Gerringong 24

WARILLA-Lake South cemented a semi-final berth with a 44-24 victory over Gerringong at Cec Glenholmes Oval on Saturday.

Gorillas’ pivot Shane Withers starred for the home side with a 24-point haul (two tries and eight goals), while skipper Damien Paulissen also bagged a rare front rower’s double in an otherwise uninspiring contest.

Warilla’s three-week layoff showed, with some early rustiness. Their first kick-off went out on the full and the first of many errors from kicks resulted in a converted try to Gerringong’s Daniel Quinn after just two minutes.

The blustery conditions wreaked havoc for both teams, with many bombs being spilt and both sides also making numerous unforced errors during a stop-start first half.

Withers hit back ten minutes later with his first, and it was a try-for-try affair for the remainder of the first 40 minutes.

Gerringong crossed through Gareth Campbell and Quinn again and Warilla through Withers and Ben Harvey to level the scores at 18-all at the break.

Warilla came out of the sheds looking far more determined and terrorised Gerringong’s right-edge defence with a series of spiraling bombs leading to two converted tries in as many minutes to Craig Nolan and Paulissen to take the lead for the first time.

A Withers penalty goal pushed Warilla’s lead out to 32-18 with 25 minutes remaining, but the Lions’ displayed their usual never-say-die spirit when Michael Brown sliced his way though to reduce the deficit to eight.

Unfortunately, Gerringong were unable to capitalise on further Gorillas errors and paid for it, Paulissen storming over with ten minutes left and Wayne Borg powering over shortly afterwards to give Warilla a comfortable win.

Warilla played some exciting attacking football, but will need to lift their intensity for the finals, while Gerringong’s injury-ravaged season to forget continued.

The Gorillas will also feel the effects of a season-ending groin injury to Aaron Henry.

Warilla coach Peter Hooper said while his side had looked sub-par in the first half, he was pleased with how they “clicked into gear” in the second half.

“We don’t just want to make the finals, we want to go deep into the finals,” he said.

“The boys have picked up their intensity at training and are working hard for one another.”

Withers, Paulissen and Thomas Hart were the standouts for Warilla, while Michael Brown, Justin O’Hare and Greg Davis were the best for Gerringong.