Devils bounce back as Butchers, Canaries forced to share points in wet slog

The Devils bounced back from a 40-16 drubbing at the hands of De La Salle in round two to see off Corrimal 30-6 on a Parrish Park heavy 10.

Marquee recruit George Jennings grabbed a double either side of halftime, his second four-pointer five minutes into the second half seemingly putting the game beyond the Cougars' reach at 18-0.

Dane Chisholm's intercept and 80-metre dash to the try-line proved the dagger just five minutes later in a match the hosts were always in command of.

Having bluntly described the round-two defeat as not up to club standards, coach Pete McLeod was happy with his side's attitudinal response in trying conditions.

"Last week was a really ordinary performance from our guys and they were a bit embarrassed about it to tell you the truth," McLeod said.

"We started pretty well against De La, we just let in some crucial tries within 10 minutes of halftime. Then we were chasing points and didn't play well in the back end.

"They're going to be a strong team in the competition, it's always tough to go up there. You've got to be at your best and we weren't.

"We've got some players in our group who have been here a long time, but we've got a lot of new blokes and younger guys coming into the team.

"We're not the finished product, we're a long way from that. Last week was a bit of a step back, this week was just about trying to set some basic standards about how we want to play.

"We played a good Corrimal team today. They've improved a heap and it's not hard to understand why they were coming off a win.

"We had some conditions here that were really challenging, we probably just handled the conditions a little bit better than them."

It was a steadying win ahead of traditional derby against Dapto next week in which the Canaries will still be looking for their first win after fighting out a 16-all draw with Thirroul in Saturday's other fixture.

"You never get an easy two points against them since I've been coaching, so I don't expect anything different," McLeod said.

"It's a strong competition, every week you've got to play well.

"I think Corrimal are a good footy team, they're going to get better every week and they did really well today.

"De La were good enough last week to put a score on us, Thirroul are always tough and I expect nothing less from Dapto."

The Cougars were game in the absence of a number of guns, with Jarrod Mullen clearly hobbled by a knee injury suffered in the lead-up and unable to see out the game in the boggy conditions.

It was the big absence amid a host of other injuries that put a drain on depth, but coach Sean Maloney said he couldn't have asked much more of his side.

"I was very proud of the boys," Maloney said.

"I just want that not giving up mentality and staying in the grind for the full 80 minutes and I thought we did that.

"Wests are a very good side, we worked on a few video things on Thursday assuming this weather was coming.

"We knew it was going to be a battle through the middle and I just don't think we held our own in that middle.

"We were down a couple of forwards before game, but no excuses. We had opportunities and played a little bit of dumb football.

"We turned up in glimpses, but if we can start putting in a 40-minute effort, 10-minute break, 40-minute effort, I think we'll surprise a few teams this year."

It was a dramatic afternoon at Dapto Showground, with the Canaries falling just short of an epic comeback win despite losing ex-NRL pair Joey Leilua and Tom Freebairn to second-half sin-binnings.

Leilua was marched for a 50^th minute high shot and had barely made it back onto the park when Freebairn was dispatched for same offence.

It came with his side trailing 16-6 but Freebairn returned to post the second of two tries to the hosts in the final 10 minutes to draw level at 16 apiece.

It gave Troy Pieper the opportunity for a go-ahead goal with three minutes on the clock, but the typically ice-cool Dapto skipper's attempt was waved away.

Having also fallen just short of victory against Collegians in round one despite playing 71 minutes with the 12 men, the Canaries have now played more than a hundred minutes with 12 on the park over the opening three games.

It's a source of frustration for coach Blake Wallace, whose side has just the point from Saturday's draw to show for three games within its reach through the opening three rounds.

It was a far from pleasing afternoon for counterpart Jarrod Costello, with his Butchers outfit unable to close out a game despite leading by 10 with under 10 minutes left.

The visitors led 10-0 at halftime on the back of tries to Jye Patterson and Kaleb Hocking, but were out-scored 16-6 in the second stanza despite enjoying a one-man advantage for half of it.

Unbeaten De La Salle were due to face Collies at Collegians on Sunday but the heavyweight clash was postponed following a game-day ground inspection.