Bushpigs halt Temora's winning streak as Coleambally enjoy maiden victory

The Bushpigs took a giant step towards consolidating their finals position with a comprehensive 11.10 (76) to 5.6 (36) victory at Nixon Park.

The game had big consequences for both teams with the loss dropping Temora back outside the top five, just a week after entering it.

But the Bushpigs were on from the outset, kicking clear in the second quarter to open up a 26-point half-time lead.

From there, they never let the Kangaroos back in the contest and secured a crucial four points away from home.

CSU co-coach Travis Cohalan was rapt to end Temora's three-game winning streak.

"I think, to be honest, they were flying. They'd won three in a row, they'd beaten the Jets last week, who were in the grand final last year and a team we have a lot of time for," Cohalan said.

"I think if you look at the Temora midfield, you're not going to get many better midfields in the Farrer League than Cullen in the ruck and having the likes of Will Reinhold and Jock Cornell, who have both played VFL-AFL type set up, on the ball.

"So to be able to go across there on their home deck, where they always play a lot better I feel, and come away with the win is really pleasing.

"It's probably a sign of growth and maturity from our team."

CSU arrived at Nixon Park with specific plans and they proved most effective.

Jake Turner tagged Temora co-coach Will Reinhold and was able to limit his influence on the game.

Nick Myers started in the ruck and followed Temora counterpart Jack Cullen for the day, going into defence when the Kangaroos' big man pushed forward.

Dusty Rogers was dominant in defence, while Trent Cohalan, Lachie Holmes and Max Findlay all had strong games through the midfield.

Cohalan praised his young group the way they were able to adapt to a different approach.

"We have a certain way we want to play and we actually did deliberately come up with a few different things match-up wise," he said.

"I thought Jake Turner did a fantastic job on Will Reinhold when he was around the ball. Will Reinhold is one of the better players in the competition and I thought Jake Turner did a really good job on him when he was around the ball. When he went forward I thought Dusty did a really good job on him as well.

"Our pressure was elite. We rate ourselves on 20 tackles a quarter and we hit that in three of the four quarters. The only quarter we didn't hit that was the third quarter.

"I thought our pressure and our work rate, we set out at the start of the day with the target to make sure today was our best pressure of the year, knowing we were playing against a fellow finals aspirant in the same situation as us, and on a big day for them. They had a really big crowd, it was their ladies day, we knew that they would be playing with a lot of passion and would come out hard so we really wanted to bring our best pressure of the year I thought we did that for probably three, three and a half quarters."

Temora were best served by Liam Sinclair and Nathan Stimson.

Full-time

CSU Bushpigs 2.3 6.4 8.6 11.10 (76)

Temora Kangaroos 0.1 2.2 4.4 5.6 (36)

GOALS: CSU Bushpigs: P.Inglis 3, H.Wakefield 2, M.Findlay 2, H.Warwick 1, A.Wallace 1, T.Cohalan 1, O.Wortley 1; Temora Kangaroos: W.McMartin 2, M.Krause 1, D.Leary 1, J.Cullen 1

BEST: CSU Bushpigs: D.Rogers, T.Cohalan, N.Myers, L.Holmes, J.Turner, M.Findlay; Temora Kangaroos: J.Cullen, L.Sinclair, N.Stimson, J.Cornell, L.Murray, K.Shea.

COLEAMBALLY midfielder Dean Bennett had a day out as he led the Blues to their first win of the Farrer League season on Saturday.

Bennett kicked five goals in a best-on-ground display at Coleambally prevailed in the battle of the two winless teams, defeating Barellan 12.10 (82) to 2.7 (19) at Coleambally Sportsground.

It was tough going for the Blues at stages but a couple of late goals before half-time gave them a 25-point lead at the main break.

From there, the goals began to flow with Barellan's only two majors coming within the last five minutes of the game.

Coleambally coach Jamie Bennett admitted there were a few anxious moments.

"Honestly, I still had my concerns. Halfway through the second quarter, we'd only kicked two goals," Bennett explained.

"It was probably the 20 minute mark of the second quarter and we'd only kicked two goals and both of those had been Dean so I was still not sure of our avenues to goal.

"Eventually a bit of scoreboard pressure started to tell on Barellan a little bit. We started to get a gap on them and we opened up from there.

"My heart goes out to Barellan a little bit, we've been there but very pleasing for my boys."

