The West Wyalong Mallee Men will play in the second week of the Group 20 first grade finals following a 26-18 win over a depleted Darlington Point-Coleambally on Saturday.
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The Roosters lost Robbie Simpson – who left the field with a suspected dislocated wrist just seven minutes in – and captain-coach Clinton Green – who hurt his hamstring around the 20-minute mark – in an error-riddled first half by the two sides.
Just after Simpson left the field, DPC crossed after Ryan McGoldrick passed inside to fullback Josh Veivers who scored and converted his own try to give the Roosters a six-point lead.
Five minutes later, the Mallee Men took inspiration from the Roosters as fullback Brandon Kerry crossed in similar fashion to lock things up.
The resulting kick-off went out on the full to put West Wyalong in prime attacking position.
The Mallee Men made DPC pay as Craig Iverach spun through a pair of defenders to score on the left.
The sides traded errors before DPC built some pressure.
The Roosters produced back-to-back sets and George Broome was held up at one point but West Wyalong held DPC out in the end.
Thirty seconds before half-time, Dillon Bartter was given 10 minutes to cool off on the back of a high tackle.
The reduced lineup lifted and, once again, started the scoring when McGoldrick dummied his way over the line to bring the score to 12-12.
The tables were turned just after Bartter returned to the field as Kerry was sin-binned for back chat.
However, West Wyalong – once again – matched what DPC had done and crossed despite being a man down when Iverach muscled his way over for his second.
DPC looked likely to be next to score but a spilt ball was scooped up by Kerry who streaked away.
A desperate chase by young gun Josh Fattore stopped Kerry’s charge but it wasn’t enough to stop the Mallee Men who scored when the ball was shifted to Andrew Preston on the right wing.
With momentum back on their side, Tim Dore knocked over a penalty goal to give Wyalong a 26-12 lead shortly after.
The Roosters gave themselves a sniff when Chris Latu scored five minutes from time but West Wyalong held on.
Nick Briggs was given an early shower for talking to the referee.
West Wyalong co-coach Mark Wood was happy to see the Mallee Men get through after they made it hard for themselves at times.
“It was a good solid game – there was just a few too many mistakes from both sides,” Wood said.
“That was our big problem – we turned over too much ball and gave away too many penalties. Our defence was solid again, we just had to do too much of it.”
Wood named Aaron Duncan as West Wyalong’s best.
