The Cobar Roosters thwarted the Coolah Kangaroos attempt at making it three Castlereagh premierships in a row when they recorded a solid 22 to 4 grand final victory in front of a very large and vocal crowd.
Played on their home turf, Tom Knight Memorial Oval, the Chooks were never headed in a contest that was punctuated by a number of flare ups that saw four players, three from Coolah and one from Cobar, dispatched to the sin bin!
The physicality of the game certainly did little to induce free flowing football but that is not to say that the game did not have its moments of good ball movement, and both teams were called upon to defend doggedly at times throughout the encounter.
The tone for the match was set in the third minute when the first flash point in the game occurred, and it was on from that point onwards.
The Roosters declined a penalty kick at goal not long after and, as is often the case, they coughed the ball up in the first tackle of the ensuing set.
However, they did still manage to be the first team to generate any scoreboard action when their hooker, Thomas Plater, was able to dart over from dummy half in the 13th minute for a try which he then converted for a six points to nil lead.
From that point the Roosters began to dominate the game territorially and it was Plater again who scored from dummy half in the 29th minute.
The Coolah defence was focused on Cobar’s big men, Loma Atuau, Sione Fakahua, David Watson, Slade Neale, Jed Noonan and Tristan Everett who kept attacking the line while Plater scooted from dummy half to score.
His cause was aided by the fact that a Coolah player was contemplating the paint work in the dressing shed having been sinbinned just prior.
The Roos did rally towards the end of the first half, but it was to no avail as the Cobar defence stood solid and, at half time, they trooped off with a 10-nil lead.
The Roos came out revved up for the second half and focused their attention on dishing out harsher punishment to the Roosters.
The resumption of play again saw the Roosters called on to defend their line but again they held firm.
After 10 minutes of play they were finally able to get down the other end of the field.
Roosters captain Nathan McAndrew didn’t see much of the second half (as he was seeing stars after a head injury) and his departure spurred on the Roosters further.
Some good ball movement resulted in centre Tristan Everett going over and the home side was looking good holding a 14-point advantage.
Ryan Urquhart, playing at half back, had a high work rate all game, directing play and he also recorded a high text-book tackle count for the match.
It was becoming apparent that the Kangaroos needed to score next if they were to have any chance of winning the game and they became more desperate in attack.
A neat grubber kick from Jake Hawkins was grounded by Jacob Medd finally getting them on the board for an unconverted try.
The Roosters responded not long after via a converted try to Oisin McMullen, who had a stellar game in attack and defence and was named the Player of the Grand Final.
With 16 minutes remaining in the game, the scoreboard indicated that a Cobar victory was most likely when it read 20 points to 4.
A further penalty goal increased their lead by two and then it was a matter of seeing the game out to claim the premiership.
By this stage Coolah had read the writing on the wall (and the score on the scoreboard) and a number of “push and shoves” broke out with each subsequent tackle.
With five minutes to go, the game flared up again and two Coolah players were given an early mark by referee Simon Hartas (and they were given a rousing sendoff by the Roosters’s supporters), along with a Cobar player.
There was to be no further movement on the scoreboard and the Roosters deservedly took the game and claimed the premiership 22 to 4 much to the delight of the vast number of red, white and blue supporters who had packed into the ground.
Following the game, Cobar Roosters coach Slade Neale said his job of training a grand final winning team in 2026 had been an easy one.
“It was our preparation, training, the attitude of the boys and their commitment.
“I’m proud of them all, everyone that’s trained and played this year made my job very easy.”
“A grand final win feels good, all the hard work has paid off,” Neale said.
