Horror league weekend for the Butchers

Butchers second grade captain-coach Paul Air about to break a tackle against Collies.

IT WAS a black weekend for the Thirroul Butchers, with first grade bundled out of the Carlton League finals by Wests while second grade were beaten on the bell by Collegians.

First grade led most of the way before succumbing to the Devils 20-14 in Saturday night’s minor semi final at WIN Stadium. That loss put paid to the Butchers’ first grade premiership aspirations.

Second mised their first chance at a grand final berth when they lost 24-22 to Collies in Sunday’s final.

The Butchers were down 16-6 at halftime but scored two tries soon after halftime to level the scores.

Collies got their nose out in front again by eight before Thirroul scored to come back within two points.

The Butchers had their chances but couldn’t find the line in the dying stages.

“We were pretty happy with how we played, the bounce of the ball went against us,” second grade captain-coach Paul Air said.

“I think we can beat Collies and Wests, we got pretty close on the weekend.”

The Butchers will welcome back first graders Jarrod Costello and Nathan Sutton for Sunday’s final against Wests at WIN Stadium.

First grade coach Phil Ostwald said his side’s lack of ball security at their own end of the paddock proved their undoing.

“We dropped a lot of ball on the first tackle – you can’t win without the ball,” Ostwald said.

Thirroul’s second-half handling woes proved fatal when with the scores locked at 14-all a dropped ball led to the decisive try by Wests Chris Young. Wests captain-coach Jason Ferris added the extras for 20-14.

The Butchers had a last-gasp chance to force extra time after receiving two penalties in the dying minutes but their final raid, after the fulltime siren, fell apart.

Wests battered Thirrouls’ line in the first quarter of the match before finally breaching the defence when Ferris grubbered for centre Troy Barnes to score in the corner.

Thirroul hit back three minutes later when centre Jono Butt chipped for himself, soccered the ball ahead for Aaron Beath to score under the posts. Beath converted to level the scores at 6-all.

In the 33rd minute Beath added a penalty goal to hand the Butchers an 8-6 lead.

Thirroul had a dream start to the second stanza when Scott Borg made a great offload to Ty McCarthy, who touched down under the posts after two minutes. Ryan Borg converted for a 14-6 lead.

Wests countered with a try to interchange Adam Sheppard and a try to Leo Dynevor out wide. Sam Morath missed the kick, setting up a tense finish.