The 2023 Castlereagh Rugby league season is all over (bar the shouting) for the Cobar Roosters Reggies team after they lost their major semi final game, 28-12, to Gilgandra on Sunday.
It was a big week of training and no confusion whatsoever with the implementation of some new moves in the backline which aimed to give the Roosters team the extra edge to get over the younger and slightly more mobile Gilgandra Panthers.
Along with a couple of positions having to be changed around (due to players thinking they can have a life outside of football), the Cobar boys knew it was going to be a big game.
The match started out with some good action from both sides, with Gilgandra looking the stronger of the two demonstrating some strong go forward down the middle of the field.
A couple of fast plays of the ball resulted in Gilgandra moving quickly down the field and then crossing the line to open the scoring up.
Young Isaiah Gleadhill (that’s the one that absolutely hammered Paul McCosker in their first game) was making his mark again for Gilgandra, floating across the field and finding gaps to lift his team which resulted in another try for Gilgandra.
The defence from Cobar had to be tightened up in the next few sets and that worked wonders.
The Cobar Reggies’ confidence was growing and James Neyland stepped up and made his mark on the game, crossing the line with a burst through the guts to score.
The score was 12-6 after Tyson Brilley converted with ease.
Control of the game seemed to shift with Cobar stepping up and using the interchanges to bash it into the Gilgandra defence.
The rest of the first half brought no further points, just a lot of hard hits and sore bodies.
Both sides needed a blow at half time but they came out with renewed energy from the kick off.
Unfortunately Gleadhill’s energy was also revived and he opened up the field and made metres, setting up another try for Gilgandra to push the margin out to 16-6.
A bit of a shuffle of positions for the Roosters worked well with Brilley attacking behind the ruck making easy metres constantly while big Josh Burke looked like a bowling ball at times running straight after him.
With good field possession, Neyland put up a big cross field kick for Shane Suridge (resting on the wing) who attempted to leap high above the rest only to trip over, but regathered and crossed the line to score.
Brilley slotted this goal from the sideline to close the gap to 16-12.
Good attacking runs from captain/coach Chris Deighton, Dallas Josephson and Edward Paul helped the Reggies make serious metres downfield but unfortunately the team couldn’t capitilise to score for the remainder of the game.
Gilgandra however hit back with a couple more tries, resulting in their 28-12 win.
Gilgandra will travel to Cobar this Saturday to play Baradine for the last spot in the Reserve Grade big dance.
The Roosterettes will then take on Narromine and the Roosters meet the Jets in First Grade. More details on Page 18.—contributed
