Reigning Premier League champions AKW Jets have jumped back into the winner’s circle with a hard-earned 8-5 victory over Young Guns at Jubilee Park on Tuesday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jets leader Vienna Randal was a hub of activity all night, frequently linking up with fellow standout performer Abbey Corbett and finishing the game with a team-high three tries.
Randal said she was pleased to see the improvements in her side’s performance after going down to Don Tuckwell’s Audio 8-4 in last week’s season opener.
“It wasn’t our best, but after last week it was definitely much better,” she said.
“Tonight turned out to be a good one in the end, but it was tough going at times.”
In the men’s competition, Katana Security Wizards came back to win their first game of the season, downing Quolls 9-8 in a thriller.
Speedster Lachie Harper and teammate Rhys Graham led the even spread of try scorers with two tries each.
Wizards coach Alex McKenzie said he was pleased with the effort at a time of year his side is traditionally still trying to find its footing.
“I thought it was a pretty good effort considering footy has only just finished and we haven’t really had the numbers,” he said.
“We only had seven men again tonight, but it was good to be able to come back from being down at half-time to pinch it.”
McKenzie said he was particularly pleased with the performance of Harper.
“Lachie went really well tonight, he’s only just got his speed back after footy but he’s electric for us.”
It was the Wizards who drew first blood with a Riley Browning try, but Quolls hit back almost instantly.
From there the teams exchanged tries, with neither side able to wrestle away a meaningful lead until Quolls went up 5-3 shortly before half-time.
But Harper dodged several bodies just before the break to get across the line and reduce the deficit to one.
The referees had the Wizards winning 5-4 before a lengthy and animated consultation with members of both teams restored order.
Ultimately, the Wizards wouldn’t need an unintentional score sheet mix-up to win the game, as Lachie Harper, Harry Luff, Alex McKenzie and Rhys Graham proved too much as they ran in the winning tries.
In the other men’s game, the Casuals downed the Cobras 10-8.