Hastings League: South West Rocks Marlins defeat Lower Macleay Magpies 38-28

Three weekends ago, Malcolm Webster threw a spiraling pass to the hands of Selwyn Smith, handing the Macleay Valley Mustangs a last gasp win over Wingham Tigers.

Today, his clutch skills were on show again, this time for the South West Rocks Marlins.

With five minutes to go, the Marlins led Lower Macleay Magpies 30-28 in a sensational day of football.

South West Rocks had the ball ten metres out from their try-line, with the ball landing in the hands of Webster on the final tackle.

With almost everyone on the field flat footed, options were scarce.

With one look up, the five-eight chipped over the top of the Magpies left-side defence, ran through and scored to send his teammates into raptures - sealing his side the John Elford Shield.

"I said to Mal before the game, stop running the ball, we've got forwards for that," coach Alfie Drew said.

"He didn't run the ball a lot today and absolutely killed it, he directed our backline and just smashed it.

"It's good to see the Malcolm of old."

The performance Webster put forward at Marlin Park was nothing short of a masterclass with his passing an obvious highlight.

Five minutes into the match, news came around the crowd of the impending lockdown as both sides put on a performance that would've left spectators delighted on their way home.

A cut-out pass from Webster put second-rower Jordan Smith through a hole in the third minute to give Marlins a 6-0 lead.

In the 17^th minute Shaye Moran's line-break got the Magpies in attacking territory before he was taken down.

Magpies made the most of an unstructured defensive line, spreading the ball from left to right in one play with Maurice Kelly scoring.

Three minutes later, Webster popped up again with a cut-out pass to put Cody Elliott over.

Marlins were next to score again with the deceptiveness of Neville Donovan at the play the ball putting Paul Unuka under the posts.

In the 34^th minute, Drew left the field with a leg injury and his absence was telling as the Magpies ran in two tries before half-time.

Fullback Jaxon Navosa was the man with a double, scoring two off the back of brilliant support play after line-breaks from Jacob Smith and Chris Holten.

Drew returned to the field in the second-half with Marlins first to score.

No prizes for guessing who delivered the try-assist with Webster throwing another cut-out to Graham Roberts to make it 24-18.

The combination of Webster and Roberts was on show again with the centre through a hole and making a significant line-break as Drew found himself with an opportunity 10 metres out.

The hooker scooted, beat two defenders to score before throwing the ball high in the air after a sensational solo effort.

Lower Macleay weren't done though with Jacob Smith going on his own to beat defenders and score.

The first missed conversion of the day followed with the score 30-22. The cries of 'lolly legs' certainly played their part from the golf course end.

A deserved try for Magpies lock Chris Holten made the score 30-28 with ten minutes remaining and set up a nail-biting finish before Webster showed his class with the magnificent chip and chase try.

Donovan slotted a penalty goal in the remaining minute to make the final score 38-28 in a fantastic fixture.

The match was Drew's first in a while after a previous concussion.

"First game back it was tough, I did my groin in the first half, I probably shouldn't have taken the field again it's pretty painful but I loved every minute," he explained.

"I love this game, I love coming back but at the end of the day I'll still be retired at the end of the year.

"I just needed to do what was best for my boys and my team and that was to take the field."

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