Oakey notches 50 in big TRL win

RUGBY LEAGUE: They’ve been building for something like this, and finally the Oakey Bears have put it all together.

After solid performances against top-five sides in their last four outings, the Bears were at their brilliant best in a 50-18 win over Southern Suburbs at Trevor Mickleborough Oval.

Oakey’s outside backs were simply unstoppable, with their back five combining for nine of their 10 tries, including hattricks to Benji Neliman (pictured) and Sam Cocker.

Coach Herman Ene-Purcell was impressed with the showing from his troops as they celebrated being at near full strength in style.

“That was the best structure I’ve seen all year,” Ene-Purcell said.

“It comes down to having players back. We can only imagine if we had that from the start of the season.

“The boys are finally clicking and coming into the second half of the year strong. It’s been a hard first year together, but the boys are gelling well.

“We had some close games against Wattles, Dalby and Gatton, and we’re looking to finish the year strong.”

With Jazz Namana set to come back into the line-up, Ene-Purcell is looking to round out the year on a positive note with a couple of big games to come and one eye to next year.

“Wes (Aumau) and I will come back. We see something good and want to keep building on that,” he said.

“A few of the boys are keen to run it back next year. We need to keep this same team together.

“We’ve got Newtown this weekend, and it will be good to get a run against them. We’ve then got Valleys, and we want to finish the year on a high.”

Goondiwindi took a big step towards a finals berth with a 38-26 victory over Warwick at Gilbert Oval.

The Boars led 20-0 early before fending off a late charge from the Cowboys to help them open up a four-point gap between fifth and sixth on the standings.

Highfields maintained a share of equal top spot after accounting for Pittsworth 48-10.

Strike centre Blake Appo finished the match with a hattrick.