Goats Show Grit in Downing Brothers

THE Gladstone Goats celebrated 10 years since its first grand final win in the best way possible on Saturday - beating Brothers in reserves and A-grade.

In 2006, the Goats managed to come from behind to beat Mt Morgan 23-13 in a tight contest - and Chris Chadwick said on Saturday that it was the best team he had played for.

In that game, he said he came close to scoring a try but with a Silly Sunday and Mad Monday, the fly half can't remember too much more than that.

Chadwick returned to Gladstone on the weekend to play in the reserve grade side and be part of the reunion celebrations.

He scored a temporary release from his current rugby club, the Eagles on the Gold Coast. In his comeback match, Chadwick helped the reserves get over the line to keep their finals hopes alive.

It wasn't looking good at half-time when the Goats went into the sheds 10-0 down but four second half tries to Henry Tatira, Tiki Matebau, Josh Noovao and Jacob Jahnke sealed the deal for the Goats.

Captain of reserves, Rodney Jurd, said Chadwick had been a standout in the match.

Kicking off at 6pm, A-grade got off to a flyer with Rudi Wentzel diving over the try line for a five pointer within the first few minutes.

With the chill setting in and coming over the ground, Brothers gave up easy territory and possession of the pill with careless knock-ons, which ended up leading to another Goats try within the first 20 minutes.

Playing at breakaway, Tom Wright, 16, stood up and showed that he could match it with the older blokes.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing with Brothers putting fighting back to get within two points of the lead.

The Goats showed a lot of grit and determination to pull away from Brothers in the final 10 minutes to run out 26-13 winners.

David West and Jake West scored tries for the Goats, with Bill Auld slotting two conversions.