ORANGE Hawks avoided the Group 10 premier league wooden spoon by smashing Lithgow Workies 40-18 on Sunday, in what captain-coach Jason Gangaram said was unequivocally his troops’ best performance of the season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Trailing 18-16 at half-time at Tony Luchetti Sportsground, Hawks ran rampant in the second half – in particular the final 15 minutes – to pile on 24 unanswered points and claim a comfortable win, the two blues’ second over Workies this winter.
Jedd Kennedy continued his rich vein of form by scoring four tries and prop Sam Sotogi, centre Viane Falaniko and second rower Max Wolfson all crossed as well.
“It just goes to show, these boys can play footy when they stick to a game plan and execute,” Gangaram said.
“I told them at half-time if they stuck to it and stayed strong, back themselves, Lithgow wouldn’t be able to go with us by the end of the game. That’s what happened.
“We’d set a goal to avoid the wooden spoon and the boys have done that now which is really great. They played with a lot of heart [on Sunday].”
Hawks were scrappy in the opening period but worked into the grind of the game to stay in touch with the hosts at the break.
After that, the two blues fired.
“We weren’t great in that first half, but it was good to see the boys work hard and get there in the end,” Gangaram said.
“We really piled the pressure and points on in the last 10 or 15 minutes.”
Although Hawks have long been unable to feature in the post-season Gangaram said the 22-point victory is the perfect springboard into the two blues’ final game of the 2016 season this coming weekend, against the Cowra Magpies at Wade Park.
“Definitely, it is a good way to go into that game,” Gangaram said.
“We want to finish the season well and this kind of win shows the boys we can do that and we can compete and beat these other sides.
“So we’ll be looking for that again against Cowra.”
Gangaram rated Kennedy as his side’s best, while Sotogi and Kyle Robbins were also strong.
“Kyle was very good, he actually played second-row,” Gangaram said
“Jack Middleton has hurt himself and his gone for the season so we needed him to slot in there and he did well. Jake Blimka went into five-eighth and did a good job too.”
ORANGE HAWKS 40 (Jedd Kennedy 4, Sam Sotogi, Max Wolfson, Viane Falaniko tries; Brodie Christopherson 6 goals) def LITHGOW WORKIES 18 (Ryan Bilby 2, Nick Miller tries; Josh Jones 3 goals)
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
