St Marys Leagues Stadium was the venue for Saturday's Sydney Shield and Leagues Clubs Australia Ron Massey Cup Semi-finals, which saw a pair of statement victories along with some closely fought contests in an action-packed day of footy.
Manly flick the switch after early deficit
Manly Leagues turned the tables on an early 6-0 deficit to claim a commanding 52-18 win over Mounties in Saturday’s Sydney Shield Minor Semi-final, which now sees them move on to next week’s Grand Final qualifier at Leichhardt Oval.
Mounties opened the scoring within a few minutes when Ryan Jeffery produced an offload post-contact to send prop Jarvis Leafa surging over, but Manly fullback Max Lehmann replied shortly after as he sliced through a gap from close range to trail 6-4.
Prop Jake Watmough followed up in the 12th minute with a try of his own by crashing under the sticks and helping Manly to a 10-6 lead. They never looked back from there.
Manly ran in another four tries unanswered before the break, including a classy chip over the top from five-eighth Witika Rees-Hatu, a double for halves partner Braith Alexander, then centre Cameron Brown crossing for his first of two for the afternoon. Along with winger Lachlan Burt’s five conversions, Manly pushed ahead to a 34-6 half-time lead.
Despite Mounties’ pair of early tries in the second half through fullback Tyrone Tsagalias and No.15 William Zammit, Manly’s dominance continued with doubles for Brown and Watmough, while winger Max Davies (pictured above) added himself to the scoresheet to run away 34-point victors in the sudden-death clash.
Magpies march on in Ron Massey Cup
The fourth-placed Wentworthville Magpies are headed for the Leagues Clubs Australia Ron Massey Cup Preliminary Final after surviving a second-straight elimination matchup, this time coming away with a 32-18 win over Mounties in the Minor Semi-final at St Marys Leagues Stadium.
Things looked ominous to begin with, however, as Mounties produced two tries in the space of just eight minutes. The first came through left winger Isaac Williams hitting and spinning for the corner, before they targeted that same edge for fullback Brad Abbey to plant the ball down and lead 8-0.
Wenty eventually found points after 15 minutes when centre Josh Minhinnick bounced off a defender to score, but the follow-up conversion was waved away.
Five-eighth Harrison Geraghty’s try 12 minutes later, momentarily pushed Mounties lead out to 10 points with Abbey’s conversion, yet the Magpies had the last say before half-time when second-rower Leo Nasio made a beeline infield and reached out for the try-line. Halfback Dylan White added the extras to trail 14-10 at the break.
Wenty kept the momentum going in the second half and hit the lead for the first time when Minhinnick showed some great evasiveness to score his second. Five-eighth Kruz Niutili-Schmidt was next to score at the hour mark, with two more White conversions putting the Magpies 22-14 ahead.
A Mounties fightback looked on the cards when Williams crossed for his double, but it was short-lived as Minhinnick went in for a hat-trick before prop Beni Valu crashed over to seal a Preliminary Final berth for the Magpies.
Wenty leave it late to score Grand Final berth
Following a week one bye after securing top spot on the Sydney Shield ladder, Wentworthville United came from six points behind with under 20 minutes remaining to beat St Marys Saints 22-18 in the Major Semi and progress through to the Grand Final on Saturday 13 September.
Saints winger Kaleb Farr produced first points in the fifth minute on the end of a well-worked sweep to the right, then Wenty struck back when hooker Ayden Carling linked up through the middle with five-eighth Zachary Hunter from 30 metres out. Halfback Darcy Brettle nailed the conversion from in front to take a 6-4 advantage.
Both sides traded another try each, this time through Saints winger Joel Shields (18’) and his opposite number Elias Abou-Mrad (24’), with just the two conversions keeping Wentworthville ahead at 12-8.
But as the Saints came up with four-pointers either side of half-time, with Joel Saldaneri scoring from a dummy-half sneak (32’) and centre Tony Satini latching onto a looping pass to stroll over untouched (44’), the ladder-leaders were suddenly staring down the barrel of a defeat.
It wasn’t until the 63rd minute when they fell back into rhythm, as centre Jabriel Kalache darted down the short side from his own half and fashioned an offload for fullback Liam Davidson to score. Brettle’s conversion levelled the score-line at 18-all.
Wenty snatched the lead minutes later via the good work of Kalache once again when he busted the line open from long range. Although the No.3 was tackled short, Hunter took possession on the ensuing play to score and put his side ahead 22-18, the eventual full-time score.
Rounding out the day’s action at St Marys Leagues Stadium, Minor Premiers the Saints flexed their muscle against Ryde-Eastwood Hawks in the Leagues Clubs Australia Ron Massey Cup Major Semi-final, piling on nine tries in a dominant 52-16 win and punching a ticket to their first Grand Final since 2023.
Both Preliminary Finals take place on Saturday 6 September at Leichhardt Oval with tickets available for just $10 at the gate. Both matches are also streamed live on BarTV Sports. Click here to subscribe.
