![Wests centre Colby Pellow takes on the Dapto defence on Saturday. Picture by Sylvia Liber Wests centre Colby Pellow takes on the Dapto defence on Saturday. Picture by Sylvia Liber](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ViGe8NXxNszpWGz2Wi7TWd/1900b3b7-13ba-49c3-b6fa-e52cd1a0a7ac.jpg/r0_0_4410_2940_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Dapto laid down a fresh marker, but it wasn't enough to upset Wests at Parrish Park on Saturday, the Devils running in 24 unanswered points in the second half of a 28-12 win.
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The Canaries gave the hosts all they could handle through the first stanza to lead 12-0 on the back of tries to Justin Faughlin and Jack Piccirilli before conceding their first four-pointer to Sosaia Feki three minutes from halftime.
Piccirilli went desperately close to hitting back on the siren, but his spectacular try in the south-western corner was deemed a knock on by referee Taylor Cleveland.
It proved as close as the Canaries went to further points, unable to add to their tally in the second stanza as the Devils ran in four tries to zip and claim their first win of the year.
Having admittedly missed the jump at home, Wests coach Pete McLeod was happy to bank the first points of the season on a deceptively heavy track.
"You've got to win in different ways during the year and coming from behind was a good win," McLeod said.
"They came out and they were willing, they were in a game of footy. As the second half went on and we started to control the ball a bit better, get some fatigue in them we came home at the back end of the game.
"It was pleasing for a group to be able to stick in there for probably 65 minutes and come home at the end. We knew Dapto would be be good. They were building at the back end of last year, they had a good group of young blokes and they've signed a few, which is good for the competition.
"I thought they were really good today and they forced us into a lot of errors early in the game. At the back end of the game, when we held on to the ball and we got our fair of field position, some experience probably shone through [for us]."
Feki followed up with his second try 10 minutes later in a try that effectively broke the Canaries resistance and saw Jalal Bazzaz and Levi Pascoe get across before it was done.
I thought at the beginning of the game we just made a heap of errors, I suppose early on in the year that that's what happens," McLeod said.
"If you make that many errors and don't control where the other team starts, then you put yourself under a heap of pressure and that they were good enough to capitalise on it.
"it needed [the margin] to be 12 at most, and then we got to try with a couple of minutes to go just before halftime kept us in the game. If we'd let them go too much further in the first half it might have been an insurmountable feat.
"When we held onto the ball in the second half and them under a bit of pressure, we came home pretty strong, but they'll trouble a lot of sides this year."
Canaries coach Blake Wallace conceded his side paid for a sluggish start to the second half that saw them camped down their own end for the duration of the second 40.
"I thought we were really good in the first half, I think we were winning that arm wrestle, then we came out in the second half and just put ourselves under too much pressure," Wallace said.
"Our kick chase wasn't great and then we're giving away a penalty on play one and they're marching us down the field and just kept us down there for the second half.
"They controlled the game, and I've said it many a times, if you give this team that many opportunities, they'll make you pay. We did a hell of a lot more tackling than what they did and that shows on the scoreboard.
"I can't fault the boys effort. Going back previous years, I think it could have got a bit uglier, especially in that second half but it was a case of 'how resilient do you wanna be, do you wanna aim up?'
"I thought the boys kept trying and kept putting in for each other. That's a positive thing so we can fix that other stuff up, we'll look at the tape and then we'll go again."
With big-name recruits Brad Takairangi, Aaron Gray and Pita Godinet all enjoying promising club debuts, Wallace is confident his side can bounce back in its second major test in as many outings against Collegians next week.
"We don't want to shy away from anything, we've set a standard across the club and we're up for these games," Wallace said.
"You've got to play these guys at some point, so let's see where we're at and aim up against the premiers. There's some promising signs there and, overall, the boys should hold their heads up.
"There's a few things there to fix up, I think our execution at times in attack was poor. We created some opportunities, but we just couldn't nail that final pass and you've got to take those opportunities.
"It's just [lacking] a little bit of polish at times where we needed to be a bit better and that's OK, it's round one. We'll go back to the drawing board, we'll have a look at the tape, and we'll go again."
Elsewhere on Saturday, De La Salle opened their account with an 18-13 win over Thirroul after the Butchers led 13-12 at the break on a field goal from Jarrod Boyle. A try to Isaac Longmuir proved the only points of the second half at Captain Cook Oval, enough for the hosts to take the points.
At Ziems Park, Collegians were too good for Corrimal, running in eight tries to zip in a 44-0 win.
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