WAGGA Tigers coach Troy Maiden says he will have no hesitation entrusting young defender Justin Jenkins with the key lock-down jobs in the bigger matches to come after he performed solidly against dangerous MCUE forward Trent Castles in Saturday's win at Mangoplah.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The victory allowed the Tigers to move into the top two with a 3-1 record, and they can guarantee the double chance should they beat bottom two sides Turvey Park and Osborne in the last two regular season rounds of the AFL Riverina Championship.
Castles has made kicking 100 goals every season almost a routine, but Jenkins made him work for everything in the Tigers' 20-point victory.
The Albury recruit finished with 2.4 in his second game for the Goannas, with Jenkins continuing his strong form in the win over Leeton-Whitton the week before.
"I think he's been really good two weeks in a row to be truthful. He did a really good job for us back there last week, and today he's playing on a guy who's kicked a lot of goals," Maiden said.
"We'll keep backing him. because we think he's a very good player."
Jenkins said he gains plenty of confidence from the faith the coaching staff and his teammates place in him.
"I've just got to take every game as it comes and I thought I'd go out there and give it my best," he said.
"He (Maiden) has got a lot of confidence in me, and we lifted when we needed to lift. We let them back into it a couple of times but when the boys needed to lift, they did that in the middle.
"Our forward pressure was a big focus today, to get it in there and set up and try and keep it in there as long as we can."
READ MORE
