Lakes United snared the points in the local derby in the Milleen Group Women’s Premiership, completing a 16-4 shutout of neighbouring rivals Central Newcastle.

The round three clash highlighted the NEWRL’s “Super Sunday” at St John Oval.

And, it was the home side who got out of the blocks early inside the first four minutes, when Jaxan Blackhall put a nice little grubber through into the Lakes in-goal.

Several Seagulls tried to pick the ball up rather than force downward pressure, which saw a costly run of errors that ended up in the hands of Jess Day to score for the Butcher Birds.

Then the Lakes United machine kicked into gear in the ninth minute, with Taz Luschwitz making a line break and finding a round-the-corner offload to Sarah Stewart in support.

She found Millie Lenehan, who offloaded to Tyla Brown, who ran 35 metres to score a great team try to lock it up at 4-all.

Almost immediately, Shan Edwards, who played her best game to date, raced onto a beautiful pass courtesy of Matilda Jones and burnt her opposite number on the outside to race away in the corner to give the Seagulls the lead 8-4.

Lakes have found their rhythm and DNA as a side that can attack from midfield, as they did in their most successful periods in women’s football.

The Seagulls were very good in the middle, with some physical plays from the likes of Emma Parker, Lauren Filip and Holly Hayes.

But, it was Luschwitz who consistently troubled the Butcher Birds, where she played a straight-running link role and was always making metres post-contact.

Stewart crossed in the 19th minute after some great lead-up work from Brown in yet another try that went through multiple sets of hands.

Lakes seemed to have all the momentum.

Central wasn’t poor in any particular area; it was just a clear case of the Seagulls playing the better football.

The visitors enjoyed a 12-4 advantage at the break.

The second half saw Lakes miss a number of key opportunities, possibly at least another three tries that should have come to fruition, whether it be lack of vision or lack of execution.

The lone points were scored soon after the interval.

The Seagulls shifted to the right and found Brown on the edge, who, after stepping back inside, executed a pirouette worthy of a ballet dancer and offloaded to Claire Spain to score in the corner.

Central hung around for the second half and competed hard.

But, Lakes never had the game not in its control after the first five minutes in what was a strong 16-4 victory for the Seagulls.

IN OTHER MATCHES

MAITLAND d NORTHERN HAWKS 30-6

Last season’s premiers bounced back to form to get the points in the grand final replay and collect the mythical “By Laws Cup”. It was a commanding win by the Pickers, who are slowly finding their feet after a slow start to the season. Maitland was particularly dominant through the forwards, who laid a good platform in a performance that was very timely leading into this weekend’s clash with Lakes United. For the Hawks, they have a six-day turnaround before they face a red-hot Souths outfit.

SOUTHS d WESTS 24-4

Souths were clearly the better side in this one, but the real talking point is the improvement in Western Suburbs in a match that was expected to be a 50-point win for the Lionesses. Wests, who defended bravely for much of the match, showed great character in a side that is still finding its feet and had only trained together this week as a group. Souths were excellent and are probably, on statistics and the eye test, the competition favourites. They continue to bank wins and will need to ensure they maintain their momentum this week against the Hawks, who are capable on their day.

COMMUNITY CUP

• Cessnock 20 defeated West Wallsend 6
• Dudley 16 defeated Lakes United 14
• Hinton 44 defeated Nelson Bay 0
• Stockton defeated Cardiff via forfeit

COMMUNITY PLATE

• Thornton Beresfield 20 defeated Windale 6
• Waratah 36 defeated Karuah 4
• Wallsend Maryland 12 defeated Raymond Terrace 0

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