On a day that seemed heaven-sent for North Wagga, the Saints found the answer to just about all of their prayers.
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New assistant coach Daniel Jordan announced his arrival in the Farrer League – and potentially the end of his days as a defender – with a 10-goal haul.
Former coach Nathan Dowdle made a successful return from a 21-month injury layoff, snapping a goal with one of his first touches.
And North Wagga lifted themselves off the bottom of the ladder with their second win – a 93-point victory over Temora at McPherson Oval.
“It’s just a massive relief for myself and the club,” coach Kirk Hamblin said.
“We knew if we just stuck at it and kept working hard, things would turn our way and we think we turned over a leaf today.”
In rather striking pink jumpers, later auctioned off to raise money for the Cancer Council, North Wagga breathed new life back into their season with a 22.9 (141) to 7.7 (49) victory over the Kangaroos.
After an evenly-matched first half, Temora led by a point at the main break.
But an injury-hit Roos had no bench and Jordan began to work his way into an unfamiliar role up forward.
In his first game back from a hamstring injury (and having played less than 10 minutes in his one appearance with the Saints) Jordan didn’t take a mark until midway through the second quarter.
But he kicked two goals in two minutes then, and the first of the third term to start an avalanche of scoring.
The Saints piled on seven goals in 11 minutes, and 10 for the quarter, to show signs of the team they’d expected to be seven weeks ago.
Ben Reid storming through the centre and Troy Curtis laying a brutal tackle on Luke Pattison illustrated the new-found confidence of a team that looked like a cloud had lifted.
“I’ve always known that the boys have got the ability to compete with anyone, so it’s good for them to get a bit of self-belief,” Hamblin said.
“And it’s pretty handy having the big fella sitting up forward - someone big to kick to.”
Jordan kicked six goals in the last quarter including one comfortably from 55 metres out, in his first game as a forward since under 18s.
“I’ve never kicked more than one in a game – that’s what you get playing fullback,” Jordan said.
“Once we figured out how to use it, then going forward as quick as we could and get it to the one-on-ones nice and deep, it worked really well. We can beat anyone I reckon.
“If we can get that going every game, we’ll be quite hard to stop I think.”
Hamblin reminded his players it was just one game.
And when he and Christin Macri came together to remember their former president at Ganmain, Peter McCaig, it was a reminder that it’s only a game.