After the Canberra Raiders Cup First Grade competition broke up over the weekend for the King’s Birthday long weekend, the Yass Magpies had a chance to regroup over the weekend in preparation for the second half of the season.
After eight rounds, the Magpies sit with just one win and seven losses, as well as having a bye in Round 5.
The Magpies sole win for the season came against the Gungahlin Bulls in Round 3 at Walker Park when they recorded a 30-10 win.
Despite only having one win for the season, it’s not all bad news for the men in black and white, with the side being competitive in all their games this season, bar their 48-0 loss against West Belconnen in Round 7 and their most recent game in Round 8 against the Belconnen Sharks, where they suffered a 42-14 loss.
The Magpies pushed ladder leaders Queanbeyan Roos all the way in Round 4 to go down valiantly 24-16, showing they are not too far off the pace.
The average losing margin for the Magpies this season is just 14 points, with first-season head coach of Yass, Adam Kyle, saying his squad needs to play with more consistency to improve and rise up the ladder.
This Saturday in Round 9, the Magpies will take on the second-placed Goulburn Bulldogs at Workers Arena at 3pm.
“Ladder position and wins all come on the back of the process that you put in place. That’s what I’d really like to see, is a more consistent approach to our football process in the second half of the season,” Kyle said.
“The competition is really close every year. Even ourselves sitting where we are at the moment, you get three or four wins on the bounce and all of a sudden you shoot up the table really fast. Goulburn are a great side, I coached out there for a couple of years and went to a grand final with them in 2019.
“Personally, it’ll be nice to get back out and see Goulburn and see all the players out there. We’ll be certainly trying to put a game plan together over the next week to combat the Cornish brothers – they’re in really good form. They’ll certainly be a good challenge for us coming up.
“We trained the boys through the break. The last time we had a bye, we gave them the week off for a bit of a refresh. I think it’s important now that we do a little bit of extra training. We had conditioning training last week and had a whole club games night and barbecue on Thursday, just to bring everyone back together and get a bit of a fun element back in before really starting to hone in and focus on Goulburn.”
Yass Valley Times Mid-Season Prediction:
It’s safe to say that the Magpies have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to play finals in 2023. With nine games remaining for Yass this season, they would need to win at least seven games and have results go their way. The Magpies will also have to dramatically improve their points differential to appear in finals. The good news for Yass is that there are a clump of teams just above them in such an even comp, meaning they are only three wins off the pack.
Coach Kyle always had the intention for 2023 to be a season for rebuilding after the Magpies challenging 2022 season. If the Magpies miss finals this season, so be it. The squad has already shown improvement from last year and has blooded multiple young players from their Reserve Grade team.
2024 will be the year that the Magpies finally push up the ladder, which means the second half of 2023 is all about improvement and gelling the squad together. It will allow Yass to try different game plans and continue to blood the youth.
With home games coming up against the Queanbeyan Blues, away to Gungahlin Bulls, and winnable games against Woden and Tuggeranong, The Times predicts Yass will win another four games out of their remaining nine games to finish on five wins for the season – more than last season. Finishing 7th or 8th on the ladder will be a pass mark at the end of the year.
Canberra Raiders Cup First Grade Ladder:
- Queanbeyan Roos – 14 points – +196
- Goulburn – 8 points – +68
- West Belconnen – 8 points – +32
- Belconnen United – 8 points – -10
- Woden – 8 points – -12
- Tuggeranong – 8 points – -32
- Gungahlin – 4 points – -80
- Queanbeyan Blues – 4 points – -82
- YASS MAGPIES – 2 points – -80
Tim Warren
