Thirroul Dent Collies Record
Tuesday 7th June, 2005

News courtesy of Chris Thomas's Web of Steel

Thirroul 26 Collies 12
4-6-2005


Scenes of jubilation erupted at Gibson Park when Thirroul overcame the unbeaten Collies in one of their greatest ever premiership victories. The Butchers dominated proceedings from the start and had the better of both possession and field position throughout a tough opening ten minutes.

They opened the scoring through Trent Bryan's spectacular grab of a pinpoint crossfield bomb from Ty McCarthy. Bryan failed to convert from touch and Thirroul led 4-0. Three minutes after the restart, Aaron Beath sent an almost identical kick to the wing of Chris Timmins, who equalled Bryan's leap and touchdown. Another conversion failed as Thirroul's goalkicking woes continued, making it 8-0 to the home side.

Thirroul continued to completely dominate proceedings until Collies scored a good team try to Jason Brown completely against the run of play. The Lachlan Russell conversion brought Collies dangerously within
two points of Thirroul, despite being completely dominated for the majority of the match so far.

The Dogs then got on top of Thirroul for a few minutes but made uncharacteristic errors during this period which Thirroul match with their own. After some close scoring chances by both sides were lost and
Thirroul again took the advantage, Collies equalised with a 38th minute penalty to draw level at 8-8.

A great touch finder by Aaron Beath from a penalty just before the break gave the Butchers great field position and when Collies were penalised in front of their own posts, Beath potted the goal to give Thirroul a 10-8 lead at the break.

Damian Willis made a bustling break two minutes into the second half and wins penalty for a strip. Collies attacked the Thirroul line for the next couple of minutes, without success. Thirroul then worked their way downfield, only to be thwarted by great defense by the Dogs on their own line.

Willis again broke clear from a scrum in the 48th minute and looked set to score before a try-saving tackle by Aaron Beath brought him down on halfway. Two minutes later Fuad Suljkanovic stepped through the Collies line from close range to extend the Butchers lead to 16-8.

Simeon Hoyle made a 50 metre run that led to a Collies movement that ended when the last pass was called back as they were crossing for a try. Errors were starting to creep into both side's games as the pace
of the match started to take it's toll around the hour mark.

The Butchers suffered a blow when Ty McCarthy was carried off with a knee injury. When Aaron Beath potted another penalty after being hit late whist kicking, Thirroul led 18-8 with less than a quarter of the match remaining.

Both sides were penalised for shepherding in the 64th minute and Thirroul almost scored off another bomb kicked to their wing two minutes later. A great tactical kick by Beath produced an error and a dropout from under the posts. The short kick failed to go the ten and Beath kicked the penalty. Thirroul now looked good at 20-8 with 10 minutes left.

A 72nd minute penalty led to Mick Blackwell strolling over for a simple try for Collies. The important conversion hit the upright and bounced away, leaving Collies eight points adrift at 20-12.

Jason Brown made a powerful burst from the kickoff, only to lose the ball in a strip. Thirroul then handed possession back over to Collies right in front and with six minutes remaining. Collies couldn't score and Aaron Beath gave Thirroul repeat sets with a huge kick that trapped the Dogs in goal.

Ben Linde crashed over from dummy half shortly after the dropout and Thirroul had a memorable 26-12 victory in the bag when Beath kicked his firth straight goal. They were brilliant right throughout their top seventeen and were led by Beath, Grose and Suljkanovic out wide, with the whole pack standing out.

Collies were frustrated by great defense from Thirroul during the match and played way below the high standards they have set throughout 2005. This is not to say they played badly, in fact, they played quite well for most of the game and were only defeated by a switched on opposition combined with a few more errors than normal. Their best were Robbie Payne and Simeon Hoyle and are still premiership leaders and favourites
after this match.

This was a fantastic display of local rugby league, with the big crowd showing their pleasure at watching such a gutsy victory over a very classy side in Collies. It is a win that has rejuvenated the whole competition in a weekend where the Tooheys League bounced back from the disastrous Uni pullout with three matched before over 1500 fans.

Thirroul 26 (Tries: Trent Bryan, Ben Linde, Chris Timmins, Fuad Suljkanovic; Goals: Aaron Beath 5/5) defeated Collies 12 (Tries: Jason Brown, Mick Blackwell; Goals: Lachlan Russell 2/3)

Referee: Todd Yarrow. Touch Judges: Liam Nicholls and Darren Love.

Reserve grade: Collies 14 Thirroul 12
Collies pipped the Butchers by 14-12 to remain unbeaten in reserve grade.

Under Eighteens: Dapto 22 Thirroul 13
The opening game saw the Canaries have to work hard for their nine point win over an improving Butchers.

At Gibson Park Thirroul. Saturday June 4 2005. Crowd 650

THIRROUL
1 Chris Potter 2 Trent Bryan 3 Fuad Suljkanovic 4 Todd Grose 5 Chris Timmins 6 Ty McCarthy 7 Aaron Beath(c) 8 Ben Couchman 9 Ben Linde 10 Jay Van Meegan 11 Joel Attenborough 12 Mark Corrigan 13 Mark Sheppard. INTERCHANGE - 14 Paul Crawford 15 Lewis McPhail 17 Ali
Korouche18 Brett Pincham.

COLLIES
1 Lee Finnerty 2 Chris Barnes 3 Damian Willis 4 Wes Hallam-Mann 5 Kurt Fittler 6 Simeon Hoyle 7 Gavin Clinch (c) 8 Robbie Payne 9 Josh Guyatt 10 Jason Brown 11 Michael McBain 12 Wade Forrester 13 Lachlan Russell INTERCHANGE - 14 Mick Blackwell 15 Drew Forrester 16
Grant Williams 17 John Bailey.