Peter (Parra) Montgomery & Tallon Smith
The South City Bulls have finished with the Ray White Challenge Cup as final positions in the Great Northern Group 9 finals series were determined in the last round of the home and away competition on the weekend.
Playing at Geohex Park due to the redevelopment of their Harris Park ground, the Bulls breezed past the +6.5 start to record a strong 36-6 win over Cootamundra Bulldogs on Sunday.
Skipper Cleve McGhie led the scores with two of South City’s six tries to end what was an under achieving season for the Wagga side on a high as they look to build for next season.
The win sees outgoing coach McGhie and fellow tryscorer and long-term five-eighth Klayton Waikato finish with the Challenge Cup in their final games at the Wagga club.
Meanwhile, Cootamundra, in its first season back in Group 9 after an absence of several seasons, could be happy with the results the club achieved during the season.
The Bulldogs have secured the services of Luke Berkrey as coach for next season, and look set to improve under the former Gundagai mentor after he led Yass to its most successful Canberra Raiders Cup campaign in three years this season.
Meanwhile, cross-town rivals Wagga Kangaroos put the icing on their cake, securing the minor premiership in First Grade and Under 18s, and finishing second to the undefeated Albury Thunder in Reserve Grade.
The Kangaroos did not have things all their own way in their final First Grade fixture however, defeating Tumut Blues 26-18 after a hard fought match.
A Dakota Ruta double accounted for two of the Roos’ five tries in the victory, while skipper Zac Masters scored one of Tumut’s three in a competitive game.
Temora, going down narrowly to Young 24-18, after looking the better side for a major part of the game, ended up in fourth position and will play Tumut Blues in sudden death elimination final.
Temora will be looking to go better in this finals campaign than last season when they lost both finals are finishing in second position.
Young Cherrypickers scored its seventh successive win, defeating Temora Dragons 24-18 in a thriller at Nixon Park Temora, and have wrapped up third position on the ladder and the ‘double chance’ in the finals..
The Cherrypickers have shown plenty of spirit to drag wins from the jaws of defeat in many of those seven wins, collecting results by less than six points in most of the dramatic ‘last gap victories’
Young will come up the ultra consistent Gundagai Tigers, a Club that thrives at the ‘pointy end’ of competitions.
The Tigers ran in thirteen tries in a 70-12 win over winless Wagga Brothers at Anzac Park, Gundagai on Sunday.
The hit-out was a chance for Tigers coach, Aaron Gorrell, to put his team through the ‘hoops’ before taking on Young in the qualifying final next weekend.
Finally, Albury Thunder finished up three points behind Tumut on 16 points after being defeated by a rejuvenated Junee Diesels at Laurie Daley Oval, going down 36-16, after getting out to a 12-6 lead early in the match.
Junee was a greatly improved combination in 2025 – and if it can retain its strong squad in 2026, will be looking to climb up the ladder.
Six different tryscorers crossed the stripe for the Diesels in the match, with Thomas Carroll, Nick Hogarth, Jese Wainibuli, Ratu Saurara, Dredin Sorenson and Daniel Foley all getting a four-pointer.
The win left Junee in seventh place with six wins, four points shy of Albury in another improvement as the club continues its long term rebuild back in the First Grade competition.
Finals action in the Great Northern First Grade competition kicks off this weekend, with Temora taking on Tumut in a sudden-death showdown at Nixon Park on Saturday, while Gundagai will host Young in the Qualifying Final on Sunday.
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