Albion Park Oak Flats Eagles have delivered a statement performance that they're the real deal in 2024, hammering the previously unbeaten Warilla-Lake South Gorillas 50-10.
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The big win at Centenary Field on Sunday came on the day Eagles lock Kyle Williams played his 100th first-grade game for the club.
Albion Park Oak Flats assistant coach Josh White said the Eagles were desperate to win for Williams.
"He's a great club man. He's been here since he was eight or even earlier. We did it for him today and we made sure we weren't going to let him down on his milestone game and we didn't, which is really pleasing," he said.
White was also pleasantly surprised with how well the Eagles played against the firing Gorillas to record their fourth win of the season.
"I'm not sure where that performance came from but we've been close to producing something like this for awhile now," he said.
"I've been saying for awhile now that we were close to the big three, the Gerringongs, the Shellharbours, we just had to nail a few things, and we did today, and I thought we were fantastic.
"That's what we're about right there. We defend strongly, we just have to ice those good moments, and we did it today and that's what we ended up with."
Missing a couple of key players including their skipper and influential halfback Blair Grant, the visiting Warilla looked up for the challenge early.
But despite only trailing 6-4 after 15 minutes they found themselves playing catch-up football after the Eagles scored four unanswered tries to head to the sheds at halftime in front 28-4.
Things got even worse for the Gorillas early in the second as first fullback Jesse Prinsse ran 90 metres untouched to score before Brad Morkos scored the first of his two tries to extend the Park's lead to 38-4.
Albion Park halfback Kane Ball also capped his brilliant all-round performance with two tries.
Ryan Jones, Jack Walsh, Toataua Porima and Joshua Sainsbury also found the tryline in the 40-point hammering.
![Albion Park Oak Flats Eagles assistant coach Josh White. Picture by Sylvia Liber. Albion Park Oak Flats Eagles assistant coach Josh White. Picture by Sylvia Liber.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/kZL4qV6yTxfrWZJxKQxjSN/ea574496-f76c-4542-987e-1d68e60957b1.jpg/r0_31_600_370_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Sainsbury, who leads the Michael Cronin Medal player of the year race, was again one of the best players on the park.
"He's outstanding," White said of Sainsbury.
"He does that every week, week in, week out. He's the leader of the pack, and that's what he's here for.
"He leads our boys and we all run off the back of him."
Despite the loss, Warilla are still in third spot, just above Albion Park who jump to fourth spot following Sunday's win.
But it's the unbeaten Shellharbour Sharks who lead the Group Seven rugby league standings with 14 competition points after downing Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs 26-6 at Ron Costello Oval on Saturday to record their seventh straight win.
Meantime the defending premiers Gerringong Lions returned to the winners circle in a big way on Sunday, hammering Kiama Knights 64-12 at Kiama Showground
The Stingrays also enjoyed a win, downing Nowra Bomaderry Jets 30-22 at Bomaderry Sporting Complex on Sunday.