The Griffith Blacks were able to finish their home campaign with back-to-back wins after coming away with an 8-7 victory over Deniliquin.
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After a back-and-forth start to the game, the Blacks were able to make a break down the field through Solomoni Nabete, and will the Drovers were able to get the ball back. Clearing the ball proved difficult, and a bomb ended up in the hands of Blake Theunissen, who used his strength to barge his way over for the first points of the game.
The Drovers came into the game knowing a win would see them rise into the top four, and they put the Black's defensive line under plenty of pressure but weren't able to break through.
The best chance of the first half came after they were able to break the Black's line a couple of metres out, but the Griffith side was able to make a last-ditch tackle to prevent them from getting the ball down and see them hold onto a 5-0 lead at the break.
The home side was able to make a better start in the second half and got some strong field position but couldn't convert that into points on the board.
Andrew Fauoo missed an early penalty goal, but when the second one came around, Naseri Taifai made no mistake from 20m metres out to give the Blacks an 8-0 lead.
Much like the first half, Deniliquin was dominating the possession, but the Blacks were holding well to keep them out.
That was until a miscued kick presented the Drovers with a break down the right-hand side, and they raced away to score and make it a one-point game with 10 minutes to go.
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The visitors had their best chance called back after a forward pass to see the Blacks finishes their home campaign with an 8-7 victory.
Coach Chris McGregor feels this result shows the improvement of his young side this season.
"Those are the games this year that we have lost," he said.
"Really proud of the boys, It wasn't the prettiest again, and there were plenty of opportunities, we just dropped that last pass, but we ground it out really well, and it shows how much these boys have matured."
It wasn't all good news for the Blacks, with Theunissen coming from the ground with a knee injury late in the first half.
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