The roaring panthers

The Narrabri and District Junior Rugby League grand final day was held on Saturday with the Wee Waa Panthers Gold coming up trumps.

The Panthers defeated the Roosters 24-10 in the under-9/10s grand final in a terrific contest.

Both sides fought hard for the victory but Wee Waa never trailed in the
contest, leading from the fifth minute.

The game began with Wee Waa scoring the first two tries of the contest.

Those tries were both scored by Thomas Symington.

The first try saw Thomas break through the Roosters’ defence using his strength to barge over the line.

The second was from a terrific kick which caught the Roosters’ defence off guard.

Thomas was the first to react as the ball bounced towards him and the front rower crossed the line untouched.

The score read 12-nil at that point but Roosters struck back before the half to cut the match back to 12-6.

That try was the last significant moment of the first half.

The Roosters scored an early second half try to pull the score back to 12-10 with plenty of time remaining.

With the Roosters right back in the match, the Panthers remained cool, calm and collected.

The Panthers’ Toby Hayes scored a crucial converted try with 10 minutes left in the contest to take an 18-10 lead.

Wee Waa stood strong as a defensive unit and reaped the rewards, closing out the contest with the final try of the match.

That try was scored by Brock Allen and secured a 24-10 win for Wee Waa.

Jacob Anderson and Callum Lawler were the Roosters’ two try scorers.

James Allaway added two points with the Roosters’ single successful conversion.

With his try and a successful conversion Toby was named player of the grand final and was rewarded in a presentation after the match.

Wee Waa’s Ernest Green and Roosters’ Brayden Hanslow received the Country Rugby League encouragement awards for their efforts in the grand final.

In the under-11/12s grand final the Eels took on Nixon’s Titans.

The Eels were the victors on the day scoring a 26-16 win to lift the grand final trophy.

Nate Browning scored an outstanding five tries for the Eels carrying his side to victory.

Nate was named both player of the grand final and earned the Len Denton trophy for the most outstanding player on grand final day.

Teammates Blake Fielder, Kyal Seymour and Jeffrey Summers-Alberts chipped in with a successful conversion each.

Nixon Titans’ Fletcher Williams had a great game scoring two tries and Riley Bruce scored the Titans’ third try of the day.

Riley added to his tally with a successful conversion as did teammate Darcy Dickinson.

Eels’ Blake Fielder and Titans’ Riley won the Country Rugby League encouragement awards.