Berwick Miners quarterback Sam Walker and his offence struggled in a 54-0 defeat to the defending champion Monash University Warriors on Sunday. 30910By Marc McGowan
THE Berwick Miners took the field with a heavy heart on Sunday and nothing that happened for the rest of the match was ever going to change their sombre mood.
Former Miners player Danny Rawlings’ death in a motorbike accident only hours earlier rocked the club’s players and officials before kick-off.
But Berwick’s 54-0 caning at the hands of the reigning champion Monash University Warriors was still a disappointing result and continued its winless start to the season.
The loss followed the Miners’ 8-6 opening-round defeat to the Western Crusaders.
Rawlings, who was just 33, first competed for Berwick as a 16-year-old in 1992 before retiring in 2004 to join the army. He was a part of the Miners’ 1994 Gridiron Victoria (GV) championship-winning side.
All six GV teams will hold a minute’s silence for Rawlings before this weekend’s matches.
The Warriors jumped out to an unassailable 40-0 half-time lead against an injury-ravaged Berwick line-up.
Veteran defensive players Mark Petana, Jonathan Leota, Steve Baker and Dan Smith were among those forced onto the sidelines because of injuries.
Miners head coach Mel Martin said the large number of unavailable players were a major factor in the result.
“It was hugely disappointing. It was one of those days if it could go wrong it went wrong,” he said.
“You can cover one or two injuries to experienced players of that ilk, but six or seven out of the 11 is fairly hard to cover.”
Martin was pleased with his players’ endeavour after the long break and his inexperienced side restricted Monash University well until it scored a late touchdown.
Kick returner and running back Jamie Jamison worked hard for Berwick, but Martin struggled to name other stand-outs.
“We’ll pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and get back into it,” he said.
“We’re playing Croydon at our ground (Sydney Pargeter Reserve) on Saturday at 2pm, which is another challenge for us, with them being grand finalists last year.
“It’s been a tough start to the season, but we’ll get past it. We do have the talent; we just need to get it all going in the right direction.”
