Jesse Douglas was strong for Port City. Photo: Lighthouse Sports Photography

Port City Breakers overcame the late withdrawal of five-eighth Jake Hazard and second-rower Dan Dumas to account for a gallant Wauchope Blues 30-16 on Saturday (August 13).

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It maintained their unbeaten 2022 Group 3 rugby league campaign, but it wasn't without the help of some of their next generation of players.

A handful of under-18 young guns stepped up and did a job with Ty-Jesse Brabant, Tyrone Flanagan, Billy Sprague, Josh Power and Daniel Cheeseman all impressing coach Richie Roberts.

Roberts admitted the win was sloppy, but he was also happy to come away with the victory.

"It was not overly impressive; a bit sloppy, although a win's a win," he said.

"If it wasn't for the under-18 kids who stepped up and did a job, we would have struggled. They didn't overplay their hand, they just used the next-man-up mentality and stuck to the game plan."

Mat Bird takes the ball into the Port City defence. Photo: Lighthouse Sports Photography

Not only was Port City's handling at times sub-par, their on-field discipline urgently needs to be addressed and Roberts knows they have to be better with the semi-finals fast approaching.

"That's what I touched on in the sheds," the coach said.

"If you want to be there when it counts, you need to fix up your discipline because you can't be playing catch-up footy in those kind of games. We've got to work on earning our wins and not just expecting to win."

Cuban Piper scored two tries in Port City's win over Wauchope. Photo: Lighthouse Sports Photography

Wauchope trailed 20-6 at half-time although co-coach Beau Kettle couldn't fault the effort of his side who matched it with the error-riddled Breakers in the second half.

"I don't feel their (the Breakers) performance was one of a team running first in the comp," he said.

"If things had have gone our way and we didn't make the silly mistakes we did, it would have been a whole different story."

While semi-finals are out of the equation for the Blues, the focus now was on finishing the season strongly. Kettle had never seen a club hit so hard with injuries.