Cover Photo: Andrew McLean Photography

Tallon Smith

The Goolgowi Rabbitohs have claimed their first Proten Community Cup title in seven years after defeating the Ivanhoe Roosters 20-6 on their home turf in the grand final at the Sahara Oval on Saturday afternoon.

The Rabbitohs ran in four tries to one courtesy of doubles to Tom Sellars and Henry Taylor, with the latter adding two goals for a tally of 12 of the side’s 20 points, while Josh Charles was the only player to cross the stripe for Ivanhoe in the 14-point defeat, the Roosters’ fourth grand final loss in five years.

Goolgowi co-coach Sam Taylor was happy to finish a strong season with a dominant premiership victory on the road, but said he felt for Ivanhoe, which lost both matches on the day after falling to Rankins Springs in the women’s decider.

“It was a good feeling,” he said.

“They’ve been in a couple, lost a couple now, and it was good to beat them on home turf.

“We feel for Ivanhoe as a club, we have great respect for them.”

It was Ivanhoe which struck first through Charles to lead 4-0, before Sellars hit back to give the Rabbitohs a 6-4 lead heading into the break.

Owen Whyman then added a penalty goal to level the scores at 6-all early in the second half, before Taylor struck for Goolgowi’s second 15 minutes from full time.

That triggered two further tries, with Sellars and Taylor doubling up to seal the deal for the Rabbitohs and the return of the Proten Community Cup to the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Mid-Western Highway for the first time since the club’s 2019 victory over Narrandera.

Co-coach Taylor said the final scoreline gives the illusion of a fairly comfortable win for the Rabbitohs, when in actual reality, it was anything but, with the Goolgowi mentor only satisfied when his side opened up a three-score lead with two minutes to play.

“It was probably only the last try that Henry scored [with] 2 minutes to go [that] I thought [we were home],” he said.

“[Against] any teams in this comp, especially Ivanhoe with the players that they’ve got, you can’t give up.

“We’ve always been saying all year to not play the scoreboard at all, win, lose, or whatever it is.

“With the players they’ve got, [they] things can turn around, they can score a couple of tries quick.”

Meanwhile, reflecting on the start to the game, Taylor said he was a little concerned when the Roosters got the jump on the back of Charles’ early four-pointer, but knew the side’s focus on playing the game rather than the scoreboard would serve it well.

“When you’re playing a home team [and] any team as good as Ivanhoe you don’t want to give them the jump, but I think all year we played a pretty simple brand of footy,” he said.

“That was one of our big things all year was being patient and playing, not playing the scoreboard, just playing football. 

“I reckon that was probably our biggest goal this year, [to play] a simple brand of footy and be patient, that was what I was hoping [for] all year really and they did it.”

The premiership is Goolgowi’s ninth Group 17 premiership, following triumphs in 1965, 1966, 1977, 1985, 1992, 2004, 2005 and 2019.

GOOLGOWI 20 (Tom Sellars 2, Henry Taylor 2 tries; Taylor 2 goals) DEFEATED IVANHOE 6 (Josh Charles try; Owen Whyman goal) at the Sahara Oval, Saturday August 1.

Dragons spoil Hens’ party in tryless thriller

Earlier, the Rankins Springs Dragons won the first women’s nines title in the club’s history with a 4-0 victory in a tryless decider against the hometown Ivanhoe Hens.

Two penalty goals to player of the match Tash Tuckett and Natalie Gibbs proved the difference as the Dragons overcame the early loss of Caprice Crowe to a hip injury to add to their three men’s titles and become the outright most successful club in the Proten Cup era.

Rankins Springs co-coach Brooke Streat said the result was “unbelievable”, with the side achieving a rare feat in taking out a premiership in the club’s centenary year.

“It didn’t really feel real, our girls just pushed and pushed, and we got there,” she said.

“We all wanted it for our hometown, I feel like our girls, we’ve been together for so long now.

“The boys getting knocked out early [before] the finals, I think that gave us a little bit of an extra push to go, we deserve to be here, it’s only 100 years [once], let’s just do it.

“We’ve played all season with low numbers, and to have that win is just something that will be unforgettable.”

The match itself was a stop-start affair, with play halted for injuries in both halves.

The most serious of those was to Crowe on the opening hit-up, which saw all bar the final five minutes of the first half elapse and the Dragons number 6 airlifted to Broken Hill.

Battlers For Bush Footy reached out to Rankins Springs president Brent Parsons, who said Crowe was in good spirits after learning of the side’s victory, and wished to thank the Royal Flying Doctors Service.

“They are an amazing organisation, they are worth their weight in gold,” he said.

Already facing a strong defensive unit in the Roosters, Streat said the loss of Crowe led to a major reshuffle in the side’s setup.

“Losing our half Caprice, that put a spanner in the works because we had to change our whole line,” she said.

“We knew we couldn’t break their line, so we had to do something different.

“It just came down to just playing football and playing it smart and seeing what we could do.

“It was weird that it was just penalties, and I didn’t ever think it was going to happen that way, but it was honestly a hard game of football to play.”

Meanwhile, with the win being the club’s fourth combined premiership in the Proten Community Cup era, the Dragons overtook Narrandera (two men’s and one women’s title) as the most successful club since the competition resumed in 2018.

While she admitted to not even knowing that fact post-game, Streat said it is a remarkable feat for a town which prides itself on being the smallest in the state with an active rugby league club.

“It’s unbelievable to have to have that in our town,” she said.

“The town comes together, the town supports each other. 

“This is just something that we can come back [to] and have this memory forever.”

RANKINS SPRINGS 4 (Tash Tuckett, Natalie Gibbs goals) DEFEATED IVANHOE 0 at the Sahara Oval, Saturday August 1.