The Diesels waved goodbye to any faint hope of the finals over the weekend in a painful 42-8 loss to the Wagga Kangaroos at Equex Centre on Sunday, July 16.
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The boys were still seriously short on numbers, with captain Matt Hands again forced to scrape a side together minutes before kick off.
Hands said a couple of “niggling injuries” kept the regulars off the field.
The result was unsurprising having to play with just five or six first graders and a slew of reserves.
“It always makes it a difficult task, but credit to the reserves,” Hands said.
“We got the chase from Jeffery and Dickson, they really picked us to pieces”
“We tried hard, but it wasn’t enough.”
The Roos wasted no time with the opening try to Jeffery early in the second minute setting the trend for the game to follow.
Junee struck back with a try to Aiden Sweeney off a Simon Wilson grubber in the eleventh, but they couldn’t put the stop on the relentless Roos.
Jeffery threw three delightful passes to create tries for Zac Graham (15th minute), Tristan Dickson (22nd) and Jeremy Hampton (33rd) – and there were no going back.
Simon Wilson’s defiant efforts didn’t go unnoticed. He led from the front for a second try for the Diesels to finish on 8.
Hands said at this stage the Diesels are winding down for the back end of the season, but won’t be slacking off.
“We’ll focus on ending the season on a high,” he said.
“Our finals chances are pretty shot but we’ve still got our pride to play for.”
“We’ll focus on ending the season on a high”
- Captain, Matt Hands
They play ladder leader’s South City at the Laurie Daley Oval on Saturday.
“They’re a pretty strong side around the paddock,” Hands said.
“We’ve got to stop their go forward, they lead from the front so if we can slow them up a bit we're in with a chance.”