The Bega Roosters and Tathra Sea Eagles both secured rousing wins over the weekend to keep them right in the finals chase.
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After finding supremacy early, the Sea Eagles maintained an electric pace to card a convincing 38-4 win over the Bay Tigers at the Tathra Beach Country Club on Saturday, elevating them to fourth place on the ladder.
Meanwhile, the Bega Roosters hammered home a 40-16 victory over the Snowy River Bears on their home turf in Jindabyne, keeping the Roosters in sixth place on the ladder just two points shy of leap-frogging their opponents for fourth.
At Tathra Declan Bower-Scott opened the ledger early for the Sea Eagles before the Bay Tigers mounted a worthy defensive effort for most of the first half.
However, a Connor Carr double quickly shot the advantage to the home team despite a few wayward early kicks from the host club.
The Tigers battled hard in the second half, but the Sea Eagles were too strong when they found good field position and the tries piled on consistently throughout.
It was just five minutes in when Josh Finucane slipped through for a four-pointer, and only nine minutes after that the Eagles posted their sixth for the day when bolter Kyle Shepherdson broke loose.
The Eagles took charge from the reset and it was just three minutes later that Daniel Rutter crossed the chalk before a 77th minute try to centre Adam Blacka sealed the deal for the hosts.
Meanwhile, at Jindabyne Roosters president Phil Dummett said Corey Thomas played out of his skin.
"It's probably the best game I've seen Corey have this season, he might have had a point to prove highlander against highlander," Dummett said.
Thomas' strong performance linked up with a good game by Jordan Gray-Balcomb provided superb forward movement through the ruck allowing the Roosters to find valuable options on the fringes.
"Yeah most of the tries were scored out wide, young Shae Gray had a strong game," Dummett said.
Dummett said some discipline was the only marring factor on play with one of the Bears binned late in play, while another was sent off after some back-talk at the referee.
"Outside of that it was a good game, it was glorious weather and we knew we wouldn't get a walkover, we had to fight for it - it was 20-16 at half-time," he said.
Following a wet weather round bye this weekend, the Roosters are now keen to welcome a return bout of the local derby with Tathra.
"We're really looking forward to that and we've got a specialty Kiwi-design jersey for the day."
Former Bega coach and Balmain and Canberra Raiders star Lloyd Martin will present the special jumpers ahead of play in what Dummett said might be the last home game for Bega ahead of the redevelopment.