CALL them what you want, but the Armidale Rams reserves are far from sore losers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Not even a ten point loss to Warialda and consistent losing streak this season could wipe the smiles from their faces on Saturday.
Coach Pat Turley maintained his players gave the game a real go, but couldn’t measure up to some of the beefier boys from Warialda.
“Their halfback was very good, he played very well,” Mr Turley said.
“They also had a couple of big Islander blokes, they were hard to handle.
“They’re big men, they ran hard and some of our little fellas [sic] couldn’t make the tackles on those guys.”
With ten minutes to go in the first half, the Rams kept up with the Wombats ten to six, but a couple of near misses at the try line inevitably put them behind.
While they’re not winning, Mr Turley said the club has the advantage of younger players.
“We’ve got good spirit and numbers, if we put in a good pre-season next year with all these young fellas and start to develop their skills and positions a bit more I think we’ll find the club moving in the right direction,” he said.
“The other thing that really pleased me today is that the players really put in.
“They made the tackles stick, when they ran, they ran hard with the ball – overall there was a good positive attitude to the game and you could see that in their faces when they came off.”
With most playing out of position, the half and hooker led to some strong tackling rates.
A special mention goes out to burly front-runner Jeremy Johns who used his size to his advantage, and the strongest player on the field was arguably Chris McIntyre.
The Warialda Wombats appeared chuffed with their efforts, and coach Pete Stevens gave props to the Rams for putting up a decent fight.
“The result today was really good for our reggies,” Mr Stevens said.
“They’ve only won two or three games this year so to finish on a high like that has put them in a good mood.
“Armidale’s been a bit tough and they need some credit too – they stuck it to our reggies so it wasn’t a bad game of footy.”
At the game’s end, the scores were Warialda, 22, Armidale 12.