John Campbell
The Mullumbimby Giants have made it three wins from four starts after their 16–10 defeat of the more fancied Cudgen Hornets on Sunday.
By any measure, the game was an absolute ball-tearer.
Miserable wintery weather kept the crowd below the 5,500 that might otherwise have turned up. But those who did, made their presence felt as the contest grew in nerve-wracking intensity. (Les Donnelly Field has never been overly sympathetic towards visiting sides.)
Given the conditions – the floodlights were on shortly after kick-off and it rained throughout – nobody could have anticipated the quality of rugby league that was produced.
It was an old-school arm wrestle and in such encounters the superior pack always prevails.
Notwithstanding a late flurry from the Hornets, who took an hour to register their first points, it was Mullum’s forwards who asserted themselves after the kick-off, and just kept going and going.
Led by inspiring captain Sam ‘the Pharaoh’ Martin, fault could not be found with any of them for their unstinting effort, but special mention must be made of Josh ‘the Godfather’ Castellano, who contributed massive hard yards to the blue-and-gold cause every time he got the pill under his arm, and his veteran front-row partner, Dan ‘Grecian 2000’ Molenaar, a dyed-in-the-wool club man.
Both sides tested each other out early, and Cudgen’s Silvertails, obviously unsettled by the resistance they met, started to take a second look at the approaching defence.
Rhys ‘Struth’ Caruth ran a beautiful line onto a flat pass from half-back Shaun ‘the Horn’ Carney to open the scoring with a try under the sticks, and centre Troy ‘Hector’ McArthur registered a second soon after.
When ‘Mister’ Darcy Earl went over in the corner immediately before the break to make it 16–0, we all realised that an upset was more than a possibility.
What we hadn’t quite grasped was that for the Mullum boys it would not have been an upset. This is a side with self-belief and unflinching unity of purpose – the idea that they could not win never entered their heads for one minute.
Even when the Hornets came back at them and reduced the Giants’ lead to 16–10, with an uncomfortable nine minutes to go, you sensed that the Giants would not blow it.
They kept turning up for every tackle. Every man kept supporting the man next to them. It was the sort of tireless and uplifting effort that deserves to attract droves of supporters to Mullum’s next home fixture.
And our sincerest best wishes are sent to the injured Chase Nelson and his loved ones. Your mates did you proud.
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