Polocrosse finally returns to the Narrabri Racecourse

Polocrosse returned to the Narrabri Racecourse for the first time since 2019 when Narrabri Polocrosse Club hosted a successful 2022 carnival on home soil from Friday to Sunday.

The club’s carnival was cancelled in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic reaching Australian shores before wet weather saw last year’s event heart-breakingly called off, but nothing was stopping this year’s event from going ahead.

And what an event it was.

Narrabri played host to a junior test series between Australia and New Zealand, which saw some of the best Trans Tasman players line up in front of large Narrabri crowds.

Australia enjoyed a clean sweep of the series, winning game one 29-5 on Friday night, the second game 34-12 on Saturday afternoon, and the third game 19-16 on Saturday night.

The carnival also hosted the sixth edition of the Whitehaven Coal Narrabri Junior Challenge, in which 18 teams took part as players came from all across the country to compete.

In total there were 68 teams that competed across all divisions at the carnival, which Narrabri Polocrosse Club’s president Trent Mortimer said was an increase from previous years.

“It went really good,” Mortimer told The Courier of the carnival.

“Everyone was really happy, and we got a lot of positive comments and people saying they’d be coming back next year, which was good.

“We had the perfect amount of rain during the week and the fields played really well.

“All the hard work from our club members really paid off.

“There’s probably about six months’ worth of work beforehand to actually make the carnival happen, so it’s a big effort.

“Our teams played well too, so it was a good weekend all round.

“The best part was when everyone was safe at the end and got to go home.”

Mortimer commended the standard of the international matches and also applauded the New Zealand players who produced a sensational third game once they worked out how their horses were playing.

That third match was played under lights on Saturday night after a sub-junior highlight game was contested by 12 players who were all chosen by selectors, one of which was Narrabri Polocrosse Club’s Kaitlan Schwager.

The weekend was a successful one for many other local players and all three of the Narrabri Shire clubs.

The hosts were crowned champions of the women’s A-grade division and the open F-grade division and were runners-up in the sub-junior A-grade and open B-grade divisions.

Galloping Gully Polocrosse Club’s women’s side was also victorious as it took out women’s B-grade.

Cubbaroo Polocrosse Club did not have a full side in action. However, several of its players were played for other clubs’ teams, including Mitchell Brodigan, who was part of Narrabri’s open B-grade runners-up side, and Billy Brodigan, who was a member of Narrabri’s open F-grade champions.

There were also five juniors from the Narrabri and Gully clubs who were part of teams that were winners or runners-up in the junior challenge.

For Narrabri Polocrosse Club, Blake Fielder was a member of D-grade junior challenge winning team Boggabri Coal, Skye Manning was a member of D-grade junior challenge runners-up Benson Dorpers, and Rosie Ross was part of the A-grade junior challenge runners-up Kapunda Stock Horses.

For Galloping Gully, Lacey Scott was a member of the B-grade junior challenge winning team Mack Energy and Fletcher Williams was a member of the A-grade junior challenge runners-up Kapunda Stock Horses.

There were also many players from the three Narrabri Shire clubs who earned individual awards.

For the Narrabri Polocrosse Club, Oscar Thomson was named the best number two in sub-junior A-grade, Blake Fielder was named the best number one in the D-grade junior challenge, Mortimer was named best number one in the open B-grade division, and teammates April Leggett, Felicity Elford and Lauren Sibley were named best number one, best number two and best number three, respectively, in the women’s A-grade division. Sibley also earned the best horse and rider combination award in the women’s A-grade division and was named the carnival’s champion lady player.

For Galloping Gully, Lacey Scott was named best number one in the B-grade junior challenge, teammates Steffi Lilliebridge, Tianne Parker and Daisy Robinson were named best number one, best number two and best number three, respectively, in women’s B-grade, and Robinson was also awarded the best horse and rider combination in women’s B-grade.

For Cubbaroo, Billy Brodigan was named best number one and won best horse and rider combination in the open F-grade division.

