Narrabri Touch’s 2024 season two competitions ended in spectacular fashion on Sunday with four gripping grand final contests and a vibrant crowd in attendance at Dangar Park, marking the perfect end to a year of fierce competition and unforgettable highlights.
Grumley Builders, Twisted Blisters, The Pelicans and Hounddogs were all crowned champions after winning their respective deciders.
The two B-grade grand finals were tight tussles as Hounddogs downed Golfie Gobblers 4-2 in the B-grade ladies’ contest before The Pelicans edged out Cougars 10-9 in a B-grade men’s thriller.
The A-grade games were both won in more dominant fashion as Twisted Blisters shut out Many’s Contractors 7-0 before Grumley Builders defeated Gee Bangers 8-2.
Narrabri Touch’s president Mereka Gleeson told The Courier that the grand final evening ran smoothly and wrapped up yet another entertaining season in fine fashion.
“It was great,” Gleeson said.
“We had quite a big crowd, which was really nice see. There were lots of spectators who came out to support Narrabri Touch, which is fantastic.
“It’s great over there at Dangar Park. We love holding our grand finals over there. They have great facilities there. We ran a bar and we also asked Chef B Woodfire Pizza to come over, and they sold out.
“It was such a great atmosphere there.
“Personally, I thought the B-grade games were better than the A-grade games, but it was really good quality touch across all four games. The B-grade games were just a lot closer and that made them a bit more intense. The A-grade winners were the two best teams throughout the whole season, so it was very deserving for them.
“The junior game was great too. The kids definitely have some awesome skills. They are the future of Narrabri Touch.”
The grand final evening got underway with the B-grade ladies’ decider as Hounddogs and Golfie Gobblers went head-to-head. The match was scoreless for about 13 minutes as both sides showcased impressive defence early on before the Hounddogs finally broke through and opened the scoring before going ahead 2-0.
Golfie Gobblers then hit back to make the score 2-1 before Hounddogs piled on two more tries to establish a 4-1 lead.
The Gobblers scored another try to reduce their deficit to two, but the Hounddogs were too strong and won the match 4-2. Their four tries were shared between Maya Watson, Jess McFetridge, Carly Baxter and Zoe Conomos, and the Golfie Gobblers’ tries were scored by Emily Flood and Charlotte Penberthy.
The B-grade men’s decider was an epic battle between two teams who threw everything at one another.
The Pelicans steamrolled their way to an early 5-0 lead before Cougars hit back with three consecutive tries. That run was thwarted when The Pelicans scored another to make it 6-3, but four of the next five tries were claimed by the Cougars as the score became all square at 7-all.
The Cougars were then forced to equalise twice more and their ninth try locked up the score and created a nail-biting finish, but The Pelicans went in front 10-9 with about three minutes remaining and that was the way the score stayed as they held on to be crowned champions.
Frazer Penberthy scored five of The Pelicans’ 10 tries in that match and the other five were shared between his teammates Jess O’Neil, Nathan Dicks, Danny Laws, James Baker and Richard Whan. Kaylan Murray went over for a hat-trick for the Cougars, Kurt Wallace bagged a double and Michael Knox, Dylan Segundo, Andrew Wallace and Mark Rottger all crossed for one each.
The A-grade ladies’ decider was a one-sided affair as Twisted Blisters kept Many’s Contractors scoreless and piled on seven tries to claim their first premiership.
It was a victory several years in the making after the team went down against Redbacks in last year’s grand final, one year after several of the side’s players were part of the Agies Ladies outfit that also lost against the Redbacks in the 2022 big dance.
Horne sisters Taylor and Georgia both bagged doubles for Twisted Blisters in that game and mother-and-daughter duo Cathy and Alisha Conomos combined for the other three, two of which Alisha scored.
The A-grade men’s decider was the last game played during the evening and it was a tight tussle early on as Grumley Builders and Gee Bangers kept one another out during the first five minutes. Grumley Builders’ Joe Baker then opened the scoring after breaking the line and charging 50 metres to make the score 1-0, and the floodgates opened for them as they scored three more tries before Nathan Nott got Gee Bangers on the scoreboard with their first.
Two more Grumley Builders tries made it 6-1 before Nott crossed for his second to make it 6-2, but the champs scored two more tries in the final five minutes to put the exclamation mark on a fifth premiership in six seasons as the final score ended up being 8-2.
Baker finished the match with a hat-trick, Tom Nolan bagged a double and Nick Anderson, Hamish Nolan and Jock Small all scored one try each.
A novelty relay race was then held after the A-grade men’s match had wrapped up, which saw teams of two take part. The first leg was a three-legged race, the second leg saw teams carry a ball without using their hands and then drink a cup of milk, and the third leg required one partner to carry the other to halfway and then swap over before making their way to the finish line.
A presentation was held after the relay race had finished, at which the players of the finals and the season award winners were acknowledged.
The players of the finals were Hounddogs’ Maya Watson (B-grade ladies), Pelicans’ Frazer Penberthy (B-grade men), Twisted Blisters’ Georgia Horne (A-grade ladies) and Grumley Builders’ Tom Nolan (A-grade men).
The referees’ encouragement award winner was Olivia Bray, and the top try-scorers for the 2024 season two competition were Twisted Blisters’ Matilda Currey (ladies) and Lations’ Chris Clark (men).
Gleeson told The Courier Narrabri Touch is continuing to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic and that the 2024 campaign was another enjoyable one.
“I feel like it’s been a better year for us and we’re definitely growing after COVID,” Gleeson said.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get back to pre-COVID numbers, unfortunately, but I guess that’s the case in a lot of sports.
“We’re building and growing our numbers back, and the standard of touch has definitely improved this year.
“We’re hoping to try again next year to get some teams to go away to rep carnivals to keep building on the level of touch here locally. It would be good to get more players here experienced at the rep levels.”
Gleeson also advised that Narrabri Touch would continue running two competitions during the calendar year, which it adopted in 2022. The format will remain unchanged in 2025, with the mixed comp being played in season one and then the men’s and ladies’ comps being played during season two.
Season one in 2025 is expected to begin at Cooma Oval on Monday, February 10.
A new addition to the Narrabri Touch calendar next year will be an eight-week high school competition that will be held during term one. It will be a mixed fast fives comp, which means there will be five players on the field per team and there must always be at least one girl and one boy on the field from each team.
It is expected to begin on Monday, February 17, and there will be two age groups for teams to play in, which will be under-12-15s and under-16s-18s.
The high school games will be played before the senior matches begin each Monday.
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