Reigning Sydney Shield premiers East Campbelltown Eagles will this weekend proudly wear an Indigenous jersey designed by local Aboriginal artist Randall Green.
The Eagles will host Wentworthville Magpies this Sunday at Waminda Oval in the Sydney Shield Indigenous round.
The main game will kick off at 2.30pm, with earlier matches to get under way from 11.30am in what should be a big celebration of Indigenous engagement at the mighty Campbelltown rugby league club.
But with the 2017 premiership entering the business end of the season, the Eagles will be firmly focused on picking up another two vital points from the round 16 clash with the high flying Magpies.
Wenty are second on the ladder, with the Eagles fourth after their gutsy 20-6 away win over the Hills Bulls on the weekend.
The Eagles, who needed to win to stay in the top four, were missing a few key players against the Bulls, which made their performance even more special and had coach Richard Barnes reaching for superlatives after the match.
“It was our best defensive effort all year,’’ Barnes said.
“The Bulls continually mounted pressure on our guys but we didn’t crack.
“They scored an opportunistic try from a kick, but apart from that we held solid.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Hills are a good team so I’m proud of the effort from our guys,’’ Barnes said.[/social_quote]
After defending solidly during the opening minutes, the Eagles took advantage of some possession to be the first to post points.
Craig Moustakas scored the first try for the Eagles to have them 4-0 up.
Ben Baker was next to have his name in the scorers’ list, but the conversion attempt failed again and the score was just 8-0.
When the home side scored and converted the try it was back to game on at 8-6 at the break.
In the second half the Bulls threw everything at the Eagles but they held on.
As always happens in rugby league, the team defending for long periods is next to score.
So it was that the Eagles went to a 14-6 lead when Adam Soultan touched down for a four pointer.
When Craig Moustakas bagged his second for the day to stretch the lead to 18-6 it was all over red rover.
Sean Connor kicked a penalty goal to put the icing on the cake for the Eagles, who went home with the two vital premiership after their 20-6 victory.
Best for the Eagles were Ben Baker, Craig Moustakas and Adam Soultan; the club’s man of the match award went to Ronnie Palumbo and the players player honour to Mason Talolua.