Results from Narrabri Polocrosse Club’s 2022 carnival are as follows:

Sub-junior B-grade:
Winners – Gulgong, runners-up – Bilbies, best number one – Michael McMaster, best number two – Georgina Hill, best number three – Georgie Thompson, best horse and rider combination – Michael McMaster.

Sub-junior A-grade:
Winners – Quirindi, runners-up – Narrabri, best number one – Cameron Clarke, best number two – Oscar Thomson, best number three – Niko Anderson, best horse and rider combination – Niko Anderson.

D-grade junior challenge:
Winners – Boggabri Coal, runners-up – Benson Dorpers, best number one boy – Blake Fielder, best number two boy – Max Green, best number three boy – Jack Davis, best number one girl – Alicia Murphy, best number two girl – Ruby Turnbull, best number three girl – Ava McFayden, best horse and rider combination – Jack Davis.

C-grade junior challenge:
Winners – Diamonds and Dust, runners-up – Elder Tamworth, best number one boy – Blair Porter, best number two boy – Darcy Grills, best number three boy – Jed Davidge, best number one girl – Bridie Williams, best number two girl – Katy Robinson, best number three girl – Chloe Klingner, best horse and rider combination – Chloe Klingner.

B-grade junior challenge:
Winners – Mack Energy, runners-up – Kelato, best number one boy – Thomas Cutler, best number two boy – Ben Caruana, best number three boy – David Caruana, best number one girl – Lacey Scott, best number two girl – Tegan Lamb, best number three girl – Chloe Tunnicliff, best horse and rider combination – Thomas Cutler.

A-grade junior challenge:
Winners – Silver Hills, runners-up – Kapunda Stock Horses, best number one boy – Toby Radford, best number two boy – Ryan Weston, best number three boy – Jim Henry, best number one girl – Beth Shepard, best number two girl – Marley Wall, best number three girl – Zoe Stevenson, best horse and rider combination – Ryan Weston.

Open F-grade:
Winners – Narrabri Two, runners-up – Dunedoo, best number one – Billy Brodigan, best number two – Charly Robinson-Smith, best number three – Jack Deutscher, best horse and rider combination – Billy Brodigan.

Open E-grade:
Winners – Chinchilla, runners-up – Tansey Two, best number one – Brad Bell, best number two – James Bredhauer, best number three – Callum Bell, best horse and rider combination – James Bredhauer.

Open D-grade:
Winners – Muswellbrook, runners-up – Midlands, best number one – Ben Turner, best number two – Tom McCulloch, best number three – Aiden Nunn, best horse and rider combination – Sara Nunn.

Open C-grade:
Winners – Lake George, runners-up – Guyra, best number one – Abbot Grills, best number two – Greg Davidge, best number three – Samantha Speedy, best horse and rider combination – Samantha Speedy.

Open B-grade:
Winners – Albury/Holbrook, runners-up – Narrabri One, best number one – Trent Mortimer, best number two – Maxine Prothero, best number three – Lucy Grills, best horse and rider combination – Lucy Grills.

Women’s B-grade:
Winners – Galloping Gully, runners-up – Muswellbrook, best number one – Steffi Lillibridge, best number two – Tianne Parker, best number three – Daisy Robinson, best horse and rider combination – Daisy Robinson

Open A-grade:
Winners – Quirindi, runners-up – Jugiong, best number one – Chris Anderson, best number two – Kasey Henry, best number three – Will Weston, best horse and rider combination – Will Weston.

Women’s A-grade:
Winners – Narrabri, runners-up – Quirindi, best number one – April Leggett, best number two – Felicity Elford, best number three – Lauren Sibley, best horse and rider combination – Lauren Sibley.

Junior individual awards:
Junior champion girl – Zoe Stevenson, junior champion boy – Ryan Weston, junior and champion horse – Jim Henry and Dora, junior girl encouragement award – Ruby Turnbull, junior boy encouragement award – Jack Johnston.

Open/women’s individual awards:
Champion ladies player – Lauren Sibley, champion men’s player – Will Weston, champion overall player of the carnival – Will Weston, Gilbo Harris memorial award for best intermediate player – Makayla Elford.

More photos to come.