Foiled largely by the boot of Irish Randwick five-eighth Bryan Croke, Eastern Suburbs suffered their third loss from four Intrust Super Shute Shield starts on Anzac Day but Orange City junior Jack Grant was given a small silver lining following the 23-15 defeat at Coogee Oval.
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Grant was typically strong at halfback for the Beasties and as a result he was awarded the club's Clarence Wallach Medal.
Wallach was one of six Australian players involved in the country's first Test victory over New Zealand on foreign soil, who fought in World War I and never made it home.
Wallach's medal is presented by Easts for the most courageous individual effort in the clash and while there shouldn't be any cliche and hyperbolic comparisons of Grant's effort to those of Australian soldiers, which so often come in the sporting realm, there's no doubt just how big an honour winning the medal is.
The defeat was actually Easts' third in a row too, the Beasties started the season with a promising 49-28 win over reigning champions Sydney University but haven't tasted success since.
Not even the inclusion of Waratahs Mack Mason, Cody Walker and Ryan McCauley - the two latter also Orange products - could give the side enough of a boost to get over the line, instead the Galloping Greens picked up their first win of the year.
Croke, who lobbed up at Randwick two years ago out of the blue, was excellent from first five, slotting his two conversion attempts and nailing three penalty goals as well, accounting for 13 of his side's 23 points on his own.
The third of those was the final nail in the coffin too, extending the Wicks' lead to 23-8 after they'd fought their way back from an 8-3 deficit early in the first half.
'We just thought we should play smart footy, rather than being guilty of trying to overplay our hand, which we've been guilty of in the past,'' Croke said, adding how much he now appreciates his adopted country's Anzac tradition.
''We thought we'd play pressure footy, try to pin teams back and see if they can work out of their end. It worked today so we might keep going.
''It was really nice to be involved in it. As well as Aussies and Kiwis being involved, there was other countries involved in wars and I try to think of it as for everyone who's ever worked and served for us.
"Because of that we have the easy job of playing footy."
- RANDWICK 23 (Mitch Short, Zac Carr tries; Bryan Croke 2 conversions, 3 penalty goals) def EASTERN SUBURBS 15 (Archie Hall, Ned Yeomans try; Mack Mason conversion, penalty goal)
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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.
