Reigning Diesels best and fairest winner Daniel Foley has begun the season with a bang.
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The star fullback submitted a scintillating performance during the Reconciliation Cup at Harris Park on Saturday.
The contest ended in a 28-all draw, but Junee’s most valuable player wreaked havoc on the field in a performance which earned him the highest of praise from opposing captain coach Ben Jeffery.
“Foley caused the most trouble for us,” Jeffery said.
“That’s why I rate him as the best player in the game.
"He is always probing, always hard to handle and he’s super fast.
"He really did kill it for them.”
The former NRL player’s kind words caught an unsuspecting Foley by surprise.
“I was a little bit shocked when I read those comments,” he said.
“He’s a quality player, we’ve had a lot of battles over the last few years and they’ve helped make me the player I am today.
“He’s been the best fullback in the competition since I’ve been playing, so I always try to get it over him whenever I can because he’s the benchmark for the competition.”
Foley’s Group Nine All Stars fought back from a 28-12 deficit to salvage the draw but the Indigenous All Stars retained the cup after winning all five previous encounters.
The Group Nine All Stars struggled to gain control of the game all afternoon, before finding their groove with two late trys late in the day.
The talented fullback has been quick to turn his attention towards the upcoming season and conceded he may have to carry an even greater load after Junee lost a lot of talent during the off-season.
“I’m think I’m going to have to take it further than last year, which is going to be hard,” he said.
“I’’ll definitely be trying to take on more of a leading role, even more so than last season.”
“I think its going to be a tough season for us, trying to get back into that winning groove without some of the guys we lost.
“But we’ve got some really good locals here and I think we’ll still be competitive every week.”
The Diesels open the season against Cootamundra at Laurie Daley Oval on April 2.
They will be without Peter Little, Will Merritt and Patrick Sagigi and Connor McCauley.
All four players moved to Brothers in the off-season.
