DUBBO Macquarie captain-coach John Grey has heaped praise on Josh Merritt after the halfback played a starring role in the Raiders' come-from-behind 24-16 win over local rivals CYMS at Caltex Park on Saturday afternoon.
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The Raiders were down 16-6 approaching halftime but kept their undefeated record intact with a strong second half showing. Grey said Merritt's performance was the difference.
"He's the sort of bloke that can ensure a win," he said of his number seven.
"There's no better kicker in Group 11, he can just put it where he wants and I think he's the best defensive halfback in the competition too."
An understrength CYMS side conceded the first try when a break from Merritt led to Ash Widders scoring but the Fishies bounced back after that with tries from Colby Pellow, Alex Ronayne and Ben Marlin putting them up 16-6.
That looked set to be the halftime score before Dylan Hill barged his way over for the Raiders, then Mason William's conversion had them down by just four points at the break and Grey admitted Hill's effort inspired the team.
"That try was our first real opportunity to run some structured play and that lifted everyone," he said.
Macquarie started well after the break and were camped inside the CYMS half for the majority of the first 15 minutes and that pressure was rewarded when a Merritt kick bounced perfectly for Widders to score his second.
10 minutes later Merritt deservedly got his name on the scoresheet when he capped off a fine personal performance by fooling the CYMS defence with a dummy and darting through to score.
Williams converted again to put the Raiders up by eight. While CYMS tried to get back into the match, Macquarie hung on for their fourth consecutive win and CYMS coach Tim Ryan said afterwards his side were outplayed.
"We did (start well), it was the best half we had all year so that was really good but we fell away a bit towards the end," he said.
"I thought Macquarie were really good, no excuses, they kept coming and showed why they're on top of the table."
After the bruising encounter Grey said he expected many of players to be sore during the week but the only real concern was hooker Jeremy Smith who left the game midway through the second half with an elbow injury.
o DUBBO MACQUARIE 24 (Ash Widders 2, Dylan Hill, Josh Merritt tries; Williams 4/4 conversions) DEF DUBBO CYMS (Colby Pellow, Alex Ronayne, Ben Marlin tries; Pellow 2/3 conversions).
