Bryson Luff

The final five in the 2025 Christie and Hood Castlereagh League first grade competition will not be known until all the fulltime sirens at three different venues are sounded to signal the end of the competition rounds this Saturday afternoon.

The only certainty is that the Coolah Kangaroos will be the minor premiers but the finishing order of another six clubs who are in the fight for the remaining four semi-final berths is very much a mystery and will not be resolved until the results from games played at Cobar, Coolah and Gulgong are known.

Currently the Coonabarabran Unicorns hold down second position on the ladder after they scored a tense 34-28 win over the Cobar Roosters at Coonabarabran.

However, the Unicorns face the daunting task of trying to be the first team to lower the Kangaroos colours this season when the travel to Coolah this Saturday with a win guaranteeing then second place and qualifying semi hosting rights with the Boronia Cup thrown in as an added bonus.

Sitting just one point adrift of the Unicorns on the competition ladder are the Narromine Jets, who stayed in the race for second when they downed the Warren Bulldogs 30-20 at Warren last Saturday.

The Jets can expect a warm reception at Cobar’s Tom Knight Oval this Saturday, especially with the Roosters still in contention for the semis.

The Gulgong Bull Terriers can leapfrog the Jets on the ladder and finish in third position if they can get over the top of the Coonamble Bears at Billy Dunn Oval, and the Jets lose to Cobar!

Irrespective of their result against the Bears the Terriers are assured of a semi final berth.

At worst, they will finish fourth.

Fifth position on the ladder is a three-way shootout between the Cobar Roosters, the Coonamble Bears and the Dunedoo Swans with all three clubs currently sitting on 25 competition points.

The Swans will finish on 28 points due to having the bye this weekend, and if both Cobar and Coonamble lose they are in.

If either, or both, Cobar and Coonamble win then it will come down to points differential determining who gets the nod to play on after round 14, and in that regard the Swans are the worst placed.

Similar to the first grade, the final composition of the both the league tag and reserve grade semi-finalists also remain unknown and will not be decided until this Saturday afternoon.

Castlereagh League First Grade Round 13 Scores

Coolah Kangaroos 54 (Jayden Brown 3, Hugh Wesley 2, Brayden Burgess, Dan
Lane, Casey Burgess, Chanse Burgess, Austin Burgess tries, Lane 7 goals) defeated Coonamble Bears 16 (Kane Wiggins, Andrew Peacocke, Dwayne McEwen tries, Pecocke, Mitch Nalder goals) at Coolah.

Coonabarabran Unicorns 34 (Sam Pickette 2, Brad Fuller, Sam Wilson, Tyler Frazer, Jarrod Michael tries, Nick Willoughby 4, Fuller goals) defeated Cobar Roosters 28 (Timothy Hillam 2, Kai Taylor 2, Lochlan Ford tries, Tadgh McMullen 4 goals) at Coonabarabran.

Dunedoo Swans 44 (Tyler Bamblett 2, Will Duce, Kyzah Louie, Ty Sutherland, Ta
Dermott, Lockie Le Brenton, Josh Brown tries, Sutherland 6 goals) defeated Baradine Magpies 10 (Cameron Worrell, Luke Hamilton Snr tries, Luke Hamilton Jnr goal) at Baradine.

Narromine Jets 30 (Janus Walford 2, Washington Itoya, Charlie Isedale, Kaiden Hill, Corey Cox tries, Cox 3 goals) defeated Warren Bulldogs 20 (Elias Kennedy 3, Lachlan Clarke tries, Tom Potter 2 goals) at Warren.

Gulgong Bull Terriers bye.