SEASON RANK: 6th
Founded: 1938
Head Coach: TIM CORNFORTH
Captain: JACOB ABEL
Home Ground: GRIFFITH OVAL
REVIEW
There’s two ways to review Easts 2018 season. One way is to look at the broader picture, another to analyse it as a stand-alone set of games. For this club, for this year anyway, you have to do both.
Easts entered this season having not won a game in three years. They became the banker bonus-point for other teams, losing badly almost every week. Then came Tim Cornforth and the winds of change blew hard in the East.
With a new coach, and a brigade of former Royals Blue-Blaggers in tow, Easts came into 2018 with confidence. On the opening day of the season, a mere 1106 days after their last win, Easts finally changed the narrative, beating Uni-Norths in a nail-biter at Griffith Oval.
What followed was a brief but wonderful run by Easts where they continued to shock the local scene, ending Royals unbeaten run away from home. Again, thinking big picture, Easts hot-start means 2018 was their most successful in recent memory.
However, because they began so well it made their languishing finish that much harder to take. Easts lost just one game through nine rounds, then didn’t win another game for the rest of the season. Midway through the year, talk was of playoffs not of how great it was to not be losing every week.
They remained competitive, impressing with their unique brand of running-rugby. One thing was certain when you watched Easts, tries, problem being it could be them scoring or shipping them. In the end, the steam powering the hype-train was ultimately lost, and Easts were forced to be content with losing the Wooden-Spooners moniker for once.
Except, as I mentioned before, there’s no way they were happy with that finish. Expect more from Easts in 2019. With a new academy structure in place and the ambition to go higher than last year, the days of being the John I Dent Cup’s ‘banker bonus-point’ are over for the Eastern suburbs.
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
The Round 4 win over reigning Champions Royals was immense, but for sheer joy nothing can beat the drought-breaking Round 1 success over the Uni-Norths owls at Griffith Oval. Easts had waited 1,106 days for a taste of victory and when it came it was all the sweeter.
A nerveless conversion from Jacob Angelatos secured the win after George Morseu had crossed for the team’s fourth try of the afternoon to tie the scores with minutes remaining. The final whistle sparked scenes of jubilation with players and spectators flooding the pitch to celebrate the win with the team.
If that wasn’t enough, which it probably was in all honesty, the claiming of the inaugural Bob Hitchcock Territory Shield was the cherry on the icing on a particularly tasty cake.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
A few Easts players deserve this title, particularly George Morseu for his 13 tries, but it’s hard to argue against Jacob Abel for Eastern Suburbs Best and Fairest. The McDougall Medal Award panel agreed, Abel being named Co-Winner for his outstanding season. Captaining the side into a new era, the young playmaker did a bit of everything for his side, no job being neither too much to handle nor beneath him. Whether it was distributing from scrumhalf or pulling the strings at ten, Abel impressed with his cool demeanour, silky skillset and power for his size. Easts are moving forward finally, and Abel is at the helm.
SEASON RESULTS
R1: Owls (h) W 22-20
R2: Whites (h) L 15-24
R3: Bye
R4: Royals (h) W 25-23
R5: Vikings (a) L 24-71
R6: Whites (h) L 20-29
R7: Eagles (a) W 24-18
R8: Bye
R9: Wests (a) W 42-13
R10: Owls (h) L 26-41
R11: Bye
R12: Wests (h) L 36-51
R13: Royals (a) L 7-33
R14: Owls (a) L 17-41
R15: Whites (a) D 46-46
R16: Eagles (h) L 19-48
R17: Vikings (h) L 33-57
TOP POINTS SCORERS
100 – George MORSEU
35 – Jacob ABEL, Ratu Jone Pio MACANAWAI
30 – Peni NIFO
24 – Jacob ANGELATOS
22 – Jacob BOLAND
15 – Mees ERASMUS, Otto WRAKONEI
10 – Samuel SAMUELU, Junior MONU, Langi LOLOTONGA
5 – Robbie ABEL, Liam BILSTON, Tom PILKINTON, William CALLEN, Sione TUITAUAKE-FUSIMALOHI, James VERITY-AMM, Simon WEBBER
TOP TRY SCORERS
13 – George MORSEU
7 – Jacob ABEL, Ratu Jone Pio MACANAWAI
6 – Peni NIFO
3 – Mees ERASMUS, Otto WRAKONEI
2 – Josh BOLAND, Samuel SAMUELU, Junior MONU, Langi LOLOTONGA
1 – Robbie ABEL, Liam BILSTON, Tom PILKINTON, Jacob ANGELATOS, William CALLEN, Sione TUITAUAKE-FUSIMALOHI, James VERITY-AMM, Simon WEBBER
