Narrabri Blue Boars retain the Hannaford-Southwell Shield

Narrabri Rugby Club retained the prestigious Hannaford-Southwell Shield on Saturday with a 20-point victory over St Albert’s College in the first grade memorial match fixture.

The Blue Boars welcomed the Armidale-based University of New England club to town in four grades, with the main game played from 4.30pm in memory of former Narrabri Blue Boar Brad Hannaford and his girlfriend Felicity Southwell, who tragically died in a car accident back in 2006.

A 47-27 first grade victory at Dangar Park saw Narrabri retain the shield with their sixth win over Albies in as many years.

The match was played across three 25-minute thirds, and the hosts never trailed after scoring early through 2026 first grade co-captain Jack Maunder, who finished with a hat-trick.

The Narrabri Blue Boars’ coach Craig Gleeson was thrilled to get the win and was pleased with plenty of positive signs that his men showed on the day. However, he felt that the occasion was front and centre, declaring that the two clubs both did the shield proud.

“The Southwells and the Hannafords are two big rugby families here in Narrabri, and a lot of people who are associated with our club are very close to those families. It’s nice that we get to celebrate this every year with Albies, and that they make the effort to come here and celebrate the lives of two special young people that were taken too soon,” Gleeson said.

“It’s a lovely way of honouring them and their families.

“It was a fitting celebration of their lives, and it was great to see some of the family members there and to get to have a chat with them and catch up with them.

“It was a respectful day that celebrated them and it was great to see the clubs come together again.”

Gleeson was content with the way his men played and said he thought there were plenty of positive signs ahead of the 2026 Central North Rugby Union campaign, which will kick off on Saturday, April 11, when Narrabri head out to Moree for a round one derby.

“It was pretty high-quality footy, and I think that Albies were a lot better than what they have been in the last couple of years. I think they have done some brilliant things over there with their program,” Gleeson said.

“It was quite up-tempo, and being a day game this year, there was quite a bit of ball movement and it was good running rugby.

“Putting 47 points on the board is positive against any opposition.

“I really liked the way we developed our game within a week too, to be honest.

“We had a few bodies back in the backline that weren’t there for the Avoca trial (a 27-7 loss on Friday, March 20), which helped.

“I was really impressed with the way we started to fall into our style of play and the shapes we are trying to use.

“Things we’ve been doing at training over the past two weeks are really starting to benefit us.

“We were pretty dangerous on the edges, and to be honest, we created a lot more opportunities than what we converted.

“Some of the feedback was that, at times, we created so much space that we were probably a little bit neglectful with the ball, especially with the last pass.

“Defence probably wasn’t where we wanted to be at, and that was our focus at each of the breaks. We kept discussing what we identified as a few of our deficiencies in defence, and we have some work-ons now and we understand what we need to do to be better, which is good.

“Fitness could always be better, but given we have had a short pre-season and only started training on the 10th of February, we’re not even two months in yet really. I’m always of the belief that you don’t want to be the fittest in the first round. We want to build into that.

“All in all, I’m reasonably happy. We could always be better, but the plan is to be the best at the end of the season.”

One of Narrabri’s standouts on Saturday was Joe Baker, typically Narrabri’s outside centre who lined up at fullback against Albies.

“He was absolutely electric,” Gleeson said.

“That extra space was good for him. The amount of metres he made and how hard he was to contain was unbelievable. It was really good to watch.

“Where he plays will be something we sit down and have a look at, but the aim is to get the best seven backs on the field at once in round one.

“Joe’s performance against Albies now gives us so many options, which is a real good thing.

“Jock Small was good in the centres. He’s a calm head, which is what you want when you’re playing teams like Moree.

“In the forwards, we had some really promising performances from a few young fellas. I thought Rob Burke and Jack Smith especially were really strong, and the experienced players like Suzie (Will) Cieiolka and Jack Maunder and Will Turner were doing really good work as well.

“It was really good to have Willo (McDonnell) and Jake Packer back in the backline too.

“Willo’s linking and accurate crisp passing was a real asset to us and a feature of how we played, and Pack’s guidance and voice around the field was a big asset too.”