After going down to Coogee Dolphins in the annual fixture for the last two years, Brothers hit back with an impressive display at Parramore Park.

Getting on top early, Brothers held the Sydney side scoreless for most of the game before conceding late on the way to a 36-6 victory.

The defensive effort was the one thing that impressed coach Terry Westblade the most.

“It was a real team effort and they played well as a team,” Westblade said.

“It was what we were working on to make sure the workload was shared.

“I was impressed defensively with the boys.

“They were both in that area.

“It is good to see some of the things paying off but of course you won’t know until you play a real comp game.”

Brothers just missed out on playing finals last year and Westblade believes the season is shaping up to be even closer this year.

However after months on the training paddock the trial was certainly was a good sign for the months ahead.

“It was good and it was a nice change,” Westblade said.

“The boys played really well.

“Coogee were probably a bit underdone by the sound of it, I don’t know if they were very prepared or not, but it is neither here nor there.

“From our point of view it well.

“We’ve been training since November so it felt rewarding after four months of pretty hard work.”

Another good sign for Brothers is they did it without many of their big name additions.

New recruits Cameron Breust, Monson Tuvale and Clifford Morris all didn’t play.

Ed Ansell also pulled out in the warm-up with an ankle concern picked up from Riverina under 23s commitments. 

The Brethern also came through the game without any injury concerns with the only real injury from the clash Westblade’s son Ben, who lined up for the Dolphins.

After an early exit from the West Wyalong Knockout the trial with Coogee was Brothers’ last hit-out before taking on Albury in round one.

However Westblade wants to before the season starts on April 14.

“We’re going to have a couple of internal trial games in the next couple of weeks as it is four weeks to we kick off against Albury,” he said.

“We probably still need a little bit of contact.”

FULL-TIME

Brothers 36 (H Kirby 2, K Power, B Sharrock, A Wynne, M Murphy, W Merritt tries; H Kirby 2, L Carey, B Cain goals) defeated Coogee Dolphins 6