It’s been a tough year for the Wagga City faithful but first grade coach Scott Callaghan is refusing to pull up stumps ahead of their final game of the season.
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After finishing in the top three two years running, the Boiled Lollies have plummeted down the Southern Inland table and are yet to win a first grade encounter in 2018.
Near misses against cross-town rivals CSU Reddies and a brave loss 53-33 to Albury in round six headline a season of ‘what if’s’ for Wagga City.
However, Callaghan remains fiercely proud of his young charges, whom he believes have stepped up in the face of adversity.
“We had a lot of players leave last year and that was tough, but what’s really hurt us are the injuries this season,” Callaghan said.
“We’ve got eight regular first-graders who are now no longer playing in the side due to injury and that leads to inconsistencies and an inability to put the same team on the paddock each week.”
James Maloney, John Blackmore, Jarrod Shaw, Damian Dodds, and Oscar Bischard are just a handful of Wagga City regulars who’ve been sidelined with injury this season and it’s rare to find a player pencilled into first grade each week.
“We’ve had 34 different guys who’ve had a run in first grade this year and the majority of them are young blokes, mostly in their early 20s,” Callaghan said.
“Size comes into it as well and a few of those blokes missing are our bigger players.
“I think we’ve only had one player who’s been uninjured and played in all our first-grade games and that’s Jacob Nielsen, but even he started off the bench in round one.”
Nevertheless, Callaghan is refusing to point the finger at his troops and believes there’s a final effort to be made against Tumut this weekend.
“We still have an opportunity to break through and get our first win on Saturday,” he said.
“We’d love to get up over in Tumut and there’s plenty on the line for our other teams as well.
“The seconds are playing for a second bite at the cherry come finals, our thirds are out for a win and our women’s team need a big game to make it through to finals, so the season’s not over for us as a club.”
A bonus-point win could see the Boiled Lollies leapfrog CSU Reddies into seventh and there’s hope yet for a young side with plenty of promise.
“Every week we play, we give another young player an opportunity to play in first grade and we get another opportunity this weekend,” Callaghan said.
“We’re seeing the standards set by teams like Waratahs and that’s the standard we’re trying to get to as a club.”
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