Five in Titans squad

Max Bennett

09May08

FIVE Centralians have been named in the 25-man Territory Titans provisional squad after the 17-year drought was broken when NT Country defeated City 30-28 for the first time since 1991.

Matt Beattie (United), Lance Day (Vikings), Andrew Herbert and Bulls duo Daniel Forrester and Robert Dahlstron all received call-ups with the chance to earn a guernsey in the Australian Affiliated States Championships.

There is added incentive for the cream of Red Centre rugby league, with the Championships to be held in Alice Springs for the first time over the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

CARL president Brad Tessmann said local players had a great opportunity to represent the Territory in a major tournament in their own back yard.

He said: ``All the players have expressed that they're excited about playing in front of a home crowd for the Territory.''

It was the Alice Springs contingent that did the business for the NT Country side in the win against City, with some of the region's top players taking their game to the next level.

In what was a tightly-fought first half, with the City side forged their way into a marginal four-point lead at the break, with the Country side unlucky to be trailing.

After the interval Country took control, with West Dragons' half-back Lance Day putting on a free clinic for the fans as he proceeded to do what he had so often threatened to do during the recent rugby union season and take the game by the scruff of its neck.

Day, along with fellow Titan squad member Andrew Herbert, gave Country the ascendancy as they pushed in front and ran over the top of the tiring City side.

The final score line of 30-28 flattered City, with Country coach and ARL development officer Warren Collits impressed with his side's performance.

He said: ``Considering we only had a couple of training sessions I was really impressed with the way the team played.

``When you look at it, between Alice and Katherine we've got about 40,000 people, but in Greater Darwin they've got about three times that, so to win was great.''

Collits said the Alice Springs players did themselves proud, admitting he was disappointed to see that several of region's top players missed out on the squad.

He said: ``Troy Loveridge and Chris Powell were very unlucky to miss out.

``By his own admission Troy had a quiet first half, but was really good in the second half, where we won the game.''

In all, 12 players from the NT Country side earned a call-up, with the remaining numbers coming from the Top End.

Senior, under-15 and under-18 squad members train at Anzac Oval on Mondays in the build-up to the championships.

The 2008 Australian Affiliated States Championships kick off on Friday June 6 at Anzac Oval.