Hero Hamilton leads Mid Western to win

Mid Western halfback Luke Hamilton provided the spark his team needed to come from behind and defeat Mid Northern and remain unbeaten in the PGG Wrightson Southern Districts Premier grade.
The former North Harbour player had an excellent game. His breaks were the difference between the two well-matched teams and inspired their second- half revival that saw an  eventual 17-13 victory.
Sharks coach Myles Ferris lauded his halfback for producing a match-winning performance.
"I thought Luke had a superb game today. He's so strong and quick and he's got good vision and he got us on the front foot in the second half," he said.
Ferris gathered the team after the game and told them the win was something a champion team would produce.
"The boys have grown an enormous amount of self belief and they know that if they are within cooee right until the dying whistle then they're still in the match," he said.
Sharks' captain Garry Whippy had an inspirational game himself but admitted he was surprised they had managed to beat Mid Western.
"They're a very good team and brought a lot of their big guns, so winning today will give us confidence going into next week's match [against Hikurangi]. Winning is a culture and it feels good right now to be able to keep that culture going," he said.
The Sharks were outplayed in the first spell and for much of the second but thanks to Hamilton and a great defensive commitment by the Sharks, they hung on for the win.
Mid Northern came to Dargaville with a plan and with a piece of luck or two might have had the game in their hands at half-time. The Sharks defence held early on when Brad Miller, back from a hamstring strain, made a couple of midfield breaks into their 22m but was unable to get the support he needed to finish off the moves.
David Holwell directed the troops around the park and gained exceptional kicking metres around the park, something the Sharks wingers never managed to position themselves for. He kicked two penalties to lead 6-0 but it could have been a lot better for Mid Northern if not for the pesky Hamilton.
With five minutes of the spell remaining, Holwell cut inside the defence from a set-piece but his dive for the line was judged short and he was unable to ground the ball a second time after being turned over in a good tackle.
From the resulting scrum Mid Northern's promising young Kadin TeNana was taught another lesson under pressure from Hamilton and instead of putting Isoa Douglas away on the blindside for a try in the corner, he passed to Tama Herman, who almost ran the length of the field.
In the end TeNana atoned for his mistake by dragging down the winger from behind, but the Mid-Northern cover was stretched and they conceded a penalty that was kicked by new Sharks acquisition Reece Hamon to complete the first-half scoring.
The home side had more ball in the second spell but defence still dominated attack until Quentin Cooper crashed over the line midway through the spell after more than five minutes of pressure on the Sharks line. Holwell converted to see them ahead 13-3.
Five minutes later Brad Taylor was left grasping at thin air as Hamilton stepped around him and ran from just outside his own 22m line to offload the ball to Aaron Lambly, five metres from the Mid Northern tryline, leaving several bemused defenders in his wake.
Lambly was taken high by Holwell and referee Kyal Collins awarded the Sharks a penalty try. The conversion was kicked and the Sharks trailed by just three at 10-13.
With about 13 minutes remaining Hamilton again ran at the Mid Northern defence and created a hole for winger Mateo Malupo to gain easy metres down the right flank. The winger then chipped over the defence and was the first to the ball to successfully gather and then score a great try.
The conversion put them ahead 17-13 but the Sharks had to defend   again as Mid Northern threw everything they had at them.  But  Northern made errors and the Sharks were able to
 survive.