John Fitzgerald & Pip Honan

Blackheath will face Rockley in the 2025 Mid West Cup Grand Final after round 3 action saw wins to the Blackcates and Bulls, along with Portland and CSU Bathurst.

There were no surprises in the results, Blackheath defeating Kandos 36-14, Rockley 24-16 winners over Carcoar, CSU 40-10 over Woodstock, and Portland 18-16 winners in the local derby over Wallerawang.

Blackheath, unbeaten in games over three seasons, had their favourite son and one of rugby league’s most credentialled players Brett Ranse, with 10 senior premierships to his credit, out of retirement and adding to the Blackcats’ firepower, claiming he “had to show his grandson before he got too old”.

Nineteen-year-old Ky Reddish from the Kandos Waratahs has recovered from a serious industrial eye injury that kept him out of football last year and is taking his place in his local team again.

The Waratahs have struggled for years but, despite their loss, took heart from their performance against premiership frontrunners Blackheath.

The previously-redundant Kandos cement works has announced about 130 new jobs will be created, and there are hopes this will lead to a resurgence in playing numbers for this once-powerful club.

Round 4 games this weekend will be held at Kandos, with the two teams who missed the finals in each division playing their fourth and final games for this year’s competition.

The Grand Final is set to be hosted by Rockley the following weekend on October 25, with Rockley facing Blackheath in the big one after another consolation game between the sevond placed teams in the Eastern and Western Divisions on the undercard.

Meanwhile, in the Grand Finals held at Rockley, the Bulls will host a huge fundraiser alongside the games in support of a 14-year-old Rockley local Billie Fitzpatrick who has recently been diagnosed with brain cancer.

The club will have cake stall and mechanical bull at the game to raise Funds for Billie, and then an auction held at the Rockley Pub afterward where a large variety of items from team and individual signed NRL jerseys, a signed Wallabies jersey, B1000 Monster Energy and Castrol driver signed polos and more to be auctioned off, with all but half of one item’s funds being donated to Billie and her family.