It was grand final touch footy at its absolute best when Narrabri Touch wrapped up the 2025 mixed season in nail-biting fashion at Leitch Oval on Monday night.
The victorious teams were Cougars (A-grade), KT Civil (B-grade) and One Hit Wonders (C-grade), who were all crowned champions across the night after standing tall in their respective deciders.
Cougars took on Hammertime in a standalone main event and prevailed 5-3 after KT Civil had taken down the Banksia Babes and Blokes 7-6 while One Hit Wonders downed Livewires 5-4.
All three grand final games delivered a spectacle as two entertaining drop-offs kicked off proceedings before the A-grade grand final capped the night with a high-quality contest featuring some of Narrabri’s top touch talent.
The B-grade and C-grade finals were the perfect curtain-raisers, both of which were tense battles from start to finish and required a two-minute overtime period after finishing level at the completion of the 30 minutes of regulation time.
The B-grade match was all square at 6-all when the full-time whistle went after Rowan Keeler had bagged a double for KT Civil and teammates Kurt Wallace, Josh Curtain, Georgia Hardman and Andrew Weber had all registered a try each, while the six tries scored by the Banksia Babes and Blokes were shared between Blake Brown, Matt McDonnell, Fleur Eather, Clayton Pursche, Emma Cain and Blake Hilderson.
The two teams were down to four players each in the drop-off overtime period when Keeler spotted a gap in the Banksia defence and charged through it before racing away about three-quarters of the length of the field to complete his hat-trick and earn his team the victory.
The C-grade decider was locked up at 4-all at the end of regulation time after April Smith scored a hat-trick for One Hit Wonders, teammate Waldo Botha scored their other try, and Alice Woodhill, Mark Boney, Daniel Rowe and Baxter Gabbott crossed for a try each for Livewires.
Botha then went in for the decisive try in the drop-off overtime period as One Hit Wonders secured a 5-4 win to secure back-to-back premierships after also claiming the 2024 decider.
While there was no overtime in the A-grade decider, it was certainly no less exciting as Cougars prevailed 5-3 over Hammertime.
It was a long time coming for the champs, who played as Just Gammin in last year’s A-grade competition and were the runners-up to the three-time now former defending champions Sprayerbarn Spinouts.
They knocked the Spinouts out of the playoffs in the preliminary final on Monday, June 16, and produced some impressive touch in the decider to get the job done.
Cougars’ five tries on Monday were shared between Michael and Rya Knox, Jordan Harvey, Chris Clark and Andrew Wallace, and Hammertime’s three tries were scored by Frazer Penberthy, Hamish Nolan and Alex Reed.
Hammertime took an early lead as Penberthy crossed for the first try of the game, and they went ahead 2-1 through Nolan after Cougars squared it up. Cougars then established a 3-2 lead before Hammertime equalised when Reed crossed for their third try.
It was either side’s game to win from that point, and Cougars managed to get the job done as they scored the final two tries of the contest through Rya Knox and Jordan Harvey to come away as 5-3 winners.
An awards presentation was held after the A-grade grand final had been won and done, at which the referees’ award winner and grand final players of the matches were announced.
The 2025 referees’ award winner was Baxter Gabbott, and the three grand final players of the match awards went to players on the winning teams, with Cougars’ Clifford Toomey Junior, KT Civil’s Rowan Keeler, and One Hit Wonders’ Lachlan Hall taking out those honours.
The C-grade competition player of the final trophy remained in the Hall family after Lachlan’s teammate and brother Matt won it in 2024.
The Narrabri Touch committee once again thanked the non-playing refs, who were Craig Gleeson and Ben Redfern this season.
The committee also announced that the association’s 2025 annual general meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 2, at the Narrabri Golf Club, and that season two will commence in early August, with the start date to be advised in the coming weeks.
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