With their most polished performance of the Group 10 premier league season so far CYMS put to bed any remaining doubts over their premiership credentials by handing Hawks an absolute beatdown in Sunday’s all-Orange derby at Wade Park.
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While the competition-leading two blues’ showing was far from their best CYMS were near-flawless, grinding their way to a 16-10 lead at half-time before running away with the clash in the second period, scoring five unanswered tries to romp home 38-10.
“Premierships aren’t won at this time of year,” CYMS player-coach Mick Sullivan said with a wry smile, after being asked if he thought his side has silenced its critics completely.
“It’s definitely our best performance of the year by far and it feels like we’re building pretty well. They scored two tries from quality plays and they are a quality side but the great CYMS sides of the past have always been built on resolve and we’re really starting to show that now, we held them out a lot.
“The defensive effort was great again, we’re really clicking there and being able to hold a team like Hawks to 10 points is a massive confidence boost too.
“Hopefully we haven’t gone too early, I don’t think we have though.”
On top of CYMS’ big show without the ball the victory was led by the performances of Sullivan, former NRL star Chris Grevsmuhl, up-and-coming prop Joe Duffy and, more than anyone else, five-eighth Luke Petrie.
Petrie, who often flies under the radar as Sullivan’s partner in the halves, was huge.
Controlling CYMS’ left-edge he scored two of the green and golds’ three first-half tries and laid on three more in the second half too.
“It’s really good to see him build and mature as a player, week-in, week-out,” Sullivan said of his young halves partner.
“There as a lot of big individual performances [on Sunday] but it is good to see Peckers (Petrie) starting to hit some form coming into the semi-finals.”
CYMS’ celebrated player-coach also labelled Sunday’s result a wake-up call for Hawks, although he did concede it might just serve to reinvigorate 2018’s most dominant side so far.
“It’s definitely a wake-up call for them. I’m sure they’ll go on to win the minor premiership and all the best to them in that, it’d be great to see an Orange team host that major semi-final,” Sullivan said.
“I don’t think it’ll necessarily wake a sleeping giant because they’ve been the giants of this competition all season, it might be a bit scary for some sides if this does kick them into gear actually.”
Hawks winger Eman Rodriguez, who was one of the two blues’ best, agreed with Sullivan’s “wake-up call” assessment, but added he’s supremely confident his side will bounce back in a big way against Oberon next weekend.
“It is a wake-up call, definitely,” he said.
“[Sullivan] said during the week they weren’t going to take their foot off the gas at all and they were going to show us how good they are, and they did that, the better team definitely won on the day.
“It shows us where we need to be but we’ll keep pushing forward, like we have done all season. We’ll go back to training this week and push harder, work harder, identify where we went wrong and fix up what we need to.
“That’s mainly just about keeping it simple I think, especially towards the pointy end of the game. We let CYMS dictate a bit too, instead of just playing our brand of footy.”
In a clash that served to promise so much should the two sides meet again in the finals, or even the grand final, it didn’t take CYMS long to stamp their authority.
Hooker Ryan Griffin caught Hawks’ big middles napping around the rucks on a couple of occasions in the opening five minutes and the green and golds looked threatening across the park, but it was actually Hawks that opened the scoring 11 minutes in.
Talon Hodge made a massive bust through the middle of the paddock, bumping off would-be CYMS defenders willy-nilly, and after he was pulled up just short the two blues forces a line drop-out.
Jordan Baker scored on the end of the resulting set although captain-coach Willie Heta missed the kick, his wayward attempt was clearly a result of the ankle complaint he picked up the set before.
Sending shivers down the Hawks’ faithful’s backs, he stayed down the set prior to Baker’s try and although he stayed on after some assistance from a trainer, the scintillating pivot was clearly hampered for the remainder of the game.
Hodge knocked on in the first hit-up from the resulting restart and then Hawks gave away a penalty, handing CYMS possession although the green and golds didn’t capitalise immediately.
When Hawks did get the ball back, Grevsmuhl produced a one-on-one strip and that’s when CYMS turned the pressure into points, Sullivan sending prop Cam Jones through a hole close to the line.
CYMS’ player-coach converted to make it 6-4, and Petrie’s first just two minutes later after a Dom Maley line-break extended the lead to 10-4.
The first half continued to be a genuine arm-wrestle and, against the run of play, Hawks were awarded a penalty on their own 10-metre line and they promptly went 90 metres and scored, Jake Blimka finishing.
Heta converted to lock things up, but his two blues piggy-backed CYMS up the field with another penalty and Petrie’s second pushed the reigning champions back in front at 16-10.
CYMS’ wall continued to hold and while they threatened to push further ahead Hawks’ did too, the scoreline remaining the same until after the break.
Five minutes after the break, to be precise, Petrie sending Maley over, although the centre did have quite a bit of work to do himself.
Three minutes later Petrie handed Sullivan a try on a silver platter on the other edge, before CYMS let a Hawks kick-off go dead for the second time in the game.
The two blues couldn’t capitalise though, letting a couple of attacking chances go begging.
CYMS did the exact opposite when given another chance, again from penalty.
Petrie dished up a beautiful ball for Adam Stanford, who ran an equally as good line to find space and then finished well.
Joe Lasagavibau had a crack at goal this time, and missed, before Travis Adelerhof and Grevsmuhl sealed the win with their respective 65th and 70th minute tries.
Sullivan converted the latter to push the score to 38-10 before he, Lasagavibau and Grevsmuhl all came from the field in the last few minutes, to huge cheers.
- ORANGE CYMS 38 (Luke Petrie 2, Cam Jones, Mick Sullivan, Dom Maley, Adam Stanford, Travis Adelerhof, Chris Grevsmuhl tries; Sullivan 3 goals) def ORANGE HAWKS 10 (Jordan Baker, Jake Blimka tries; Willie Heta goal)
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
