Searle, part of the Western Rams under 18s side which won last year’s Country Championship, has received plenty of praise from Tim Ryan for the way he’s slotted into the Fishies’ first grade side this season and on Saturday he produced a fine effort to lead his side to a commanding derby win over Westside.

While a first-half hat-trick was a highlight, his playmaking and organisational skills also impressed, ensuring CYMS kept its unbeaten starts to the season going.

“He’s a footballer,” Ryan said after Saturday’s 56-16 Group 11 win over Westside.

“He’s been good and still got a bit work on but has been good. That (playmaking) is his role and he did it through juniors and again today.

“He loves it and he’s got a smart brain.”

Ryan felt the scoreline flattered his side slightly but he was still pleased as the Fishies ran in 10 tries at Apex Oval.

At 24-10 approaching half-time it was clear CYMS weren’t having things all their own way but, as they do, the Fishies played consistently across the full 80 minutes and streaked away late to seal a 56-16 victory.

Fullback Brad Pickering was another standout, finishing with 24 points of his own.

“It was a good win and they came to play. It was a battle early,” Ryan said.

“I thought our attitude was really good today and that was something we talked about at training.

“They kept coming all day and they’re building. We scored a few tries late and whether they were deserved or not, I’m not sure.”

Westside captain-coach Claude Gordon said it was a lesson for his side, as the Rabbitohs came crashing back to earth after two successive victories.

There was still a huge amount of positives for Westside and the heads didn’t drop throughout the match, a vast change from early last year when the Rabbitohs were beaten 102-0 by CYMS.

Gordon’s fellow captain-coach Matt Naden, a former multiple premiership winner with CYMS, gave his everything at five-eighth and scored one of his side’s tries.

“They learnt today that CYMS are an 80 minute team,” Gordon said of his players.

“That’s what I said to the boys after the last try. I told them not to drop their heads because this was a gauge of where we are and where we need to be to compete with these blokes.

“They’re the benchmark and they have been for years. I remember they were the same when I was a kid on the sidelines watching 20 years ago.”

CYMS flew out of the gates and ripped apart Westside’s right-edge defence early on, scoring twice through Searle, the first an individual effort and the second off a break from Jesse Wighton.

Westside soon got into the contest and hit back through second-rower Alex Frail after CYMS’ Lincoln Kavanagh was binned for five minutes for swearing.

The sides traded tries in quick succession before Searle grabbed his third, hitting a yawning gap, on 34 minutes to put his side up by 14.

Westside had plenty of ball late in the half and applied pressure but the Fishies held firm and then went the length to score right on the half-time bell through Hamish Astill.

Westside got themselves back into the contest after the break through Naden, burrowing over from dummyhalf, but that was as close as his side got.

Pickering produced a fine sweeping run behind the play before getting the ball and scoring out wide before Jyie Chapman burst through some soft defence off a scrum shortly after and raced 80m to score.

Wade Kavanagh, back from suspension, ran well in support to score CYMS’ next try with 11 minutes to go before Pickering and Scott Burgess scored inside the final 10 minutes to ice the win.

“We kept in the fight and kept going all day. Our defence, they had a lot of ball there at times, and our attitude was there the whole time,” Ryan said.

One worry for CYMS was an elbow injury to captain Luke Jenkins midway through the second stanza. The hooker struggled to lift his arm from his side as he departed the game but Ryan said the severity of the injury remained unclear.