Magpies Fail To Swoop As Jets Soar To Victory

Illawarra Mercury

Monday April 7, 2008

By TIM KEEBLE

SHOALHAVEN captain-coach Geoff Johnson will continue to preach a good behaviour policy to his side after the Jets overcame a high penalty count to beat Berry-Shoalhaven Heads 32-14 yesterday at Nowra Showground.

The Jets marked their maiden Group Seven flight with a perfect take-off, leading 18-4 at half-time and putting the Magpies to the sword with a try in the opening minutes of the second half.

But they were caught in turbulence for the game's first 20 minutes, affording the visitors the lion's share of possession through a string of penalties.

Handling errors prevented Berry from capitalising and the competition newcomers finally broke the stalemate when hard-working lock Col Green etched his name in the club record books with a try under the posts.

The Magpies hit back with an unconverted try but Johnson took advantage of good work by his forwards and guided the Jets to a half-time lead.

Despite his elation, the former Magpies and Nowra playmaker urged the Jets - who formed in the off-season through a merger between Nowra and Bomaderry - to stay grounded in their quest for a top five berth.

"It's a great start, but there's still a lot of hard work in front of us. I just want to get the two clubs together and develop a team," Johnson said.

The Jets have a round two bye before fronting Batemans Bay on the road.

Johnson believes his team will gain confidence after beating last year's grand finalists.

"We knew Berry were going to be tough so it was a great result. Our forwards were awesome and put in the hard work all day and our defence was pretty good up the middle," he said.

"Everyone's enjoying playing with each other by the looks of it, that's the feeling we've got."

On the down side, the Jets have injury concerns over forwards Joe Brown-McCloud and Andrew Preston.

The Magpies, however, will be looking to bounce back with this weekend's home game against Batemans Bay.

"We had too many turnovers and too much defending to do, so that takes a bit of fuel out of the tank for when you have to attack," Berry captain-coach Trent Burns said.

"That was the first run we've had as a team so there were some good signs there. We know where we need to improve and it's just a matter of executing it now."

In yesterday's other game, Milton-Ulladulla thrashed Batemans Bay 40-10 at Mackay Park.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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