Roosterettes show plenty of promise in their first outing

While the Cobar Roosterettes may have
been beaten 18-8 by the visiting Gilgandra
Pink Panthers on Saturday, the Cobar girls
showed plenty of promise for the season
ahead.
The two sides met in the opening round of
the 2022 Castlereagh League Tag competition
in front of a good crowd at Tom Knight Memorial
Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The match kicked off in warm conditions
with both sides thankful to have a few reserves
each on their benches.
The game was 15 minutes old before first
points were scored after both teams put in very
solid efforts in defence.
It was the Pink Panthers who scored first and
the subsequent successful conversion put them
6-0 in front.
The visitors looked set to back it up with
another try soon after with a breakaway run by
Mab Fuller. Fuller evaded three Roosterettes
defenders before she was successfully tagged
dangerously close to the try line by Sarah Morley,
who debuted with the Roosterettes on Saturday,
playing fullback.
It was the only scoring occasion in the first
half with the Pink Panthers going into the
break with a narrow 6-0 lead.
Cobar got off to a brilliant start in the second
half when playmaker, Brianna Watson, intercepted
a pass 20 metres from the try line and
out-sprinted the off-guard Panthers defenders
to score for Cobar. The conversion was missed
and Gilgandra led 6-4.
Four minutes later the Panthers crossed and
the conversion by Shian Chatfield improved
their lead to 12-4.
Cobar took advantage of a ball handling mistake
by the Gil girls and a short pass by Tyler
Watson (nee Chiswick) to Jezebel Hitchins
resulted in Hitchins scoring Cobar’s second
try. Again the conversion was missed, but the
margin was now just 12-8.
Gilgandra scored their third try after another
runaway break and Chatfield’s conversion had
them ahead 18-8, 10 minutes out from fulltime.
The Cobar side however didn’t lie down and
they continued to attack in the hopes of reigning
in the 10 point margin.
A breakaway run by Neve Carter brought
them well and truly in striking distance of their
try line, however time had run out and the
Roosterettes were unable to improve on the
score with the match finishing at 18-8 in Gilgandra’s
favour.
Cobar’s Best & Fairest points were earned by
Morley, who was a standout in both defence
and attack, Georgia Boland, who gained plenty
of metres in attack for the Roosterettes
throughout the match and Aisha Schofield,
who played her usual “hard to catch” style of
game.
Other players to watch this season are Carter,
Lexi Cain and Hitchins who involved themselves
well in play on Saturday, along with
Watson and Watson (nee Chiswick) who both
did an excellent job of leading on the field.