BELLINGEN, May 31 — The Bellingen Valley Dorrigo Magpies, buoyed by a growing roster of local players, showed remarkable grit against formidable opponents Long Flat in a hard-fought match at the Graveyard, hinting at a potential resurgence despite early season disappointments.
Signs are encouraging for the Bellingen Valley Dorrigo Magpies as the number of locals stepping forward to register to play is increasing. The early season games have resulted in disappointment as results have gone against them. One must remember that it is hard to rebuild a team that has consisted of different players each week. Now that the team will mostly consist of a core of local players each week there should be a vast improvement in results.
On Saturday 31st May the Magpies played Long Flat who have been one of the stronger teams in the Hastings League comp for a long time. In the trrible conditions at the Graveyard, due to the recent rain, the game was always going to be a slugfest. One official stating before the game that perhaps we would break the record for the number of scrums in a game.
Early on the bigger Long Flat forwards overpowered their younger lighter forwards resulting in the Magpies dropping the ball and giving away a number of penalties.
This allowed Long Flat to take control of the game and run out to a 32 to 0 lead by halftime and looking as though they were going to rack up a big score.
However, the Magpies dug deep in the second half, despite losing their inspirational halfback Jesse Alford to a head cut. Led by Jake Turner and Api Gah they kept Long Flat scoreless while scoring a try of their own by Api who dived on a loose ball over the Long Flat try line. Jake Tuhi also took the ball up strongly and delivered some big hits in tackles.
All in all, the Magpies showed that perhaps better things might be around the corner.