Jamie Parsons

For the second year in a row some heavy rain in the days prior forced many buses to detour through Hay and up the Cobb Highway with Mossgiel and Booligal roads closed.

Round 1 proved to be largely uneven with some big scores including the biggest margin in the men’s competition so far.

The day started with a Welcome to Country by Sharon Kennedy and a smoking ceremony, and Ivanhoe’s mens and womens teams played in special indigenous jerseys designed by Carolyn Williams.

Women’s Games

Barellan started the season fast in what has become a tradition with a 46-4 win over Hillston.

The Bluebirds numbers have been tremendous in the pre-season after a vast improvement on 2024 when they were often short.

Barellan started quick with three tries early before Hillston pegged one back, but the second half was all the Rams.

Sophia Kelsey, Sophie Taylor and Tommi Booth all scored doubles as the Rams went top of the table again.

The home side Hens made a good account of themselves with a 34-10 win over Goolgowi despite several Barellan girls backing up for the short Goolgowi side.

Ivanhoe started well managing to keep Goolgowi out early until confusion over the 2-in-the-tackle rule led to Aleeysha Munday scoring for the Rabbitohs.

Ivanhoe dominated the rest of the game with Falesiu Chauncy-Moli with 2 tries and Shailyn Williams with 18 points from 2 tries and 5 goals.

Men’s Games

Deniliquin will face many big road trips for their first season but Round 1 had many clubs facing the same thing.

Hillston managed the trip a lot better than the new boys with three tries early  before both sides had one player each sent off after a melee.

Hillston managed the man down better with a full bench while Deni only had two interchange players with a couple Narrandera boys filling in.

Goolgowi’s Henry Taylor backing up for the Bluebirds ran riot in the second half with four tries and fullback Jed Webster kicked nine goals.

Narrandera also came over a bit short with some Deni boys returning the favour and filling in on the bench.

Barellan looked better early but could not capitalise despite one try to captain Noah Forbutt.

Jamaine Jones went through the middle to bring Narrandera level before quick hands through the backs had Jahrel Tereva over in the corner for the Lizards to lead.

A break from a kick return by Fred Herrmann put Forbutt over for another for the Rams to lead in the break before they got it together and ran over the top of an injury-decimated Narrandera to win 28-10.

The Ivanhoe v Goolgowi late game took a while to get going with strong defence dominating the early exchanges until Ethan Harris managed to get over in the corner. Phillip Hunter scored on the other sideline soon after for the Roosters to go in 8-0 at the break.

The second half was a similar story, despite poor discipline from Ivanhoe giving Goolgowi numerous penalties on the tryline, but the Ivanhoe defence held strong. Two more tries late in the half gave them a 16-0 win.

Full Results

Women’s

Barellan 46 (Tommi Booth 2, Sophia Kelsey 2, Sophie Taylor 2, Natasha Ambrose, Monique Higgins tries; Monique Higgins 7 goals) defeated Hillston 4 (Lakisha Kennedy try)

Ivanhoe 34 (Falesiu Chauncy-Moli 2, Shailyn Williams 2, Aimee McGuckin, Rachael Burns tries; Shailyn Williams 5 goals) defeated Goolgowi 10 (Aleeysha Munday, Sophia Kelsey tries; Mackenzie Dowell goal)

Men’s

Hillston 62 (Henry Taylor 4, Ratu Ketewai, Tale Delai, Tommy Brettschneider, Akariva Tawake, Jardin Morcome, Josh Cahill, Larry Goolagong Sloane tries; Jed Webster 9 goals) defeated Deniliquin 0

Barellan 28 (Noah Forbutt 2, Gary Braddick 2, Rodney Gibbs tries; Noah Forbutt 4 goals) defeated Narrandera 10 (Jahrel Tereva, Jamaine Jones tries; Jamaine Jones goal)

Ivanhoe 16 (Ethan Harris, Phillip Hunter, Jake Whyman, Tyrone Johnston tries) defeated Goolgowi 0