It was only a pre-season trial but Young's reserve grade side showed glimpses of its best on Saturday.
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The Cherrypickers proved too good for George Tooke Shield club Binalong Brahmans, the Pickers winning 40-10 in the 60-minute match played at Young's Alfred Oval.
It was one-way traffic in the first and second thirds as the Pickers raced to a 36-10 lead after 40 minutes, a late try in the final stanza capped a strong performance.
Co-coach of the reserves Greg Smith was pleased with the result and took plenty of positives out of the performance.
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"I thought we were impressive in our first 20 minutes. We took what we have been learning at training and put it to work on the field and it showed. The second 20 we made some errors but the game had got away a bit by then.
"But fitness was good considering we had a reasonably skinny bench, and suffered a couple of injuries early."
Smith identified front-rower Justin Kelly as one his side's best on the day, along with his son Angus Smith, Jason Brown and Jacob Hardy, but he said it was a complete performance rather than one or two people standing out.
"Overall it was a good team effort. Justin Kelly in only his second year of rugby league since playing at junior level was really good, his minutes were good up front and he carried the ball well," Smith said.
The Pickers led 16-6 after the opening third, and 36-10 after 40 minutes.
While the side was mostly made up players who will feature regularly in reserves in 2019, first grader James Schiller was given plenty of game time in an effort to sharpen his timing ahead of the season opener on April 6.
He crossed for two tries and looked dangerous in possession.
"That was to get a bit more footy into him," Smith said.
The trial was put together in just over a week by committee member Robert Bush.
Smith thanked Bush for organising the pre-season game, and also the Binalong club for making the trip to Young.
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"It was really good of Binalong to come over, I know they had half a dozen out too," he said.
The Brahmans finished sixth to miss out on the George Tooke Shield finals in 2018.
This week, Young's first grade side will attend the Cootamundra Nines, then all grades will head to Oberon for trials on March 23 before the season starts on April 6.
Four games will be played at Oberon with Young's under-17s and under-19s combining to take on Oberon's under-18s which can use players who would be eligible for under-19s.
"It's pretty exciting, we're all looking forward to it," Smith said.
Young heads to Wagga on April 6 for the Group 9 season opener against Wagga Kangaroos.