With the number four jersey proudly placed over a chair on sideline, Western Rams coach Kurt Hancock said his side's attitude in the face of adversity stood out in their Laurie Daley Cup round one win over the Illawarra South Coast Dragons.
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The squad clinched a 24-10 victory at Cowra's Sid Kallas Oval on Sunday to kick off their 2021 campaign.
While the win was important, Hancock said he was even prouder of the way his side handled the emotion of the day as the Rams paid tribute to former Orange Hawk and Western player Mason Pollack, who passed away late last month.
"The last couple of weeks has been absolutely horrible for some of these kids so for them to go out there and do what they've done today, you take your hat off to them," Hancock said.
"I'm a bit in debt to them today because obviously I had a pretty close relationship with Mason and the family.
"It's been unreal how they have handled the last two weeks."
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It was a fast start for the Rams in warm conditions at Cowra, with halfback Cooper Egan crossing the stripe in the third minute and a Braye Porter conversion gave the boys in green a 6-0 lead.
Parkes' Finnley Neilsen soon added himself to the scorers' list, taking advantage of a ball dropped cold on the Dragons try line to help make it 12-0 at the quarter-time drinks break.
Dubbo CYMS product Riley Wake then bagged himself a four pointer to take the score to 18-0 at the half.
Despite the uneven scoreline, the Dragons weren't going down without a fight and Liam Arnold got the visitors on the board in the 44th minute.
But the Rams' Dubbo contingent continued to impress and Zac Williams crossed to all but secure the result for his side.
James McClelland scored a late consolation as the match finished 24-10.
"I think both teams found it a bit tough in the end with a few errors," Hancock said.
"All in all, the attitude was awesome. I thought, especially at the back end of that first half when we had to get through a mile of defence and they had a fair bit of ball, they kept turning them away and I think that just showed the mindset and the attitude the boys were in.
"They just played well as a team and that's what we talk about, our big motto is if you want individual success, you get it through your team success."
Dragons coach Peter Hooper said his side will look to improve ahead of next week's clash with the Macarthur Wests Tigers.
"We prepared well, probably just didn't execute in the early stages and turned over too much ball," he said
"[We] gave them too much field position to start off with and you probably can't do that against a quality side like the Rams.
"Every time we looked to get some momentum, it just didn't happen for us today. That's half us and hats off to the Rams, they made a difficult game for us."
The Rams will travel to Leeton next week to face off against the Riverina Bulls.
- WESTERN RAMS 24 (Cooper Egan, Finnley Neilsen, Riley Wake, Zac Williams. Conversions: Braye Porter 4/4) def ILLAWARRA SOUTH COAST DRAGONS 10 (Liam Arnold, James McClelland. Conversions: Ryan Hodgson 1/2)