Coleambally welcomed in key forward Tristan Mears for a guest appearance from Cobram and he played a role, kicking three goals.

"He was a big presence," Bennett said.

"He straightened us up. He kicked three goals and had a direct hand in another couple.

"It just gave us an avenue. While he didn't clunk a heap, he brought it to ground."

Bennett was Coleambally's best, kicking five of their first six goals, followed by fellow midfielders Blake Argus, Ryan Best, Chris Hayes and ruck Darcy Mader.

Josh Shaw was tremendous at full-back, while Harry Tooth enjoyed one of his best games.

Bennett said the win lifted morale across the whole club.

"I guess one, you get to revisit the team song. That's always really nice. It's great to get in and sing the team song," he said.

"Also, I don't want to lose sight of the fact I don't think our reserves had won a game in two years. They won by nearly 100 points, they've been on the end of that for two years.

"That was a real positive for the club, to have reserve grade win a game and then our boys to go out on the back of that.

"It's not lost on us that the reality of it is that it was two sides slogging it out that haven't won a game. But the upside of that is, some of the footy we played was what we've been striving to do.

"Halfway through the second quarter it was concerning but then it opened up and we explored our options inside 50 and it felt like we were playing the footy that it takes to be super competitive.

"From my perspective, I was really pleased with that."

Matt Irvin was Barellan's best player, closely followed by reliable pair Riley Irvin and Brad Radovanovic.

Full-time

Coleambally Blues 2.3 4.6 7.9 12.10 (82)

Barellan Two Blues 0.2 0.5 0.7 2.7 (19)

GOALS: Coleambally Blues: D.Bennett 5, T.Mears 3, T.Blissett 2, R.Best 1, K.Bennett 1; Barellan Two Blues: S.Bourchier 1, H.Gilmout 1

BEST: Coleambally Blues: D.Bennett, R.Best, D.Mader, C.Hayes, K.Bennett, T.Argus; Barellan Two Blues: M.Irvin, R.Irvin, B.Radovanovic, D.Schmetzer, D.Campbell, J.Lawton

NORTHERN Jets coach Jack Harper hopes his team has set themselves a new minimum standard in their four-goal win over North Wagga on Saturday.

The Jets piled on six unanswered goals in the third quarter to come from behind and defeat the Saints, 13.10 (88) to 9.10 (64) at Ardlethan Sportsground.

It was a swift response from the Jets after North Wagga stormed to a half-time lead on the back of a six goal term of their own.

"We started the game pretty well. It was a very hot game. Then the second quarter we just got a little bit lazy in transition and let them basically move the footy way too easily," Harper explained.

"They got some pretty good entries going into the forward line and they capitalised. They had a really good second quarter.

"The message at half-time was to show a bit more urgency and intensity and we came out in the third quarter and really played our style, broke the game open and basically dictated terms, which was nice."

Nic Fairman was best-on-ground for the Jets with a strong display through the midfield, while Max Harper proved damaging on the outside.

Josh Avis was also superb leading an undermanned defence.

Harper was happy with the performance and hopes to start achieving some more consistency from his group heading into a big game against East Wagga-Kooringal.

"It's been frustrating. The two games against Temora and then CSU earlier on in the year, we felt we just didn't play anywhere near our best," he said.

"It's just really frustrating, we've been a little bit hit and miss, and lacked some consistency this year but the way we played today and showed a lot more heart, hopefully we can hold ourselves to that sort of standard moving forward, especially going into a big challenge next weekend against East Wagga."

Luke Mauger, Jack Flood and Isaac Bennett were best for the Saints.

Full-time

Northern Jets 2.3 5.4 11.8 13.10 (88)

North Wagga Saints 0.2 6.6 6.8 9.10 (64)

GOALS: Northern Jets: C.Mccormack 3, J.Harper 2, L.Jones 2, M.Harper 2, H.Collis 1, N.Fairman 1, J.Fisher 1, J.Parkinson 1; North Wagga Saints: M.Mattingly 2, L.Mauger 2, M.McGowan 1, A.Bennett 1, M.Thomas 1, T.Nejman 1, N.Fitzgerald-Holmes 1

BEST: Northern Jets: J.Avis, H.Collis, H.Gaynor, N.Fairman, J.Fisher, J.Bell; North Wagga Saints: J.Flood, I.Bennett, M.McGowan, M.Thomas, J.Thompson, M.Mattingly