West Wyalong have overcome two weeks on the sidelines to score a grinding 20-12 win over Yenda on a warm day at Wade Park.
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The Mallee Men led for the majority of the match to claim their first win of the 2017 Group 20 season following a loss to TLU in the opening round and two byes.
West Wyalong coach Sam Basham was impressed by the heart shown by his players in the warmer conditions.
“[It was] pretty hot, it was [a big effort] considering we've had two weeks off,” Basham said.
“It was pretty hard for us, I think, but the boys dug in there and it was good.”
The Mallee Men kicked off the scoring when Aaron Duncan took advantage of an overlap down the right side to score near the corner.
10 minutes later, Tom Sellars handed Yenda a 6-4 lead when he scored next to the posts.
Sellars backed up the try with a break down the left side from the kick-off before he passed back on the inside.
The play ended in a Blueheelers knock on as they looked to go the length of the field.
Yenda had most of the running for the next 10 minutes but the side wasn’t able to score any points.
Instead, it was the Mallee Men who scored next through Chris Judd.
A couple plays later, John Lolohea was given 10 minutes in the bin for what appeared to be a swinging arm.
Wyalong’s Tim Dore made the most of the extra player to score from dummy half to hand the Mallee Men a 14-6 half-time lead.
West Wyalong’s plan at half-time was to use the extra man on the field and tire Yenda out.
“Yeah, it definitely was,” Basham said.
“When they had that bloke in the bin, the plan was to go through the middle and wear them out. If we did that, we always knew we could get over them in the end.”
For the next 20 minutes, the Mallee Men followed that to a tee.
The period resulted in just one try, through Dylan Turner when a bomb was allowed to bounce, but the majority of play was in Yenda’s half.
The Blueheelers did hit back through Josh Curphey but Yenda wasn’t able to get over the line again.
West Wyalong’s Jeremy Wood played no part in the second half due to a leg injury while teammate Turner and Yenda’s Michael Mogliotti also left the field nursing injuries.