Cover Photo: Peter Sherwood Photography
Bryson Luff
Spectators at the opening games of the 2026 Christie and Hood Castlereagh League finals series played at Coonabarabran on Saturday were treated to two high quality and closely fought matches with both going down to the wire.
Featuring the Coolah Flyers and the Narromine Jets, the league tag qualifying final got things underway with what turned out to be a thrilling affair after it looked like the Flyers were going to run away with it after establishing a 20-4 lead at half time.
However, it was to be the Jets that did the bulk of the scoring in the second half and with five minutes to go they were well in the match with the scoreboard reading 26-16 and finishing off strongly.
That 10-point deficit was reduced to just four when the Jets scored a converted try just two minutes from fulltime, but in the end, they ran out of time and will now head to sudden death games whilst the Flyers will be playing in the major semi against the Dunedoo Swannettes next Saturday in Cobar.
That game set the tone for what was to be an epic and memorable first grade game between the Coonabarabran Unicorns and the Coolah Kangaroos.
With player numbers depleted due to a series of injuries, the Unicorns interchange bench was somewhat sparsely populated and after the Kangaroos had established a very handy 18-8 lead at half time many would have thought that it was game over for the home side, but that most certainly is not what transpired.
With play constantly moving up and down the field throughout the entire 80 minutes this was a game that kept the crowd enthralled with the two teams rapidly alternating between attack and defence.
With the first successful goal kick of the match not being landed until the 36th minute of the game it was to be Coolah’s four try to two effort that saw them take a ten-point lead to the sheds, and seemingly on top after dominating possession in the latter stages of the first half.
However, that lead soon evaporated after the break, with the momentum shifting to the Unicorns and with two converted tries to their fullback and man of the match Josh Nixon the home side were in front 20-18 with some 26 minutes remaining in the game.
As per the first half played moved from end to the other providing a great viewing spectacle and as the minutes counted down it seemed that it would be a case of “next try wins” between the two evenly matched teams.
However, there was to be no next try, and despite their limited bench numbers the Unicorns held on to record a very gutsy win, after what was a high standard and thoroughly entertaining game of Castlereagh rugby league.
They now face the daunting task of trying to upset the Cobar Roosters at Cobar next Saturday in the major semi-final.
By comparison both the weather and the football played on Sunday at Dunedoo in the elimination final between the Dunedoo Swans and the Narromine Jets were somewhat dismal, with constant rain and very cold conditions not conducive to free-flowing football.
With a half time lead of 20-6 the Swans looked as if they were set to record a sizeable win, but with the difficult conditions well and truly affecting the standard of handling by both sides the second half fell away to a very stop start affair.
Perhaps it could be said that the final 26-10 win by the Swans came about to a large degree by their second half defence, of which they were called on to do plenty as the Jets were consistently camped inside Dunedoo’s red zone, with the Swans only getting over the halfway line on six occasions in the final forty minutes.
Whilst it was not pretty, it was still a win that sees them remain alive in season 2026, their next assignment being this Sunday when they take the short trip up to Coolah to take on the Kangaroos in the sudden death minor semi-final.
The league tag fixture at Dunedoo saw the Cobar Roosterettes finish strongly in their game
against the Gulgong Terriers to come away with a 34-16 win after the scoreboard read 20-16 with only ten minutes remaining in the match.
Men’s Scores
COONABARABRAN UNICORNS 20 (Josh Nixon, Eddie Kuras, Sam Pickette tries, Nick Willoughby 2 goals) DEFEATED COOLAH KANGAROOS 18 (Hugh Wesley, Sam Hohnberg, Austin Burgess, Nicholas Millar tries, Braydon Burgess goal).
DUNEDOO SWANS 26 (Sam Coe 2, Will Cuthill, Ale Beale, Ben Gallagher tries, Ty Sutherland 3 goals) DEFEATED NARROMINE JETS 10 (Darby Gordon, Beau Dean Williams tries, Corey Cox goal).
Women’s Scores
COOLAH FLYERS 26 (Brooklyn Blackadder, Molly Burgess, Emma Burgess, Lisa Jones, Mackenzie Blackadder tries, Brooklyn Blackadder 3 goals) DEFEATED NARROMINE JETS 22 (Millah Phillips 2, Shian Chatfield, Holly Jamieson tries, Chatfield 3 goals).
COBAR ROOSTERETTES 34 (Kayla Hassan 2, Sosie Barton, Brianna Watson, Taylah Good, Neve Carter tries, Watson 5 goals) defeated GULGONG TERRIERS 16 (Emily Gallaher, Lolly Tumpey, Millie Harper tries, Tumpey 2 goals).
Finals Week 2
Saturday 15th August – Major Semi Finals (Tom Knight Memorial Oval, Cobar)
First game to kick off at 11.30am with other grades to follow straight on.
Youth League – Coonabarabran Unicorns v Cobar Roosters
League Tag – Dunedoo Swannettes v Coolah Flyers
First Grade – Cobar Roosters v Coonabarabran Unicorn
Sunday 16th August – Minor Semi Finals (Bowen Oval, Coolah)
First game to kick off at 11.30am with others to follow straight on
Youth League – Narromine Jets v Gilgandra Panthers.
League Tag – Narromine Jets v Cobar Roosters.
First Grade – Coolah Kangaroos v Dunedoo Swans
