of Trundle and Canowindra.
"(Coach Abel Lefaoseu) is pretty keen to get that top four spot," Fitzpatrick said.
"He wrote us in a group message saying everyone needs to get to training. We can't leak too many points, so we have to work on our defence and we can still make top four."
Fitzpatrick, an Oberon junior who won a Mid-West premiership with the club during the 2020 season, came back to the Tigers in 2023 following a career with Bathurst St Pat's in the Group 10/Peter McDonald Premiership.
Should the Tigers manage to go better than they did last season, this could be the last we see of the half-back on the footy field.
"I think that'd pull me up," Fitzpatrick said.
"I think I'd hang the boots up then."
Peak Hill have peaked too early
The moment Jyi Cohen was suspended for the remainder of the 2023 season, everyone who knows anything knew it was a big blow for Peak Hill.
Although the Roosters pulled out the win against Trundle on May 20 - the day of the off-field incident which resulted in Cohen, two spectators and Connor Farrer from the Boomers suspended - their form since has been anything but premiership material.
They beat Eugowra and Cargo, but followed those up with 20-plus point losses to Manildra and Oberon.
The real case to say they are no longer amongst the top teams for 2023 came this weekend just gone, when the Roosters travelled to Bathurst to take on a fired-up CSU on Old Boys' Day.
Although the Mungoes have shown heart in many defeats this year, three wins and seven losses doesn't scream finals contender.
Peak Hill came out 42-32 victors, but leaking that many points has to be a concern.
With games against Molong and Eugowra making up two of their final four contests, we still expect Peak Hill to finish in the top six and earn a home elimination final.
But they'll need to show a lot against Condobolin this week if they want anyone outside of Peak Hill to take them seriously as a potential grand final threat.
Power rankings
Each week we will take a look at which teams have been lighting up the first grade and league tag competitions, alternating between the two.
For those unfamiliar with a power ranking ladder, it's similar to your conventional standings, except it's completely subjective and based on who we think is in the best form, regardless of their points total.
This week we look at where league tag is up to after ten rounds.
- Condobolin - 12-10 win over Molong
- Canowindra - 16-4 win over Manildra
- Grenfell - 40-6 win over Cargo
- Manildra
- Molong
- Orange United - 22-22 draw with Oberon
- CSU - 20-4 win over Peak Hill
- Oberon
- Peak Hill
- Trundle - 16-0 win over Eugowra
- Eugowra
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