The Dungog Warriors have suffered back-to-back losses going down to Woodberry last week before being beaten 26-6 by Abermain at Bennett Park last Saturday.
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The recent wet weather has certainly not helped the Warriors preparation for games with training facilities being closed or unavailable with last week being the first time they have been able to train on a field for the last month.
After a promising start to the season the last two games have shown Dungog how much they have to improve to be a real force in this year’s competition.
Even allowing for the wet weather and the new players on board the last two weeks have fallen short of what the players and coaching staff expect from themselves this season .
The Warriors minds appeared to be elsewhere from the kickoff and two converted tries to Abermain inside the first five minutes went a long way to obtaining victory for the visitors.
Dungog got its act together and started to play some good footy but the Hawks were not about to let their early lead slip.
Both sides were dishing it out in defence with a number of crunching tackles bringing the crowd to its feet.
Straight hard running followed by quick play the balls from Abermain had the Warriors stretched on several occasions but to their credit they were able to keep the Hawks at bay and half time came with no addition to the score.
Dungog needed to get away to a good start after the break but poor ball control and a substandard kicking game were making it hard to get into Abermain’s half.
The Hawks extended their lead at the 50-minute mark when they kicked a penalty goal.
Dungog kept trying and looked almost certain to score when Jason Clements broke through the Abermain defensive line only to be inexplicably called back and a penalty awarded to Dungog for the Hawks being offside.
The Warriors were starting to get on a roll and its cause was helped not long after when the Hawks lock was sent to the sin bin.
The Warriors capitalised on this and crossed for their first try when Zach Thackeray crashed over the line and with Tyson Cullen converting Dungog appeared back in the game.
Abermain looked to be getting a bit tired and if Dungog could score again the scene would be set for a thrilling finish.
Unfortunately for the homeside the inexcusable inability to complete their set of six after scoring cost them any chance of victory.
Abermain aided by a succession of penalties put the game out of Dungog’s reach when they crossed for their third try from a well executed bomb and with the subsequent conversion had opened up a 20-6 lead with under 10 minutes left.
The Hawks then rubbed further salt into the wound with another converted try on the stroke of full time.
The full time score probably didn’t reflect the closeness between the two sides with all the Hawks tries coming in the first five and the last 10 minutes of the game.
In between Dungog more than held its own and will be left ruing its poor start to the game.
Best for the Warriors were Zach Thackeray and Brad Smith in the forwards while Jackson Bell, Karl Newham, Aaron Cottam and Zac Howlett all looked dangerous at times in the backs.
From the bench Mitch Evans, Wes Neilson and Jason Clements all turned in strong performances.
Final score Abermain 26 Dungog 6.
This Saturday at 3pm Dungog travel to the home of “Ozzie the Mozzie” at Hexham to take on Williamtown in a game Dungog need to win to get its season back on track.
