Tallon Smith

The South City Bulls are the 2025 West Wyalong Knockout Champions after a 14-6 victory over the Parkes Spacemen in the final at Ron Crowe Oval on Saturday night.

After a disappointing campaign at the event last season, the Bulls went four from four over the weekend to defeat the Peter McDonald Premiership Grand Finalists and take the trophy back to Group 9 in a thrilling finale to a drama-filled event.

Bulls half Klayton Waikato opened the scoring in the final after dashing out of dummy half to give the Group 9 side a 6-0 lead after two minutes.

The South City side then bookended the half with a try two minutes from the break to Matthew Beer, also out of dummy half, to take a 12-0 lead into the interval.

Parkes hit back in the second stanza however, with Brendon Bigam scooping up a loose ball to bring the Spacemen back within a single score.

After a strong attacking performance in the opening stanza of the final, Bulls Coach Cleve McGhie said that it was his side’s steely defence in the second half that held off the Spacemen’s charge to secure the trophy.

“I think that first half really just put us in the position to carry on with the game,” he said.

“In the second half we had a little bit more dropped ball, probably got a bit confident and tried to move the ball more than what we needed to sort of coming out of yardage, but our defence was still there. 

“I don’t think there was a set where they made any more than 20 or 30 metres in the second half.”

Even the one occasion the Bulls’ defence was breached by the Spacemen was as the result of a perfect bounce of the football, which McGhie said was a testament to his side’s resolve.

“Their try came off a lucky bounce, I think we had more numbers around the ball. It was the bounce, [and a Parkes player] came sweeping between our winger and our fullback and plucked the ball out of the air,” he said.

“Credit to him, a kick is only as good as its chase and I think that showed a bit. 

“But for the most part, everything we shut down, I don’t think there was a moment in that grand final when I wasn’t confident that we were going to walk away with the win. 

“That penalty goal [at the end] to put us just more than six points ahead, it was the way we sort of played a little bit last year too in the sense of winding the time down, and putting ourselves in a comfortable position.”

After a pair of comfortable wins over Leeton and Hay to open the tournament, McGhie said it was a moment in the back end of the latter game which proved a wake-up call prior to a big upset semi final win over Young.

“We made some changes and brought some players off just to give them a little rest before the game finished up and Hay went over for a late try from dummy half,” he said.

“We spoke about it afterwards and addressed it.

“We know Young, when they get close to the line they like to try and play their middles through there but our edges have got to be just as ready.

“You can’t focus too much on that middle part of Young, as then your edges become impacted by it in the sense that we don’t have the numbers to deal with their shifts.

“We kept Young to nil, but they were a very different side to the one that they’re going to be heading into the competition. 

“They were missing some key players or key first graders from their squad, but take nothing away from them, they’ve got really strong depth and I think they showed that and some of the young blokes that stepped up for them really did a job.”

However, while the Bulls showed their might across the four games at the event, McGhie knows the real challenge starts now.

“I really wasn’t concerned about any part of that grand final game, I think we were very much the dominant side not just in that but across the competition and happy with what the boys did,” he said.

“I’ve said to a lot of people that congratulated us that it’s all fine and well to win the Wyalong competition but that’s not the Group 9 comp, it’s a very different football and we’ll go back to the drawing board now to prepare for round one.

“We’ll certainly take confidence, but we’re not going to rest on that and think that that’s worth one while and we’re going to win the comp, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Prior to their Grand Final victory, South City qualified for the final after an 8-0 win over fellow Group 9 rivals and defending premiers Young Cherrypickers.

Meanwhile, Parkes booked their spot in the decider courtesy of a last gasp 16-12 win over arch-rivals Forbes Magpies, with a last minute try to Jake Hutchings securing the victory.

Earlier in the night, a new look Hay Magpies side put on a strong showing against South City, but fell away to lose the quarter final showdown to the eventual champions 26-12.

Other quarter final action saw Young defeat West Wyalong 16-4, Forbes shut out Cooma 18-0, and Parkes scrape past PMP rivals Orange CYMS 8-6.

After two draws saw both sides from the West Wyalong-Parkes, plus Woden chosen to go through to the second round ‘lucky loser’ slot, with Cooma looking to be the unlucky one of the four sides after the freak result of two tied games.

However, the Stallions progressed through to face Forbes after Woden were disqualified due to fielding an ineligible player.

Meanwhile, going all the way back to round one on the Friday night, Forbes defeated TLU 6-4, Parkes drew West Wyalong 6-all, Young outlasted Yanco Wamoon 10-4, South City  powered past Leeton 16-0, Woden Valley drew Cooma in another 6-all scoreline, and Orange CYMS won the nightcap against Bombala 12-6.