Kiama gun Jack Hobbs has a point when he says the Illawarriors were a bit hard done by with only four of their players selected in the NSW Country Cockatoos squad for the Australian Rugby Shield tournament later in the year.
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After all the Illawarriors came within a whisker of winning the NSW Country Championship, only to have Central Coast snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the pulsating final in Tamworth over the June long-weekend.
Hobbs is still coming to terms with the "heartbreaking" loss but has taken comfort from his Cockatoos selection, the fifth straight year he has made the squad.
Another Cockatoos mainstay selected again is Tech Waratahs gun back Eli Sinoti.
Hobbs and Sinoti will be joined in the Cockatoos squad by their Illawarriors team-mates Tom Baker and George Miller.
Wollongong University fly-half Baker has earned NSW Country selection for a second time while Shoalhaven captain Miller earned his first Cockatoos nod after his outstanding campaign in Tamworth.
"It's always an honour to be selected for the Cockatoos," Hobbs said.
"This year was especially tough. There's usually two teams where players get selected from but this year there were five strong teams, Hunter, Central Coast, Central West, Illawarra and Far North Coast.
"So there were a lot of good players to choose from.
"I thought we were in definitely the toughest group and to make the final was huge.
"To only lose by three points right at the depth showed how good we played as a team and how many good players we had.
"I think we were a bit hard done by to only have four in the 30-man Cockatoos squad."
Hobbs added he and his fellow Illawarriors were "gutted" to lose the final and had resolved to come back bigger and better next year.
"The fact that we were up by 20 with 25 minutes to go and lost in the dying minutes makes it hard to take. It was pretty heartbreaking," he said.
"Illawarra hasn't won it since 2018. We were so close but unfortunately couldn't get it done.
"A lot of the boys spoke afterwards about wanting to go back next year and get over that hump and finally win a title for Illawarra.
"Our captain George Miller and some of the other Shoalhaven boys all said they were keen to return next season.
"Even Eli Sinoti, who says every year he is going to retire mentioned he wanted to give it one more crack next year.
"Hopefully we can get the nucleus of the team back again next year and give it a real crack."
In better news for the Colts, no less than six Illawarra players have made the Cockatoo Colts squad.
Isaac Elliott from Tech Waratahs, Tom Allen and Hunter Lewis from Shoalhaven, and the Camden Rams trio of Taydon Hanthorn, Riley Reynolds and Loelusalua Tanielu have all been included.
One of the Lady Illawarriors also made the Corellas squad. Malama Leatigaga becomes the latest Campbelltown Harlequins player to progress to this level.
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
