By MARK CASHMAN

Gordon coach Brian ‘Billy’ Melrose knew that the Highlanders were going to have to work their way through some uncertain times as the 2021 Shute Shield season played out.

After all the expectation of being defending premiers brings all sorts of baggage with it, not only within a playing group but the perceptions of the wider Sydney rugby community.

The truth of the matter is that of the Highlanders side that beat West Harbour 31-17 on Saturday in a very robust match at Drummoyne Oval there are only five players left who tasted Shute Shield glory last year.

“Last year and 2020 have very little revelance to each other because this team is very different,” Melrose told Rugby News.

“People are saying that this side looks like a version of last year; well it’s not, we are the 2021 team and that’s more than okay.

“We’re not the pacesetters in the competition but we are doing our best and trying to find our combinations and style that suits this group – it’s very true to say that.

“There are lots of guys at the moment in their initial first grade games and they are doing nicely.”

The Highlanders have already worked their way through something of an injury trough that stuck in and around Round Two and Round Three when they took on the Two Blues and Northern Suburbs in consecutive weeks.

After those games they lost a number of front line troops including Reece MacDonald and Brandon Faave-Eli as well as Lucas Price.

That has seen 15 players make their first grade debuts for the Highlanders in the six games they have played so far this year.

On Saturday Gordon jumped out to 26-0 lead against West Harbour early in the first half but after that the structure and space that the Highlanders thrive on disappeared.

“I always thought that Wests would be competitive. We were a bit sloppy throughout the day and once we got to a good lead we didn’t press on like we could have and probably should have,” Melrose added.

“To be honest when we were leading 26-0 it didn’t really seem like that sort of game. I never really felt like we were incredibly on top if you know what I mean.

“Wests are always a dangerous side and scored a couple of tries late that evened things up a bit. It was a win, five points and we move on to next week.”

Gordon backrower Tom Silk was probably the pick of the visitors while winger Mike Pavlakis made the most of the opportunities that came his way.

Jaline Graham at fullback was another significant contributor to the Gordon cause and has been getting better and better with every outing.

Wests coach Mark Gudmunson said conceding soft tries was the story of the afternoon for the home side.

“We gave them a 24-0 head start with some really soft tries,” Gudmunson told Rugby News.

“We could not hit our targets in attacking zones and paid for it.

“Gordon are well skilled in pushing the point and getting things to go in their direction when it comes to certain things, we need to be better at those moments.

“Having the ability to fight back and realistically have an opportunity in the last few seconds to get two bonus points out of the game against the 2020 Premiers, showed that we are capable of going with and being better than any team if we hit our targets and execute.

“It is easy to make excuses for the result, but at the end of the day, we just need to execute and it could have been so very different.

Gudmunson added: “We just need to be confident in what we are doing, I would say we scored a try that should be up for try of the year just before half time.”

IMAGE: ANDREW QUINN / GORDON RUGBY