The going was made even harder with the late withdrawal of our star ball carrier, Ethan Newham, who unfortunately broke his hand. We wish him a speedy recovery. 

With Young down on numbers the Sing boys - Brock and Clay - stepped up from a lower division and played well above their height all weekend. They were never fazed and rose to every challenge. Great work boys.

The team was pumped for their first game against the home team Griffith, even though we had an 8am start. 

Young came out blazing, taking an early 14-10 lead at the first quarter. 

Thomas McIllhatton and Blake Apps controlled the ball well, enabling Young’s Harvey McGregor and Angus Jones plenty of scoring opportunities which they duly converted. 

It was end-to-end action and at half-time, scores were locked at 28 all. Although Young tried valiantly in the second half, they went down 45-70.

Young then had the even harder task of playing competition heavyweights, the Orange Hawks, who are undefeated and twice the size of our players. 

Liam Stuart and Hayden Penrith were in the thick of the action and gave their all against their much taller opponents. 

Young went down 21-63.

Young were again given an 8am game on Sunday where they never got going and went down to Griffith again, 21-65 after being down 36-7 at half time.

The Dubbo Rams were next on the agenda and with some team bonding at the wonderful park in Griffith and some encouraging words from coach Collins before the game, Young came out and set the stadium on fire. 

The action was fierce with Harvey McGregor taking an early accidental hit once again, shrugging it off to be always in the game. 

It was a game not for the faint-hearted with Will Cameron and Brock Sing standing tall, securing plenty of ball from the rebounds enabling Angus Jones and Blake Apps to go on the attack. 

Young led 21-16 at quarter time but were down 36-27 at half time.

Coach Collins urged his team to stick with the original game plan and Young bounced back with Liam Stuart and Clay Sing playing well above their weight to put Dubbo on the back foot. They were well supported by Hayden Penrith who gave them some quality ball.

Going into the last quarter the score was tied at 41 apiece and both teams were giving it their all. 

As the lead changed several times, the game was calling for a hero and with the game locked up again it was Young who played as a team that started to dominate.

Will Cameron played his best game of the season to top score with 22 points, while Angus Jones worked like a trojan up and down the court. 

The boys ran out 62-54 winners in a thriller. Well done boys on a great effort. 

Coach Damian Collins was very pleased with the effort of all his players as they backed up for a two hour training session on Monday.

We wish the boys the best of luck as they travel to Bathurst in the next round. 

Always remember to dream, believe and achieve.