The was a feeling of relief in the Denman rooms on Sunday afternoon.
After back-to-back defeats to Singleton and Aberdeen, the Devils secured their first win of the season on Saturday when defeating archrival Muswellbrook 40-24.
Denman’s first grade captain Brady Benkovic praised the efforts of his entire playing list.
“The first two rounds we really relied on our reserve grade to fill the squad because we knew that either this one or the next one was where we were going to get a few boys back,” Benkovic told The Hunter River Times on Sunday.
“We were pretty confident that we were going to get the job done today.”
Former Aberdeen Tiger Travis Bateman scored a hattrick of tries for the winners and received a loud round of applause when departing the ground.
This afternoon marked his first Group 21 appearance since the 2019 preliminary final.
Ned Chapman did enough to secure the Coaches Award while Mac Shepherdson received the officials’ nod with the Managers Award.
The Devils will now have a bye this weekend before travelling to Scone in Round 5.
“Singleton and Aberdeen beat us when we were completely understrength,” Benkovic explained.
“So, we are confident we can hang with them (Scone); they are obviously benchmark but we will see how we go.”
GROUP 21 ROUND 4 FIXTURE
FIRST GRADE: Singleton vs. Aberdeen, Scone vs. Muswellbrook (2pm – Sunday, May 23) and Denman (Bye).
RESERVE GRADE: Denman vs. Greta Branxton (2pm – Saturday, May 22), Murrurundi vs. Muswellbrook (3pm – Saturday, May 22), Scone vs. Merriwa and Singleton vs. Aberdeen (12:30pm – Sunday, May 23).
U18: Singleton vs. Aberdeen(11:20am – Sunday, May 23) and Scone (Bye).
LADIES LEAGUE TAG: Denman vs. Murrurundi (1pm – Saturday, May 22), Singleton vs. Aberdeen (10:25am – Sunday, May 23) and Scone vs. Merriwa (11:20am – Sunday, May 23).
