Ghosts roast Turkeys
GRAFTON Ghosts captain/coach Ryan Farrell had more pressing things on his mind than his side's thumping of Kyogle at Frank McGuren Field on Sunday.
The defending premiers turned a 32-4 halftime scoreline into a 58-4 avalanche, running in 11 tries.
But it was the sight of his star back-rower and good mate Aaron Hartmann being carted off in an ambulance which had the Ghosts captain on edge.
Hartmann went down midway through the first half with what appeared to be a serious back injury.
"I'll get up to the hospital as quick as I can," a distraught Farrell said after the game.
"Hopefully, everything's fine and its just precautionary. … he could be fine in a week or be out for a month. We'll just have to wait and see ... fingers crossed Aaron will be okay."
While Farrell would have been disappointed with a couple of defensive lapses, especially down the Ghosts' right edge, in a nutshell the home side was damaging and dangerous.
Recruit Josh Donohoe bagged three four-pointers, causing havoc all afternoon down the left side and not far behind was fellow back-rower Ryan Danvers who got through a mountain of work.
At times, the Turkeys' defence was non-existent, letting in far too many soft tries.
The Ghosts clocked off momentarily late in the first half but after the break continued to rack up the points in a clinical display of rugby league.
"We watched a video of Kyogle during the week and worked out which areas to attack them and it worked in the first half," Farrell said.
"I thought our completion rate was really good but towards the end of the first half our intensity dropped off. It's something we need to work on."
When Kyogle did find themselves in good field position they managed to butcher at least three tries with the final pass going to ground.
In a sometimes spiteful match, the game threatened to boil over on several occasions with two players sent to the sin-bin.
Fiery Ghosts' winger Dan Lollback received his marching orders as did the Turkeys hooker who proved to be a menace all afternoon.
The Ghosts take on the Magpies next Sunday in the local derby before playing a catch-up game against Casino on Tuesday night.
"Yeah, we play Lower on Sunday down there, then we have another away game against Casino. It's a bit brutal but we'll handle it," Farrell said.
THE SCOREBOARD
Grafton Ghosts 58 (Josh Donohoe 3 tries, Mitch Lollback 2, Aaron Taylor 2, Sam Hartmann 1, Dan Lollback 1, Dave Emmott 1, Sam Lennon 1. Aaron Taylor 6 goals, Joel Moss 1) def Kyogle 4 (Jon Malici try)
