THIS would have been an obituary for the Altona Roosters’ season had it not been for their admirable stubbornness.
The underdogs were scoreless, trailing by a whopping 20 points and staring elimination in the face at the halfway mark of the Victorian Rugby League first grade preliminary final against the North West Wolves at AJ Davis Reserve on Sunday. But the Roosters refused to give in, pulling off a remarkable back-from-the-dead 32-24 road win.
Player-coach Jason Warr told the Weekly that he implored his Roosters players at the half-time break to maintain a positive outlook and keep fighting until the final siren.
‘‘I just kept telling the boys to put a smile on their face,’’ he said. ‘‘I knew we were still in the game. We just had to keep going at them.’’
The Roosters have buried the bad memories of 12 months ago when they were ousted by the Wolves at the same stage.
They powered to an eight-point win and now get the chance to meet old rivals Sunbury United Tigers in a grand final clash of the traditional heavyweights at Fregon Reserve on Sunday at 2.40pm.
‘‘All the old boys were stoked,’’ Warr said of the payback dished out to the Wolves. ‘‘I wasn’t around the club last year, but they were quite chuffed we rolled them this year.’’
The essence of this Roosters line-up is its togetherness and hard work ethic.
There are no ‘look at me’ stars and no show boating.
They have avoided credible excuses too, like the defection of the so-called stars from last year’s team or the inexperience of this season’s squad.
‘‘It’s just the morale we’ve got, the camaraderie,’’ Warr said. ‘‘We might not be the best side out there, but we’re the gutsiest side.
‘‘Across the board, we share the load well.’’
Warr is confident his giant-killing side can do it once more.
They defied the odds to merely make the finals after a topsy turvy season.
Now they face a well-oiled Tigers machine who are gunning for back-to-back triumphs.
‘‘I’ve had faith in us the whole time,’’ he said. ‘‘Once we got into the semis, I said we’d go the whole way and I haven’t changed that yet.’’
What changed so significantly from the first half to the second half in Saturday’s game that allowed the Roosters to pull off a come-from-behind win?
Firstly, they had the aid of a strong breeze after the break.
They cleaned up their act and stopped giving away the silly penalties — or ‘‘piggyback’’ rides up the field as Warr calls them — that plagued the first 40 minutes.
And they had a young Henry Sang-Yum at their disposal, producing another master class.
It was Sang-Yum’s runaway try early in the second half that sparked the Roosters to life.
‘‘He started the charge with a good individual try,’’ Warr said.
‘‘He ran a great line from about 20 out and got over the line.’’
Sang-Yum has been a revelation for the Roosters this season.
The teenager is part of the Melbourne Storm’s under-18 SG Ball Cup squad.
He also played a big part in Victoria’s under-18 team at the national carnival.
‘‘His ball running and his line and angle running is really good,’’ Warr said. ‘‘His defence is second to none.’’
The Roosters’ match-winning try was scored by front rower Tanahiri Cahill. One of the premier ball carriers on the day, Cahill made a blindside run and burst through two would-be tacklers to touch down in the corner in front of his club’s fans.
‘‘It was right in front of the Altona crowd, it was really loud,’’ Warr said.
VRL finals
First grade: Altona Roosters 32 d North West Wolves 24
Second division: Altona Roosters 10 lt Doveton Steelers 34
