For Hawks young gun Lachlan Lawson, the wait for his first derby day success had been an agonising one.
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Having taken part in the 28-22 defeat at the hands of Orange CYMS in round four of the 2022 Peter McDonald Premiership, the centre was denied a chance at redemption later on that year after a neck injury side-lined him for the remained of the season.
Having persevered, Lawson was named in the starting line-up for the May 27 clash against the cross-town rivals, a 384 day wait between derbies. He didn't disappoint.
Solid in both attack and defence, he managed to bag a try late in the 40-4 victory.
![Orange Hawks players celebrate one of eight tries scored on the day by the victors. Picture by Jude Keogh Orange Hawks players celebrate one of eight tries scored on the day by the victors. Picture by Jude Keogh](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/YN4FA67iw2pXwXjwm2vmnJ/0a26aeb2-4622-4441-9d33-0c153703cec2.JPG/r2587_165_8256_3082_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It's the best day of the year," he said after the match.
"In a derby, every team shows up no matter how they're going in the season. It's always a competition and I thought it was a great battle out there.
"It's been a long way back but it's been good fun to back out there. I'm loving running around again."
Things couldn't have gotten off to a worse start for CYMS, with captain-coach and former Hawks player Ethan McKellar putting the ball down on their first possession.
By half-time, Hawks found themselves up 20-0 and were never really in trouble.
The win is Hawks' third in the last four games and Lawson believes they're back on the right track.
"We've been building on it the last few weeks and that's what we need to keep doing. It's leading to good results," he said.
CYMS' lone try came a minute into the first half after Hawks fumbled the kick-off.
Things happened so fast that Shane Rodney hadn't even made his way back out of the sheds to see the play unfold. Despite that 60-second lapse from his side, the Hawks coach was still pleased with the result.
"It's always a tough day whoever the teams are and whatever time of year it is," he said.
"We were really up for the game and so were CYMS early on. I thought the first 20 minutes was quite competitive and I thought if we stuck to our game plan that we'd come away with a good result."
Rodney made special mention of a few players he believed had shone in recent weeks.
"I think Ryan Manning is getting better and better. These last few games especially," he said.
"Matt Boss always through the middle and the leader out there is probably Nathan Potts. Each week I know what I'm going to get and he leads from the front."
- ORANGE HAWKS 40 (Joe Coady 2, Matt Boss 2, Alex Prout, Ryan Manning, Ben Blimka, Lachlan Lawson tries; Ryan Manning 4 conversions) defeated ORANGE CYMS 4 (Luke Trott try)
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