Illawarra League: Wests outlast Collies in wet weather scrap to claim Challenge Cup

Greene had his first field goal attempt charged down in the 75^th minute with the scores locked at 12-all, before Collies pair Jarrod Boyle and Ben Jones twice turned down the opportunity to shoot for one point in search of a go-ahead try.

When the Devils were awarded a penalty on halfway inside the final minute, Greene waved away the chance at a long-range penalty goal, instead finding touch and nailing the match-winner two rucks later.

“I had heaps of time there, the boys gave me a pretty good block, I get a few of them in at training so I was pretty confident,” Greene said post-match.

“We still had heaps of time on the clock after the first [attempt] so I knew if we kept defending the way we were and built pressure the way we were I’d get another shot at it.”

It was part of a brilliant kicking performance from Greene and skipper Justin Rodrigues – who nailed a 40-20 with his first kick of the evening – as they constantly turned the Dogs big men around.

The pair also earned a points decision over highly fancied Collies duo Boyle and Jones with the game on the line down the stretch, something Green described as a massive confidence boost ahead of the season proper.

“It gives us heaps of confidence. We struggled with it last year but we started getting better with towards the end of the year,” Greene said.

“We got a good win against Collies late in the season and coming in here this early and being able to get it done is really good. 

“We just focused on what we had to do tonight. Pete talked to us about what we had to do and we executed really well.

“They’ve got a big pack  so we spoke about kicking early and turning them around, and I think we did it pretty well. We got them down in the corners and that’s what got us the win in the end.

“The talk was always really positive, there were no negatives. We were guilty of that a bit last year, when we got down we put our heads down and went quiet.

“Tonight we didn’t do that at all, it was all positive chat and we kept revving up in defence so it was really good.”

The Devils made most of the early running but only had Greene’s two penalty goals to show for it at quarter-time. They found themselves down 6-4 after Boyle laid on Jarrod Thompson’s four-pointer four minutes before halftime.

The Devils got back in front when Greene nailed the tough sideline conversion of Tony Pellow’s 44^th minute try. Collies re-took the lead when Jones jinked across five minutes before the final break with Tom Bartley landing the conversion for a two-point lead.

Greene leveled it up with his third penalty goal immediately following the resumption before his heroics down the stretch ensured the Challenge Cup will reside at Parrish Park in 2018.