No room to move at top
Five things learnt from round 12 of the TRL
RUGBY LEAGUE: Round 12 of the TRL Premiership was highlighted by a top-five battle that saw the Cowboys climb to third and Highfields drop to fifth.
It shows not only the determination of each player out on the field during these battles, but how narrow the margin is between winning and losing.
Here are the five talking points from round 12 of the TRL Premiership. WARWICK WINNING TOUGH Being able to hang in during the tight games is a skill that separates the contenders from the rest of the pack, and Warwick is making an art of prevailing when it is close.
They showed it again on the weekend when they pulled out a herculean effort to down Highfields 24-20 in a quality game of football.
The Cowboys were missing a number of key players heading into the game, including prized recruit Dan Murphy, who will miss the rest of the season, and still showed enough fight to win against a very good Highfields unit. SEASON ON THE LINE
Pittsworth’s hopes of returning for their third successive grand final took a huge hit after dropping a crucial game to Dalby at the weekend.
Currently they are three wins behind Highfields in fifth place, and with just five games left for their season, they need to win all of them to have any sort of chance.
They may be left to rue a slow start to the season where they dropped their first three games. IS THE SPARK THERE?
Speaking of teams with their season’s on the line, Oakey is another that falls into that category.
They climbed to seventh after a tough win over Brothers, but a poor for and against leaves them in a similar position where they will need to win their remaining five games.
There is no better test of where they are at as a club than this week at home when they host Valleys, with a number of players set to return to the lineup as well. MINOR PREMIERSHIP HEATS UP With every passing week, it is looking more and more likely that the round 15 encounter between Valleys and Wattles will determine who will finish in first.
They both maintained their positions on 20 competition points with wins at the weekend, and the question has to be asked as to who will stop the two from continuing their roll.
Wattles have now won seven competition games in a row, however they will have to get themselves up for another tough fixture when they head to Gatton to take on a desperate Hawks side looking to keep in the finals race. TRUE MEASURE OF STRENGTH OF COMPETITION Much has been said of how close the competition is at the top end, but let’s not forget those out of the finals race that are sticking it to tougher opposition.
Goondiwindi had an early lead and managed to pile on 32 points against second-placed Wattles in a thrilling contest, while Brothers recovered from being down by 12 in the space of eight minutes to push Oakey right to the end.
Southern Suburbs put in one of their best efforts for the year as well, hanging in against one of the benchmark teams of the TRL, Valleys.