For years Brenton Cochrane has played Group 4's arch-villain - and done so with aplomb, often to the detriment of his team.
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Such was the case at Jack Woolaston Oval on Saturday, when the gifted No 13 orchestrated a Boars niggle fest against the Bears that backfired badly and, inevitably, boiled over in a 32-22 loss to the home side.
Midway through the second half referee Luke Sheather sent off three players after a melee, with Cochrane one of them. The others were Bears No 12 Livinai Tuicakau and Boars No 21 Hayden Wiblen.
First-placed Moree were leading 22-20 at the time - with an understrength, third-placed Norths coming on strong after trailing 22-12 at half-time.
When Tuicakau carved up Moree's left-side defence in the 44th minute, and then found No 3 Damian Scott in support to draw first blood after the break, that is when Moree went the niggle.
The Boars had looked so good in the first half, on the back of a sublime performance by young No 6 Adrian Smith.
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But when Bears No 9 and captain Scott Blanch darted from dummy half to score in the 54th minute, it was 22-20 to Moree and they were tilting towards ill-disciplined self-destruction.
Actually, that is not entirely correct: North Tamworth - who were missing players of the calbre of Josh Schmiedel, Jake McManus, Ben Jarvis, James Cooper and Tevita Cegunaivalu - produced an inspired second-half display.
And it was Blanch who masterminded the comeback, ably supported by gun No 13 Kobe Bone - who rebuffed the Boars' roughhouse tactics aimed at him and was rewarded with a 68th-minute try that, after Mitch Sheridan's conversion, made it 32-22.
Bone had stormed on to a Blanch pass close to the tryline, then raced around to put it down under the posts - before being swamped by his emotional teammates.
Two minutes earlier, Blanch scooted from dummy half to bag a double.
In short, Norths stayed the course while Moree went off course - and, in the process, lost their second-straight match.
Bone said Moree's "grubby" tactics "didn't really work in their favour, in all honesty".
"It was just good that our boys kept their heads together and didn't really get into the niggle with Moree," he said, adding: "Just a top effort from the boys, when you think we had five of our senior players out for the day.
"And a couple of [inexperienced] first-grade boys had to step up, and obviously they did their job - and just so proud of them."
Bone said it was "by far the toughest game we've had this year".
BEARS 32 (Scott Blanch 2, Damian Scott, Jared Edwards, Ashton Constable, Kobe Bone tries; Mitch Sheridan 4 goals) d BOARS 22 (Jason Saunders 2, Adrian Smith, Luke Hetherington tries; Smith 3 goals). Group 4 best and fairest: 3 Blanch (NT), 2 Smith (M), 1 Jake Bennett (NT).
Mark Bode
I’m passionate about writing stories that resonate with people. And I’m genuinely interested in the people I interview; I want to know about them and present their stories in a meaningful way.
I’m passionate about writing stories that resonate with people. And I’m genuinely interested in the people I interview; I want to know about them and present their stories in a meaningful way.
