Hastings League: Kendall Blues defeat South West Rocks Marlins

Early on the Marlins had players sent to the sin bin to give Kendall a first half advantage.

"It was attitude and discipline, we gave away a few penalties and had two or three in the bin which doesn't help," Marlins coach Alfie Drew said of the game.

At one stage the Marlins held a two-try lead before the Blues came home strong.

"The start of the second half was phenomenal, they couldn't touch us and then we became complacent and that allowed Kendall to roll through the middle of the field and put points on the board," Drew added.

For Alfie it was an emotional day after a head knock in the previous match against Beechwood forced him to hang up the boots.

"There was a lot of emotions on the weekend which makes it a bit hard to recall," he said.

"I copped a head knock against Beechwood which scared the living daylights out of my kids and I can't be putting them through that."

The Marlins will now re-group with a bye this weekend coming at the right time with roughly five or six injuries in the squad.

"We'll touch on a bit of fitness, it'll be good to have players rested, the whole season we've had a lot of injuries so it makes it hard to play football when we're yet to put our best team forward," Drew explained.

"We haven't had a game where we've had our best 19 line up, it's really frustrating but it'll be good to have a week off, re-group and forge a stronger bond between players so our attitude and discipline on the field will hopefully reflect that."

Following the bye, the Marlins will play a local derby at Smithtown against Lower Macleay Magpies.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: