WARILLA have banished some of their demons from last year’s grand final with an emphatic 32-6 win over Gerringong at Cec Glenholmes Oval on Sunday.
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From siren to siren, it was all Warilla as they maintained their unbeaten start to the 2014 season.
It did not take long for the home side to get their first crack at the Lions’ line, an early Gerringong error putting the Gorillas in prime attacking position.
They made the most of the opportunity, spreading the ball to the right hand side to allow Tyson Brown to cross, Nick Lazarevski’s conversion making it 4-nil.
Gerringong put themselves under pressure again soon after when they kicked the ball out on the full and Warilla again made them pay.
This time the Gorilla’s went the opposite way, but got the same result when winger Chad Lisch dotted down in the left hand corner for 10-nil.
Despite falling behind early, Gerringong didn’t go into their shells and some second-phase almost allowed them to crack the line.
But the last pass didn’t go to hand and opportunity went begging.
Warilla on the other hand kept making the most of their chances and found themselves in again when Luke Watts bounced through the defence and sent Keiran Rankmore over the line.
Lazarevski’s conversion made it 16-nil.
The defending premiers’ day then went from bad to worse when Gorillas’ lock Aaron Henry raced away to score on the stroke of half-time after taking an intercept.
Lazarevskis’ third conversion sent the two sides to the break with Warilla up 22-nil.
Gerringong’s day didn’t get any better after the break, handing the ball back to the Gorillas on their first two possessions of the half.
Warilla, on the other hand, picked up where they left off when Lazarevski showed the Lions a clean set of heels after a scum win to register a try of his own.
The full-back converted his own try to take the lead to 28-nil.
While the Lions had little, if any chance of mounting a come back, they refused to lay down and put some respectability into the score line when Adam Moore crashed over under the posts.
Joel Roberts conversion made it 28-6.
Warilla weren’t about to let the visitors have the final say and they capped the win when Jarryd Pepper crossed as time expired.
In a strong win Damien Paulissen, Mark Walsh and Lazarevski all had superb performances for Warilla, while Jackson Merritt, Patrick Cronin and Brad Davidson did all they could for Gerringong.