THERE'S nothing quite like a Macquarie v CYMS local derby and there's always a bit to come out of these games that will tell us a lot for the remainder of the season.
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As a result I've decided to put together a column of observations from Sunday's clash, won 40-26 by the ladder-leading Fishies.
The first thing that captured my attention was the agility and mobility of the CYMS forward pack.
Guys like Jarryn Powyer, Jordan Reynolds and Ben Marlin may not be the biggest around but what they are is good on their feet. In a game that was played at a frenetic pace their foot speed compared to the size of the Macquarie pack was crucial.
One of the theories abounding in Group 11 in recent weeks has been whether the lack of size would hurt CYMS against the likes of Macquarie or Wellington.
It might, but only if the big forwards from those packs can catch the Fishies.
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Macquarie's best passages of the game came when they took their attention off trying to drill former captain-coach John Grey and worried about playing football.
They scored three times in the final eight minutes or so, and while the game was gone by that stage they will take some confidence from their late surge.
The poor discipline through the game hurt them, with CYMS often capitalising on field position gifted to them by penalties.
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A couple of strange sin-binnings from referee Wayne Hughes on Sunday, the first of which was Macquarie lock Perry Meredith.
The youngster was given five minutes in the bin for swearing, and while to the letter of the law the decision was correct, given the emotion in the game there could have been some leniency given it wasn't an act of dissent and was more borne out of frustration.
The second was Raiders halfback Josh Merritt, given 10 in the bin for cleaning up CYMS captain-coach Tim Ryan high after he'd kicked the ball.
I might be wrong but I thought the sin bin was for professional fouls, not acts of foul play.
That call came seven days after a Westside player was sin-binned for dropping Fishies prop Nick Wilson on his head, again foul play not a professional foul.
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I couldn't let this column go by without mentioning John Grey, playing his first game against the club he led for the first four rounds of this season.
For a while it appeared as though a couple of former teammates had a bounty on Grey's head, but thankfully he finished the game without too much drama and everyone will now be able to get on with life and football.
Arguably Grey will go down as the only player to play in a winning Macquarie side against CYMS and a winning CYMS side against Macquarie in the same season.
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Finally, looking back at the reserve grade clash between the two sides, congratulations to Macquarie legend Brett Warwick.
There was some talk Sunday's game was his 500th senior game for the club, and while that figure was doubted even by his wife Sonya, we don't care.
'Woz' has been one of the greats of rugby league at Dubbo and deserves to have a milestone like that so we're happy to run with it. Even if it wasn't 500 he'd be pretty close.
