It was less than two years ago when a dejected Wellington Cowboys side struggling for numbers and any kind of organisation made the trip home from Dubbo after being handed a massive 104-6 defeat by a rampant Dubbo CYMS.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Fast forward to Sunday and it was the Cowboys who were cracking triple figures and scoring an utterly dominant Group 11 victory over a battling Dubbo Westside.
The win shows how far the Cowboys have come in a short time, but coach Justin Toomey-White also feels it's proof things can improve for Westside.
After conceding 86 and 80 points in the opening two rounds, Westside slumped to a 106-4 loss at Kennard Park on Sunday is a game where full-time was called 15 minutes early.
"We were in that position a few years back," the Cowboys coach said of the Rabbitohs.
"Full credit to them as a club, they keep on showing up and after a hard trip to Nyngan they now had to come to Wello.
"There's a lot of pride and passion there and full credit to them, I'm proud of what they're doing because they're sticking by each other and that's what makes a club. They're working for good times ahead."
While there was real unity on show between the two clubs, Wellington also donated $1500 from the day's taking to the Rabbitohs, on the park it was polar opposites.
The Cowboys didn't get to a fifth tackle kick in the entire first half and outside a few handling errors each time they had the ball they scored.
Westside on the other made error after error and didn't get to a fifth tackle kick in the first half hour.
When they did hold on to the ball they scored, with second-rower Matty Gibbs running a great line off a short ball before running over the top of Brock Naden on his way to the line.
That made the score 48-4 but the hosts struck twice more to lead by 54 points at half-time.
The second was a procession, with Wellington's array of attacking talents proving too much for Westside as they ran in try after try.
READ ALSO:
Winger CJ Ralph and fullback Josh Griffiths both finished with hat-tricks while Aidan Ryan, Wade Peachey, and Mason Williams all scored doubles.
The support play through the middle was a highlight while the ability to shift quickly to the edges caught the Rabbitohs short time and time again.
In total, the Cowboys ran in 18 tries in a stunning effort.
Williams also enjoyed a stellar day with the boot, only missing one conversion to finish with a personal haul of 42 points.
While that is a massive haul, it is still some way short of the 64 CYMS' Alex Bonham collected in the 2017 win over Wellington.
Sunday's lopsided win was the Cowboys' first of the season after losing by two points to CYMS in round one and then one point to Parkes last round.
"We've had two losses so we'll take this win," Toomey-White said.
"We worked really hard at training this week ... we'll take some stuff from this and it was a good win."
It's about getting that attitude right.
- Westside coach Paul Hausia
The Cowboys only used 15 players the entire match, giving everyone plenty of minutes and halfback Steve Gordon was solid in his debut while fellow marquee newcomers Travis Waddell, Tristan Lumley, Dave Dryden, Dennis Moran and Griffiths are all starting to look far more comfortable and settled in Cowboys colours.
For Westside, it was more of the same.
Coach Paul Hausia and captain Kaidyn Mohr were both adamant after the match more needs to be done at training to stop sides racking up huge scores against them.
"It's about getting that attitude right," Hausia said.
"At the end of the day we know we're in for a long, hard season and playing a good team like Wellington shows where we need to improve.
"There's a lot of areas and it's hard when you've only got a core group of blokes who are at training."
- WELLINGTON COWBOYS 106 (CJ Ralph 3, Josh Griffiths 3, Aidan Ryan 2, Mason Williams 2, Wade Peachey 2, Tristan Lumley, Steve Gordon, Jack Kempston, Brock Naden, Kenny Everson, Dave Dryden tries; Williams 17/18 goals) defeated DUBBO WESTSIDE 4 (Matt Gibbs try)