Gunnedudes claimed the Coolah Veterans Touch Carnival A Division spoils at their first attempt on the back of a superb defensive performance.
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That was highlighted in the final where they beat the Castlereagh 38s team 4-nil.
It was the first time Gunnedah has fielded a solely men’s side since 2011, although many of the players had been part of the Gunnedoos mixed side that has played in previous carnivals.
“It’s the tenth year Gunnedah has taken teams down there,” Gunnedah Touch Association president Peta Devine side.
She was part of the, this year predominantly-female, Gunnedoos side.
They just missed out on the C Division final, going down in a drop-off 3-2 to Patinack Farm 3 in the semi-finals.
“We were down 1-nil, and got out to 2-1 and then they scored probably only five or six minutes out,” Devine said.
For the drop-off both teams get a set of six. Patinack scored off their set, but unfortunately the Gunnedoos weren’t able to reciprocate. Still it was a great effort and Devine said they got quite a few comments from the men’s sides that they faced that it was a lot harder than they thought it was going to be.
The Gunnedudes were undefeated for the weekend.
“We probably played our best touch on the Sunday.
“We took a bit of time to figure out to how to play together and Sunday we came good,” Paul Brady said.
Particularly in defence.
“We only let one try in on Sunday. That in itself is a great achievement,” he said.
Brady was for his efforts awarded the Bob O’Malley Award as the best player in the A division final, which was a nice surprise, but it was a whole team effort with everyone contributing.
Ditching his tennis racquet for the weekend, Craig Loius was another to impress.
“He had a really good weekend and scored a fair few tries,” Brady said.
“It was nice to have people like that who were down there for the first time and some older heads like Dave Palmer. He’s been going down there for a while.”