Blues boys sitting second heading into the second half of the season

The future is bright at Narrabri Rugby League Football Club as the Blues’ under-18s side continues to impress week after week in the 2024 Group 4 Rugby League campaign.

And despite sitting second on the ladder and having only lost twice so far, coach Lee Browning is confident they have a lot of improvement in them yet as well.

The Blues boys went into round nine on Sunday having not played for a month due to byes and the June long weekend, and while they were not at their best and admittedly quite rusty, they scored their most dominant win of the year when they took down the Wee Waa Panthers 48-0.

Gun centre Jack Anderson starred with four tries in a dominant performance that saw him earn his team’s players’ player award as well as one Group 4 best and fairest point. The three points went to teammate Declan Rooney, who scored a try and kicked three conversions, while the other four tries were shared between Isaiah Cochrane, Braedon Mason, Koopa Thompson and Cohen Tout. Cochrane, Mason and Thompson all kicked a conversion each.

The 48-point victory saw them leap into second over the now third-placed Werris Creek following the Magpies’ 36-all draw with the North Tamworth Bears in round nine.

Browning told The Courier that while he was proud of his team for getting the win in their first taste of the local derby match, they were certainly not at their best.

“I thought it was mistake-ridden on our part,” Browning said.

“I know we won 48-0, but it was just sloppy. You do play different against different opposition and it can be hard to stay focused on the game plan when you’re running through them.

“I’m happy with the win, but there were just parts of the game I wasn’t happy with.”

The Blues boys have played six games across the first nine rounds of the season and have won four of them. The two games they lost were against undefeated ladder leaders Dungowan Cowboys, but their improvement was evident in those two matches as they went down 58-14 and then 24-22 in back-to-back weekends.

Browning expects that improvement to continue across the back half of the campaign when they finally get the chance to experience continuity, as they now have a game scheduled in all nine rounds on the run home, with no more byes ahead.

“We’re halfway through the season now, and we have still got things to improve on,” Browning said.

“But we don’t miss a week now all the way up to the semi-finals.

“We will be able to finally get our players match-fit now. Up until now, we get them half match-fit and we have a bye or have two or three weeks off. They’re not as fit as what they should be at the moment because we’ve missed so many games.

“I think that in about four or five weeks from now, we should be seeing the best of us and we should be very hard to stop.

“We really haven’t put in a full team performance yet. We’re still winning off the back of a few individuals each game. What’s been pleasing is that it’s different individuals each game though, not the same ones.

“Once we get into these games every weekend and being able to train each week, I think the team performances will come.”

As far as the first half of the season is concerned and the Blues’ success across their first six games, they have impressed their coach, who is happy with the talent they have across the squad and the way everyone has been standing up and playing their part.

“It’s been a bit surprising actually. I didn’t think they’d be going as good as what they are at this stage. I thought it would take a little bit more time,” Browning said.

“I still believe we’ll come better at the end of the year, but it’s surprising to be sitting second now where we are. The boys are producing.

“There are four or five really good teams in this under-18s competition and we’re going to run into them over the next few weeks, so we’ll find out where we are at.

“The fellas are only young, but if we stick together and get a bit more match fit, we’ll be very hard to shake.”

The Blues will return to Collins Park for the first time since round five this Saturday when they host Kootingal-Moonbi in round 10. They have met the fourth-placed Roosters once this year, all the way back in round one when they kicked off their season with a 20-16 away win at Kootingal Sports Ground.

Browning and his players are expecting another tough challenge from a Roosters side that have the potential to be sitting a lot higher than fourth place on the six-team ladder and will now be looking to kick-start a successful run home.

Other round 10 matches see Wee Waa meet North Tamworth at Jubilee Oval in Boggabri, and Werris Creek welcome Dungowan to David Taylor Oval, both on Sunday.

The current points tally is as follows: Dungowan 16, Narrabri 14, Werris Creek 13, Kootingal-Moonbi 9, North Tamworth 8, Wee Waa 6.