By MARK CASHMAN

It was always going to be a tough ask for the Hunter Wildfires to make their presence felt in this year’s Shute Shield when you consider all the hurdles that have been thrown their way.

The Wildfires only got the green light to compete four weeks out from the first game of the season and the jump in class has been something that coach Scott Coleman has been trying to bridge ever since.

There have been the blowouts brought about by slicker teams making the most of the back end of games but Coleman has been bringing his side up to the level required game by game.

So the Wildfires 28-15 win over the Western Sydney Two Blues on Saturday was a major step in the right direction for the Newcastle based club.

Coleman said: “”For me, the win was right up there. I know how hard these guys have worked and the commitment they have made.

“Some of them travel distance to be part of it. The boys were just happy. They didn’t jump around or anything.

“They just filed into the shed and we had a chat about what we could have done better.

“None of them are getting a cent. You can’t fault their commitment and desire.”

One area though where Coleman will have to put some more work in is the team song, a ditty brought out and belted out after a win.

“I had to sing the team song on my own because no one knew it,” Coleman added.

“I hope everyone at home gets a bit of belief in the program. We have been competitive in every game.

“When we lost [31-21] against Easts before the bye, the boys were really disappointed. At the start of the year, that would have been a good result.

“Being competitive is no longer good enough.”

The home side came into the game on the back of their first win of the season after their effort against Penrith and they jumped out to a 10-0 lead early.

That came on the back of a try from Waratahs squad member and former Eel Tepai Moeroa and some nice work from Two Blues flyhalf Rory Garrett.

The Wildfires came back into the game with a try to hooker Phil Bradford but the Two Blues scored just before the break and went into the break 15-7 ahead.

From there though it was all Hunter and tries from Taulogo Lalago, Chad Northcott capped off a great half of footy for the visitors.

Wildfires No.10 Brendan Holliday contributed with the ball in hand and kicked well off the tee.

“When we held the ball, we were the better team by far,” Coleman said.

“At half-time, the boys were disappointed and knew if we hung on to the ball we could come home.”

HUNTER WILDFIRES 28 (Phil Bradford, Taulogo Lalago, Chad Northcott, Hamish McKie tries; Brendan Holliday 4 conversions) d WESTERN SYDNEY TWO BLUES 15 (Tepai Moeroa, Michael Zakhia tries; Rory Garrett conversion, pen goal).

IMAGE: STEWART HAZELL / HUNTER WILDFIRES