IT'S time to start paying serious attention to the CSU Mungoes.
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With victories against defending premiers Manildra Rhinos, Grenfell Goannas and competition newcomers Blayney Bears in Saturday's Woodbridge Cup 10s Knockout plate final it was a day to remember for the Mungoes.
A loss against eventual grand finalists Cowra Magpies would be the only blemish on an otherwise spotless record for the uni team during their promising pre-season hit out at Blayney's King George Oval.
The Mungoes didn't just scrape by the Bears in the plate final either, they dispatched them in a 28-8 result to be crowned the best team in the consolation bracket.
No team in the competition likely raised their prospects as a premiership contender more than the Mungoes at the knockout thanks to their eye catching performances.
Promising signs from the outset
It didn't take long at all for a Mungoes to get themselves into gear.
They were right in the contest against the Magpies until a couple of late slip ups took the game away from them.
However, from that point on it was a different story.
"From the first game against Cowra we looked really good with the ball. We lapsed a little bit in defence in that game and Cowra ended up getting a couple out wide to hand us the loss," Mungoes co-coach Ray Sargent said.
"From then on we got into a mindset that we were looking good with the footy, we just needed to give it a crack defensively and we stuck to that.
"Getting those wins against Manildra and Grenfell gave us a good setup ahead of the plate final against Blayney. We kept ourselves accountable and I think that got us the win in the end."
Even though the day was just a pre-season carnival the Mungoes wanted to treat the knockout seriously and use it as a platform for a big 2024.
"Our confidence is thriving. We made it a goal to go out the and put ourselves on notice," Sargent said.
"There were a lot of teams out there who were depleted and only playing their younger fellas but for us it was a matter of getting out there and getting the job done.
"We proved to ourselves and the rest of the competition that we can push it this year."
No shortage of players to watch this season
Sargent said it was great to see both returning and new players putting their hand up throughout the day.
"Thomas Jarrick and Jack Baldwin were two players who absolutely killed it. They took some hard runs, hard hits, and didn't look like making a mistake all day," he said.
"Obviously Deryne McKenzie carved up. He's so big and strong and they found it hard to defend against him in a 10s format.
"Ash Magaya is a lightning attacker for us on the edge. He'd be quicker than nearly anyone else in the comp. When he gets into space it's try time."
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the result for the Mungoes is that they did it without several of their bigger name players on hand.
New signing Dylan Marmion, co-coach Pat Duggan and regular halfback Jack Hands were all absent from the knockout.
CSU will take on Oberon Tigers in the opening round of the competition on April 7.