RUGBY LEAGUE
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By ANYA WHITELAW
CAMERON Neville may have come to St Pat's on the back of a disappointing grand final loss, but his first game in the blue and white of his new club on Saturday could not have gone better.
Neville was a member of the Goulburn Workers Bulldogs reserve grade side which lost last year's Canberra Region grand final to West Belconnen Warriors, but for season 2010 he will form part of St Pat's Group 10 line-up.
He was one of the players from the Bathurst club to attend Saturday's Kiama Nine's tournament and his new coach Wade Judd could not have been more pleased with his debut.
"Cameron Neville scored in the first touch for his new club. He just ran straight through them [Bondi United defenders] � that's not a bad way to start at a new club," Judd said.
The one-day tournament was staged at Kiama Sportground and Chittick Oval, the Saints drawn to play two pool games which they won to advance to the semi-finals.
First up came the match against Sydney Roosters feeder club Bondi United and while Judd was originally concerned that his rivals may boast a strong line up, he had little reason to worry.
In fact the Saints didn't even have time to warm-up and still went on to a 24-0 victory in the eight minutes each way fixture.
"If they are a Sydney Roosters feeder club then I'd say the Roosters are in a bit of trouble," Judd chuckled. "I was initially a bit worried, I didn't know how good they were going to be, but we did it pretty easy."
In game two Pat's ensured themselves of advancing to the semi-finals by accounting for the Aquinas Colts 16-6, the mixture of under 18s talents and some more experienced players plus Judd's decision to have a squad dominated by backs working well.
It was in the semi-final that the Saints' run came to an end, going down 16-6 to a strong Coogee Wombats outfit, but Judd was still pleased with the performance.
"I think we played pretty well against them, we only conceded one try in the first half and while they were only eight minute halves, we had a lot of young blokes, so they were a lot bigger than us and I guess faster too," he said.
"I was actually pretty surprised with how our fitness went over the day, I thought we'd struggle a bit but we actually did pretty good for the first hit out.
"Considering some of the players who we left at home, we didn't field the strongest side we could of because I wanted to give some of the young blokes ago, I think we did well to make the semis."
Aside from Neville's efforts at halfback, Judd also praised the performance of Forbes recruit Tom Bourke and the ever consistent Brent Dennis.