The Cessnock Goannas’ late-season run came to an abrupt halt on Sunday when they were beaten 22-8 by an impressive Wests team in the Newcastle Rugby League grand final.
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The Goannas forced a couple of errors early but could not find any cracks in the Rosellas’ defensive wall.
Wests then started to control possession and after sustained pressure were able to split the Cessnock defence and Justin Smith scored out wide for a 4-0 lead.
The game settled down with both teams looking to gain an advantage with a good kicking game, but it was Wests again who scored when the Cessnock defence relaxed on dummy half and James Woolford dived over from close range.
The Goannas had to be careful to not let their opponents score next, as the game could have gotten out of reach.
On the back of good ball control Shaun Metcalf received a nice short pass from Joel Brown and crashed his way over.
Brown missed the difficult conversion and the score remained 10-4.
The most controversial moment came right on half time when Wests winger Ryan Lamb scored a try off what appeared to be the seventh tackle, and went to a 16-4 lead at the break.
Although upset with the dud call, Cessnock coach Steve Kidd encouraged his players to stay positive and build pressure on Wests, who had not played a lot of football in the past month.
The Goannas went out and threw everything at Wests, but could not crack the line.
The opportunity finally arose in the 56th minute when Kerrod Holland threw a nice pass to Geordie Connelly and he score out wide to take the score to 16-8 and created a real possibility of closing the gap.
But Wests again stood firm and handled all that the Goannas threw at them.
With 10 minutes left, the Rosellas scored again through Mark Farrar and the conversion brought up what would be the final score of 22-8.
Goannas president David Woodbury said Cessnock’s effort could not be faulted but Wests were a very good opponent.
Best for the Goannas (and close to best on field) was Chris Adams, who continually challenged the Wests’ defence and also rattled the opposition with his defence.
Wingers Brendan Williams and Chris Pyne worked tirelessly all day and really tried to lift their teammates; and centres Metcalf and Connelly at times looked threatening.
In the forwards, Alec Fata had his best game in recent memory, ripping into his opponents and was a constant threat.
Second rowers Kori Barber and Jacob McKendry defended well but with the ball could not get through.
Brendan Hlad and Mark White along with Brett Stevens off the bench had strong games when given opportunities, but Wests were too good on the day.
The club congratulated the coaching staff and players for reaching the grand final and also thanked the thousands of supporters that showed up on the day and throughout the season, plus all of their loyal sponsors and volunteers.
See more photos and highlights from the game in our gallery.
