There’s a Bear in there, and Blake Tidswell, many players with claims, so selections were hell.
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Open wide, come inside… it’s the Central Western Daily sport desk’s Group 10 team of the year.
Badly rewritten children’s show theme songs aside, another season is done and dusted and while it’s coming a little later than usual, our cream of the crop was always on its way.
Naturally being after the grand final rather than before it, Bathurst Panthers and Cowra Magpies guns dominate this side, handpicked by sports journalists NICK McGRATH and MATT FINDLAY.
But plenty others shone this year and of course there’s some surprise inclusions and omissions, so without further adieu, here’s our best of 2018.
1 JEREMY GORDON
COWRA MAGPIES
Individually probably not Gordon's most outstanding season, but what the 2016 Group 10 player of the year added to the Magpies this winter was much greater than individual brilliance.
Class, power, skill and smarts, Gordon is nigh on the complete No.1 and is a massive reason behind the swoopers’ rise to a grand final appearance this year.
We’ve said it before, but any team with Gordon in it is bound to be there or thereabouts.
2 JORDAN BAKER
ORANGE HAWKS
Some may consider him a bolter, not us.
Severely underrated winger that scored tries for fun for the two blues.
Undersized but incredibly tough, remarkably brilliant through the air too.
3 JOE LASAGAVIBAU
ORANGE CYMS
Virtually everything threatening CYMS produced in 2018 was on the back of the elusive Fijian.
Just about the best all-round three-quarter in the Group, and one of the genuine nice guys too.
4 BRADYN CASSIDY
COWRA MAGPIES
Landed at Cowra in 2018 to play fullback and ended up in the centres, a position the young, wiry flier had never dabbled in.
He ended the year as the group's leading try-scorer.
Outstanding finisher, one who proved many critics wrong in 2018 with his stunning efforts.
5 JACKSON BRIEN
OBERON TIGERS
Probably the most consistent outside back in the Group over the course of the last five years.
Was again a threat for the Tigers this season and was always going to be named in this side, although Cassidy forces him to the wing, where he’d be just as good we think.
6 WILLIE WRIGHT
BATHURST PANTHERS
A month out from the finals Wright was virtually unknown – fast forward to September 9 and he’s kicking the winning goal for Panthers in the grand final.
Had to be included, especially considering he’d kicked Panthers to a win over Orange CYMS two weeks prior to that decider too, nailing a field goal in the dying stages of the minor semi-final.
What a finish to 2018, can you say big-game player?
7 DOUG HEWITT (c)
BATHURST PANTHERS
Best No.7 in the comp, bar none.
Didn’t break games open by any means, but had the unpredictable Willie Wright on the other side to be that, so instead Hewitt was the picture of reliability and consistency.
Kicking game is brilliant, his passing sublime and picks the best times to run – he was most dangerous when he does – but what stands Dougie above all others is his leadership.
Makes the players around him better, and that's as big a rap as you can get as a half.
And don’t forget he played the preliminary final and grand final with a completely blown-out knee.
That’s as tough as it gets.
We’d give him the captain-coach role in this outfit too.
8 BRENT SEAGER
BATHURST PANTHERS
The Brent Seager bell-ringer is still very much a thing, and long may that be the case.
The 2018 Dave Scott medalist and deservedly so too, considering the circumstances.
We rated Seager no chance to play in the decider after Saul Houma sent him on a trip to Disneyland seven days earlier, but he was cleared, copped a knock early in the decider but charged on in as gutsy a performance as you’ll ever see.
But that’s just Seager, and he was at his barnstorming best all year, that effort just lifted him to another level in our books.
9 BENJI JOHN
COWRA MAGPIES
The former Kumuls gun had a wretched back-end to his stint at Bathurst St Pats, but he reinvented himself in many ways in the black and white this year.
He’s as wily a dummy-half as you’ll find and was devastating around the ruck all season.
There was a couple of big moments toward the end of the grand final where he dropped the ball a little bit, but for us that didn’t do much – if anything – to take the gloss of a wonderful season.
Without him Cowra may well have not even been the in the big dance after all.
10 BLAKE TIDSWELL
COWRA MAGPIES
Underrated by some, but not those at the Magpies, and not us either.
Carried the Cowra club forward every week with limited fuss.
He stood up against some monster packs all season and often got the better of all of them - the Group's Grange ... he gets better and more valuable with age.
11 RAKAI TUHEKE
ORANGE HAWKS
Uncompromising. No fuss. All class.
Tuheke is the damaging backrower the two blues haven't had since the days of Chris Anau and for us, he was nigh on the best player in the competition all season, even if his polling in the player of the year vote didn’t reflect that.
12 JOSH RAINBOW
COWRA MAGPIES
Complete player.
Worthy winner of the Group 10 player of the year medal.
Would’ve capped a stunning season by captaining the Magpies to a breakthrough premiership but sadly for Rainbow, that wasn’t to be.
Regardless, he had a huge year and was one of the first-picked in this side.
13 CHANSE BURGESS
MUDGEE DRAGONS
Probably the most unique footballer in Group 10, one we so desperately wanted to named in the halves after he made one appearance in the No.6 jersey this year.
Built and plays like a prop, but charged with doing the bulk of Mudgee’s kicking in general play and then also given a license to throw flick passes and cut-out balls.
Ask any prop what the dream is, and they’ll tell you Chase Burgess is living it.
There’s no other way to put this, Burgess is our favourite player in not just Group 10 but all of rugby league. We can’t get enough of it.
Lap it up, big fella.