Injuries to young guns Nic Hall and Tom Jenkins overshadowed Young's third consecutive win heading into finals.
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Both suffered groin injuries as the Cherrypickers never needed to get out of first gear against an insipid Junee outfit to score a 62-4 win at Alfred Oval on Sunday.
The Diesels had the first opportunity but letting Joe Picker stroll 50 metres to score the opening try after five minutes was the start of a dreadful showing.
Long range tries were the feature of the first half as the Cherrypickers eased their way through at almost every opportunity.
Leading 40-0 at half-time, Young cruised to victory with the only joy for the Diesels was a late try to Jake Goodwin playing in the centres.
However injuries to their two brightest talents is a big concern heading into their finals clash with Brothers at Equex Centre on Saturday.
Coach Nick Hall admitted it was far from an ideal lead up.
"We've got injury concerns and while it was a nice win it is not the sort of game you want heading into the semis," Hall said.
"I would rather a tough game where everyone is ok.
"It felt like there was just nothing to play for in the second half, other than not getting hurt and it is what happened.
"We'll have to assess them all."
Both Jenkins and Hall scored tries in the win as Young crossed 11 times.
Mick Picker was the only one to score twice as Young provided Matt Murray with plenty of goal kicking practice.
Hall knows they face a much bigger test against Brothers but is confident they are building in the right direction as they hunt their first win over a top three rival this season.
"Brothers are a whole another level from that so we need to be much better than that," he said.
"The hard thing is not to let it sing and throw the ball around. We went out there to try to have some kind of resemblance of tight football but it was a little bit hard in the second half when we've got injuries and blokes are playing out of position.
"You are not really playing for anything but just to get to the whistle."
The loss ends another tough season for Junee, who won just one game and had president Simon Vanzanten resign along the way.
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Courtney Rees
Courtney is a sports journalist from The Daily Advertiser focusing on Group Nine, Southern Inland, cricket, harness racing and greyhound racing.
Courtney is a sports journalist from The Daily Advertiser focusing on Group Nine, Southern Inland, cricket, harness racing and greyhound racing.
