Daniel Foley takes the Albury Thunder line on.
The sun beat down on Laurie Daley Oval, a cauldron of noise and passion in the heart of Junee. It was the final round of the Group 9 season, a day of reckoning, a last chance for the hometown Junee Diesels to leave their mark. For them, this wasn’t just another game. It was a mission—a quest for revenge.
The memory of their last encounter, a gut-wrenching 36-40 loss to the Albury Thunder, still tasted bitter. That day, the Thunder had snatched victory from their grasp, leaving the Diesels to ponder what might have been.
Today, on their hometurf, the script would be different. The air crackled with anticipation as the two teams ran onto the field. The home crowd, a sea of passionate Junee fans, roared for the Diesels, their cheers a deafening wave that washed over the oval.
The game kicked off, a thunderous collision of bodies that set the tone for the brutal afternoon ahead.
The first half was a masterclass in resilience from the Diesels. They weathered the initial storm from the Thunder, their defensive line holding firm like an iron wall. Then, they struck. It was a lightning-fast break, a moment of pure rugby league poetry. Tommy Carroll, with his deceptive speed, sliced through a gap in the Thunder’s defence, his legs churning as he raced for the line. He touched down, and the Junee faithful erupted. The first blow had been landed.
The Thunder, stung but not broken, fought back. Their captain, the ever-reliable Clayton Couley, bulldozed his way through the Junee defence, a force of nature with a ball tucked under his arm. He scored, and the Albury contingent in the crowd roared in approval.
The game was a seesaw, a tense, back-and-forth battle for supremacy. But the Diesels had an extra gear. They were playing with a fire in their belly, a passion that burned brighter than the last rays of the afternoon sun.
Nick Hogarth, with his relentless energy, found a seam and burst through it, his try a testament to his sheer determination. Then came Jese Wainibuli, the Fijian flyer, whose fancy foot work left defenders grasping at air. The crowd gasped as he danced his way to the try line, a blur of motion.
As the half-time whistle blew, the scoreboard told a compelling story. The Diesels were in the lead, but the Thunder were not going to go quietly. The second half was a war of attrition. Both teams left everything on the field, their bodies a testament to the brutal beauty of the sport. But the Diesels were simply unstoppable. Ratu Saurara scored a try that was pure power, a rumbling run that took three defenders to bring him down, but not before he crossed the chalk.
Dredin Sorensen, the human highlight reel, added his name to the try list with a stunning solo effort that showcased his electrifying pace. And to cap it all off, Daniel Foley crossed the line, a final exclamation point on a dominant performance.
Albury, to their credit, never gave up. Blake Grounds and Sebastian Nelson both scored tries, their efforts a display of the Thunder’s fighting spirit. Nelson, a sharpshooter with his boot, converted two of their three tries, keeping their hopes alive. But Junee’s goal-kicking proved just as lethal. James Strickland and Dredin Sorensen were clinical with their conversions, their kicks sailing true between the uprights, adding valuable points to the ever-growing lead.
The final whistle sounded, a triumphant blare for the Diesels. The scoreboard read 36-16. Revenge was theirs. The win marked the end of the season for both clubs. The Thunder finished 6th and the Diesels 7th, a disappointing final standing for two proud clubs. But for Junee, this was more than just a win. It was a statement. Despite winning only six of their sixteen games, they had claimed some major scalps, toppling two finalists in the Temora Dragons and the Young Cherrypickers, along with the Thunder.
This victory was a fitting crescendo to a season of highs and lows. It was a promise of things to come. With their 100th year celebration on the horizon next year, all signs pointed to a strong campaign for the Diesels. This win was a taste of what they were capable of, a glimpse into a future that looked bright, a future where the Diesels would not just compete, but truly roar.
Diesels coach Ben Shea shared his thoughts on the season-ending victory and the Club’s direction.“It was a good win, it was tough, especially giving a team with their amount of quality a double-digit start. The boys deserved a win to finish on a high,” Shea said.
“They were pretty handy, they led 12-0 and it was probably good in that respect and being down on troops and had a couple of tough weeks and when it was 12-0 it might have been easy to roll over being the last game but the boys stuck in it and we ended up having a really good second half and kind of put them away.”
“They honestly deserved the win because we had been heading in the right direction, and then a few injuries, and we had a couple of tough losses, but even though Tumut and Gundy were handy teams, we probably had our opportunities there, but were just down on troops.
“It was probably a good win to reaffirm that the Club is definitely heading in the right direction and the boys took a lot of confidence out of that rolling in to next year and probably with the other games, the four or five that we were in was a chance that we should have won but to get that one at the end to say yes, we are heading in the right direction and finish the season on a high.”
