When Jack Afamasaga was promoted to Mudgee’s starting line-up on Sunday spectators had the right to expect fireworks between the Dragons’ behemoth and Oberon’s Josh Starling – after all, it doesn’t get much better than two former NRL bookends squaring off for 80 minutes.
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What the Glen Willow faithful didn’t expect was a full-blown fight to erupt between the two just 25 minutes in, prompting a pair of send-offs and 10-minute rest for Tigers’ winger Lochie Gilmore, who was third man in.
The altercation, which started after Starling gave Afamasaga some extra attention in the ruck, allowed the Dragons to add another try to an already imposing first-half lead and they eventually ran out 36-18 winners to land a huge blow to Oberon’s top three dream.
The Tigers drop the fifth with the loss, although they’re still all but assured a finals place.
Mudgee coach Ben Gregory didn’t see a whole lot of malice in Starling’s tackle that led to the scuffle and would have been happy to see both blokes stay on the field, but wasn’t too fussed with the send-off decisions.
“Being an old-school front-rower, I don’t have an issue with the big boys buttin’ heads,” Gregory said.
“I know that’s not the state of play in the 2018 era. If one goes then they both have to go so if that’s the ruling then I think that’s fair.”
The seven-try showcase didn’t start until after Oberon’s Brenton Gibson snatched a cross-field bomb, giving the the away side a 6-nil lead inside the first ten minutes.
The Tigers looked set to pounce again until they failed to clean-up a routine kick that was scooped by Nathan Orr who ran 50 metres, opening the account for the red and whites.
From a Gary Reilly ball Orr went 90 metres not long after, Lachie Hill’s missed conversion attempts leaving the score at 8-6.
Chanse Burgess pushed the floodgates open in the 19th minute and Luke Moody extended the lead three minutes later, before tempers flared between Afamasaga and Starling.
Some would say the melee was coming as the pair had already come to blows several times before the punches were thrown in the 25th minute.
Tom Baddock scored his first for Mudgee in the 32nd minute to give the Dragons a 26-6 half-time lead, and the home side held onto the lead in the second half.
Oberon captain-coach Luke Branighan admitted being down to 11 blokes at one stage didn’t help, but his side’s problems stretched beyond that 10-minute period.
“We were on top early then we didn’t react to the two tries they scored against the run of play,” Branighan said.
“We weren’t good enough today. We need to be better. It was a danger game for us and I’ve got a very high opinion of the Mudgee side. They’re a lot better than where they sit.”
“At the end of the day, we’ve just got to put that game to bed and get on with it. It’s just disappointing because it’s going to be a bit of a battle to get into the top three from here but we’ve got to move forward and get ready for Blayney next week.”
Branighan’s takeaway from the Starling-Afamasaga tussle was similar to Gregory’s and doesn’t think it will take long for both players to put the incident behind them.
“What happens on the field stay on the field. They’re both experienced players and I’m sure they’ll both get on with it,” he said.
It was all smiles out the front of Mudgee’s sheds after the game as Ben Gregory reflected on memorable performance.
“We’ve always had the ability to play this way and this is where we’ve set up from day one,” he said.
“We’ve been so hamstrung throughout the year with injuries and it’s been hard to get any cohesion and consistency but the boys carried out some instruction today.
“They’re good footballers – we’re just at the wrong end of the season to be getting all this right.”
- MUDGEE DRAGONS 36 (Tom Lawson 2, Nathan Orr 2, Tom Baddock 2, Luke Moody tries; Lachie Hill 4 goals) def OBERON TIGERS 18 (Brenton Gibson, Luke Christie-Johnston, Michael Hawkings; Luke Branigan 3 goals).