Illawarra League Round Three: Early win a fresh spark for resurgent Cougars

Corrimal proved as much in notching a come-from-behind 16-10 victory over Dapto last week, notching a vital early win after being forced to wait until the penultimate round to notch the club's first and only win last year.

It followed a 2022 season that saw the Cougars go without a win, but the return of dyed-in-the-wool clubman Sean Maloney as head coach - and stand-out maiden performance in red and green from co-coach Jarrod Mullen - looks to have turned over a new leaf at Ziems Park.

His side remains very much a work in progress, but Maloney admits to breathing slightly easier after opening the Cougars account just a fortnight into the campaign.

"We needed to pick up a few wins early on in the comp if we could," Maloney said.

"The way we started against Dapto was not what we wanted, we were 10-0 down, but the boys hung in there and I thought they played well. They did what we needed to do.

"It's gives it a little bit of belief for the players and a bit of momentum. We don't want to keep harping on it, but we'd gone two years and just the one win.

"It was massive for us so early in the season because it's not great going through a season losing and losing, and losing convincingly. Morale drops and it's not a happy place.

"This season, with the training the boys have been putting in, you can see some happiness in the training and people are all on the same page and going in the same direction.

"I was happy with the result, but I wasn't happy with how we played. I know we can do a lot better than that but I can't complain about the first two points."

Maloney's made no secret of the fact he's banking on youth this season, but said Saturday's win underlined Mullen's value after the former NSW Origin half missed all of what was supposed to be his first season with the Cougars last year due to a pre-season shoulder injury.

An untimely finger injury kept him out of round one, and flared again during Saturday's win, but the 211-game NRL veteran's poise down the stretch was a game-changer.

"We needed someone for that game management and he's the man," Maloney said.

"He was on for probably five minutes, and then came off with his finger again. We got that taped up and he was eager to get back on.

"I thought the team lifted around him, but it was the last 18 minutes where there was six points in it that he really guided us around and gave us that little bit of confidence.

"When he's talking at training, everything is 'win, win, win, we're not going to lose this'. That's his mindset and people playing alongside him get that confidence 1-17.

"The old Corrimal, being 10-0 down the score might have blown out a lot more, but we just kept plugging away and we got the result.

"That's really what we've been speaking to to the guys about, just staying in that game. We've just got to change that mentality and that mindset with these young kids, that you can go out there and, if you you're willing to put in the effort, you'll get results.

"I think they're getting there slowly, but the next two games are a real test for us."

Despite coming off a win, the Cougars will remain pronounced underdogs heading to Parrish Park to take on Wests on Saturday looking for consecutive wins for the first time since going 2-0 to start the 2019 season under Maloney.

The Devils will be smarting from a heavy 40-16 defeat to De La Salle in round two, with Maloney saying the focus has been on repeating the effort more than the result.

"Unfortunately we did pick a couple of injuries up, but we we go out with that 'next man' mentality," Maloney said.

"We've still got a few players to come back who we've missed round one and round two. I think when we get to full strength, we'll really challenge a few of these teams. It's Wests this week, we've got to focus on Wests and we have done.

"I'm looking forward to it just to see where we are because that's what we need to be doing, not playing one-off games and getting a six-point win.

"We need to be really focused on stringing and a few wins together and start saying to these teams 'hey, we're here for these semi-finals too'."

Elsewhere, De La will be looking to maintain the cracking pace they've set under new coach Trent Anderson to start the year when they head to Collegians on Sunday.

The Shire powerhouse has only bolstered the roster that claimed last year's minor premiership, but will be looking to cast off some horror memories at the venue where the wheels fell off their 2023 campaign.

De La proved the best side through the regular season, sneaking past Collies at the regular season finishing post only to cop a 24-6 touch-up at the hands of the Dogs in the major semi-final a week later. Eventual premiers Thirroul bundled them out in straight sets on the same patch of grass seven days later.

Collies winger-cum-centre Sam McCann expects Anderson's side to be looking for some revenge come Sunday.

"It'll be interesting, they will be coming looking for blood," McCann said.

"They had a pretty convincing win on the weekend against Wests and I'm sure they'll be as tough as they were last year. They rip in for the full 80, but we'll see how we match them and go toe-to-toe.

Collies were game to lead 12-10 against the run of play at Thirroul last week, but were unconvincing with the ball as they pressed for victory in the second half, ultimately going down 22-12.

McCann, who bagged 19 tries on the end of arguably the best-drilled spine in the competition last season, expects the fluency to return as a new-look play-making arsenal finds its groove.

"It's been a bit of a rocky start, we were probably lucky to get away with the Dapto win [in round one]," he said.

"They lost one early and they were still in front [late]. We were lucky to get the lead off a pretty lucky try with Blake Phillips putting a little chip in over the top.

"Last weekend we just seemed to be defending the whole first half and I think that gassed us out. We did score two lucky ones before the end of the first half, which put us in front.

"You'd hope to take that momentum through to the second half but we just kept handing the ball over.

"There's definitely a bit of fine-tuning to be had, it's pretty much a new spine. Reidy (fullback Alec Reid) has come back to us and it's a a new halves pairing in Damo (Damon New) and Mossy (Keiran Moss).

"Our nines have been changing around a bit, so it's just seeing how that all pans out and working on some combinations. Your halves steer the team around and with a new pairing it's a different voice to get used to.

"Newy's there at forefront for us, and he's doing a great job steering us around. It'll still take a couple of games to click, but I know we'll be right there."

In Saturday's other fixture, Dapto will be desperate to notch their first win of the season when they host Thirroul at the Showground.

The Canaries were game enough to go within a whisker of knocking off Collegians despite being down to 12 men for 71 minutes in round one, but couldn't strike a second-half blow after leading Corrimal 10-6 at halftime last week.

Having been forced to overcome a slow start to make a compelling finals push last year, starting 2024 fast was a top priority for coach Blake Wallace. Going 0-3 out of the gate would be a major headache.