Shea singled out two key performers, particularly praising Dredin Sorensen for stepping up to play an unfamiliar role.
“Mika and Dredin got our awards again. Mika has been outstanding every week and Dredin’s been great every week as well, but we actually moved him and Dredin from centre into front row just for this game because being down on troops and he had a big game in the middle and scored the match sealing try, dummied a field goal and stepped through and scored, so he was pretty happy with himself there and called himself the Prince of Junee.”
“He was good and Mika was good and all the boys put in a good effort again, just guys stepping up and doing their job when we’ve had guys like Chase and Jaydyn and things like that out and guys coming back from injury and playing injured. It was good across the park.”
On goal-kicking, Shea noted an area for improvement, while again acknowledging Sorensen’s effort. “The boys have to get a bit more goal-kicking practice next year, but a few of the lads had a crack. But again, Dredin hasn’t been doing a bad job for a makeshift kicker. Another string to his bow, as he will tell you, but it was a good win.”
The coach commented on the intensity of the game. “They came to play. They started tough, and it’s always tough with those games at the end and at one point, there were only 11 on the field for each team. Several sinbins along the way; there was a bit of feeling in it.”
“To get it back together after the first half and being down to 11 and come back from the 12-0 and then put it away in the second half was pretty pleasing.”
Shea was also quick to praise the unwavering dedication of the Diesels’ supporters. “It was a great crowd. I can’t thank the Junee supporters enough. They’ve turned up every home, really, and I think probably stood out to me, it was a pretty ordinary day at Young last week, but I think there probably wasn’t a heap of people there and then to turn around and there was a lot of our supporters there at the away game and then also they turned up at the last home game as well, but then they’ve been turning up all year. The support has been great.”
“It’s a long trip up from there, so they don’t bring a heap of supporters, so it was definitely a good local crowd, and they were definitely vocal, especially when we got down to 11 men.”
Shea provided insight into Sorensen and Chase Bernard’s movements to the French competition and its implications for next year.
“I’m not sure what Dredin’s plans are. He’s enjoyed his time in Junee, which is good, but when you play two years in the French comp, it makes you eligible to go and play in the Super League in England. If he doesn’t do any good over there, he will definitely be welcome back here.”
“The Super League boys back in France because the seasons run opposite there’s really only one year that’s played, the second year you are available to go over there mid-season, so you can jump on the back of their comp, so it’s not actually a bad set up, as opposed to where it used to be you had to play 80% NRL games for two seasons or play international. So that kind of adds a little backdoor into the Super League qualifications for guys that are pretty handy at the start with the qualifications.”
“That’s the plan and that’s always been the case since last year when Chase went back and even this year it was always about building for the 100th year next year and 40 years since Junee has won a comp and I think we have put a lot of good foundations in there this year with Chase and all the board and then set that up and get hopefully the majority of our squad back and add a few players in and around there and get a couple of quality boys back from France, but probably have a bit better start to the season with things we have already been doing to insure we have an overall great season.”
“We had six wins this year, so that was double last year, and if you look back through it, there were probably five that we could have won or should have won. We’re definitely heading in the right direction, especially for next year.”
He specifically mentioned close losses: “Gundy, we just got pipped by two points, then the Roos down on troops, we gave them a good fight.”
Regarding his own return and the coaching set-up: “We are pretty much locked and loaded now. There will be a similar set up with myself and Chase and Willo and then obviously just doing it this year and getting to know each other a lot better with the Club, I think we’ll be able to roll things a lot better into the start of next season and we’ll be able to plan it a bit better with flights and then hopefully we’re back earlier in the season. So we might only miss three or four games instead of seven or eight games, which I think will make a big difference.”
Finally, Shea revealed the unexpected reason for Bernard’s return to France. “Chase is going back as well. It was only a late thing in the last couple of weeks. He has a chance to play in the French squad for the World Cup if he plays one more season over there.”
“He’s going to go back, and that will qualify him and give him the chance to make the French World Cup team because he will have played five seasons in France.”
“That only kind of came about in the last three weeks, that opportunity and then we sat down and said we can make it work as it’s too good of an opportunity for him to pass up and at this stage of his career he is not going to get a better opportunity than that to play at the highest level.”
Shea confirmed his own immediate plan for recovery and a later return for Bernard: “27th is the first game in the French competition, so I was just limping through to the end of the year. I would go there and rest up to kind of come back to play next year I think which would be good for me, but Chase is not going back to France until probably November as he will come back late and it will give him a good rest as he got surgery on that ankle that he hurt last week, but it is not a big recovery. So it’s only kind of 10 weeks, he’ll be able to get himself right, have a bit of a rest and then come in to the season a bit later there before Christmas.”
– Tully Potts
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