The Rock-Yerong Creek announced themselves as genuine premiership contenders, and perhaps the team to beat, with 23-point victory over Marrar on Saturday.
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The Magpies showed how far they've come and ended Marrar's 30-game unbeaten streak at Langtry Oval in the process, running out comfortable winners 13.6 (84) to 8.13 (61) in the annual ANZAC Challenge.
The Bombers were wasteful early, and lost the in-form Harry Reynolds midway through the opening term, but were simply outclassed by a well-drilled Magpies team, that had the skills to match.
TRYC made the most of their early opportunities when Marrar had the better of play and went into the opening break a goal clear (4.1 to 2.7).
From there the Magpies got right on top, with key forward James Roberts kicking his fourth goal after the half-time siren to put the visitors 29 points clear.
It was a five-goal to one term that had potentially set the stage for another Marrar comeback but this time it was not to be.
A Joey Hancock snap was the only goal of a dour third quarter that the Magpies had the better of, and more importantly, denied any momentum for Marrar.
The Bombers did begin the final quarter with the first two goals inside four minutes to narrow the margin to 24 points but any comeback was quickly shutdown by an impressive Magpies unit, who enjoyed their first win over Marrar since 2016.
Riley Budd was awarded the Pearce-Shea Medal for best-on-ground and he was well-supported by Roberts, who finished his best game in Magpies colours with six goals.
TRYC co-coach Brad Aiken was rapt with the performance.
"The most satisfying thing was that we've nearly sustained that for four quarters," Aiken said.
"Marrar were incredible, they came back hard, we knew they would but for us to hold our shape and hold our nerve when they were coming, hopefully it shows we're starting to come of age a little bit."
The Magpies' ball use was a highlight of the day, continually finding teammates with pinpoint accuracy, while the Bombers were often left to bomb away.
Aiken was pleased to see TRYC's brand prevail.
"We take nothing away from Marrar. Obviously Jimbo (Lawton) is a massive loss for them and structures them up quite well but they've recruited well, they still play the same brand of footy, I just think we were able to play our brand for longer," he said.
"Before when we played Marrar, their pressure and their standard never dropped, and it didn't again today but we were able play our terms and our pressure never wavered either and it was actually a really good contest that way.
"I think our ball use was a little bit better than theirs, and our shape a little bit. The pleasing thing was we've probably played three and a half quarters of footy and hopefully we've still got some improvement."
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With Marrar enjoying a period of dominance over TRYC in recent times, and for even longer at Langtry Oval, Aiken hopes the win can prove a turning point for the Magpies.
"Usually they get sides to try and take it back through them and then they slingshot, and we didn't allow them to do it that today. And our pressure coming from behind the footy to come up and tackle and turn the footy back over or create a stoppage was probably the best I've seen it since I've been here," Aiken said.
"I was happy. We haven't beaten Marrar since 2010 here. We didn't put a massive emphasis on it, it wasn't the be-all, end-all but Marrar is a great side, if you can beat them at any time, hopefully it instils a bit of belief in the club."
The Magpies had an injury concern of their own with Canberra recruit Liam Lupton coming off early with a knee injury. Aiken described as it as an 'impingement' and expects it to be only minor.
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