Starting the comp off in a bit of a slump and then to make it all the way to the semi finals, the Mudcrabs sure clawed back their reputation after a devastating fall at the Hornets Championships.
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The Mudcrabs mixed opens side made the trek to Wollongong to play in the NSW Country Touch Championships last weekend, and kicked off the comp with an unfavourable start.
A total of 48 teams from all over Regional NSW made an appearance including Mudgee’s Central West rivals, Orange and Young.
Also in attendance were Dubbo, Parkes, Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Jerrabomberra - a team based on the NSW-ACT border, and Wollongong, just to name a few.
Mudgee were drawn to play in Pool B, against five other sides.
On the Saturday, Mudcrabs took on Orange and lost 5-4 in a game that was a case of catch up.
“Unfortunately time just beat us there,” Mudcrabs Publicity Officer Ben Harris said.
Next, Mudgee took on Jerrabomberra and suffered a 8-1 loss.
“Mudgee just got blown off the path.”
“We were licking our wounds so to speak on Saturday.”
Suffering a disappointing first day, Mudgee set out to change their tactics for Sunday and you could say, it paid off.
After going doing 4-3 to Port Macquarie, Mudcrabs put themselves in a sudden death situation having to win the next game by three touchdowns to qualify for the quarter finals in the A Grade division.
The touch God’s rained down of the Mudcrabs as they produced a convincing 9-3 win against Young, putting themselves through to the quarter-final against competition favourites, Newcastle.
In a match where hope was dwindling on by a thread, Mudgee took on the undefeated Pool A side, who play in Sydney weekly competitions - dubbed the best weekly comp in the world.
Many were said to have found themselves in a state of shock for Mudgee did it, they knocked Newcastle off their pedestal, and won 5-3, placing the Mudcrabs in the semi finals.
“I think they were quite surprised with how well we played.”
“Even a few of the other teams when they found out we had beat Newcastle were quite surprised and shocked that we had knocked off the undefeated side.”
This was to be the first in semi finals game in quite some time for Mudgee, and they were up against Port Macquarie once again.
They played a tight came and fell 5-2, against the team who went on to win the competition with a score of 7-6.
“They played a lot smarter touch football.”
“Whenever we saw a gap, they had an answer.”
“To drop our first three games and to then play sudden death from then on, wasn’t ideal but hopefully with five weeks until state cup, we can rectify those slow starts and come out with a bang and do really well in December.”
Stand out acts throughout the championships were Andrew Laurie, dubbed as the Cattle Dog for the Mudgee side and was “the driving force in our defence line”, Grace Quinn, Sally Harris, Kate Yeo, and Liz O’Brien.
“Across the board, all of the girls played really well which was great to see.”
The Mudcrabs will next make an appearance at the State Cup in December at Port Macquarie.
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Jay-Anna Sleeman
Reporter for the Western Advocate. First began as a sports journalist with ACM in 2018 before moving on to cover news and court.
Reporter for the Western Advocate. First began as a sports journalist with ACM in 2018 before moving on to cover news and court.
