THE round one shellacking at the hands of the Leeton Phantoms has been left in the past, but the opposition still proved a class above the Albury-Wodonga Steamers on Saturday afternoon.
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The 59-20 scoreline was a far cry from the 100-point demolition job the Phantoms pulled when the teams met earlier this year, but Steamers coach Paul Musarra felt the result could have been closer.
“There was a bit of improvement, we obviously had the numbers this time around compared to the first round,” he said.
“We had a good team on the park and chance to play better football, which we did in patches.
“There were some good, well-structured plays, a couple of good tries, but overall our skill level probably hurt us a little bit.
“A couple of dropped balls and forward passes let us down a little bit.
“The Phantoms are very good at scoring from turnovers as well, which made life tough.”
Steamers stalwart Richie Manion led from the front, while James Devlin also turned in a strong performance.
The road to the finals is a little more difficult thanks to an Ag College win over CSU, although they weren’t able to secure a bonus point in the 29-17 win – leaving the Steamers with a chance to sneak their way in.
“It’s definitely going to be close, but all we can do is our best against the Waratahs next week,” Musarra said.
“We’ve got a chance, but it’s a tough trip.”
