A day after helping Country down City, Tom Warner guided the Stingrays of Shellharbour to a fifth win on the trot, downing a gallant Jamberoo Superoos 30-18 at Flinders Field on Sunday.
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And like he did for Country in their thrilling 26-20 win in Kogarah, Warner barged over for a try as the Stingrays fought back from a 12-4 half-time deficit to record another win, which sees them lead the Group Seven rugby league competition after six rounds.
Stingrays player-coach Warner was ecstatic that he could help Country and his beloved Stingrays to victory.
The inspirational skipper played 80 minutes, his four-pointer early in the second half kicking-off the home side's impressive fightback, which saw them outscore Jamberoo 26-6 in the second stanza.
"Originally I was only 18th man for Country and I told the boys during the week that whether I played five minutes, no minutes or whatever I would back up today," Warner said.
"I love the club. I love all the boys. I love playing with them. I was always going to back up today no matter what. It meant the world to me to help Country win yesterday and back up today to help the Stingrays win.
"I enjoyed the week with Country. It was a great week. To get the win with the boys was really special.
It meant the world to me to help Country win yesterday and back up today to help the Stingrays win.
- - Stingrays player-coach Tom Warner
"It was an awesome experience and I loved it.
"Backing up today also meant the world to me. Getting the win with the boys capped off a great weekend for me."
It ended up being a good weekend for Warner and the Stingrays but early in Sunday's game it seemed the Superoos would spoil the party.
The visitors, courtesy of two converted tries to five-eighth Mark Asquith, jumped to a deserving 12-0 lead midway through the first half.
Stingrays winger Jayden Harris crossed out wide late in the half to reduce to deficit to only eight points.
The home side carried this momentum into the second half and midway through the stanza led 16-12 after converted tries to Warner and five-eighth William Heta, the latter coming after a smart run from hooker Colby Smith.
The Stingrays wrapped up the game with two tries to Taioalo Vaivai and one to winger Ben Weatherall.
Jamberoo fullback Nathan Gallestegui scored late but the Superoos' fightback efforts weren't helped by a disallowed try to winger Asquith and dropping the ball over the line.
Jamberoo player-coach Jono Dallas admitted the missed opportunities cost his team.
"We just didn't get things to go our way in the second half," he said. "In saying that I thought we played our best game of footy for the year.
"We got over the line twice there in the second half, once when we were two in front. If we managed to score we would have been eight up and it would have been a different game.
"But we didn't take our opportunities. It is what it is."
While disappointed to lose, Dallas felt the performance would stand his team in good stead moving forward.
"It's a shame we lost but that's gonna be better for us moving forward," he said.
"As a team internally, it was just about playing well today. If we won, we did, if we didn't, it's only six rounds in. For us was really important that we played as a team for a change, which we did do, which was pleasing.
"What wasn't pleasing was ending up with just one fresh bench player again, which has been the story of our year so far.
"Hopefully next week we should start seeing some guys come back and we'll start finding our feet a bit."
In other matches on Sunday, Warilla overcame a 9-3 penalty count to beat Kiama Knights 30-22 at Cec Glenholmes Oval.
It was also a tight game at Bill Andriske Oval, with visitors Gerringong Lions downing Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs 26-18.
Round six kicked off on Saturday with Nowra-Bomaderry Jets picking up their second big-scalp in as many weeks, downing the Shellharbour Sharks 34-16 at Ron Costello Oval.
The impressive win came a week after they upset reigning premiers Warilla 38-28 at Bomaderry Sporting Complex.
Big things were expected of Nowra this season after picking up some handy off-season recruits, and the Jets have delivered on these expectations, with four wins and a draw from their opening six games to date.
Saturday's other clash at Berry Showground was a thriller, with Berry-Shoalhaven Heads Magpies sharing the points with Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles after the teams played out an entertaining 24-24 draw.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
