Roosters celebrate one of their best seasons

Cobar Rugby League’s Best and Fairest players of the season were named at the club’s end of season presentations on Saturday night at Tom Knight Memorial Oval. Naomi Whitehurst collected the Ladies League Tag award and Ash Davies was the Under 18s winner. Absent from the photo was First Grade and the club’s Overall Best and Fairest Player of the Season, Jarred Whitty.

Sitting out the 2020 rugby league season was never an option for the Cobar Roosters according to club president Chris Deighton.

“2020 was a year that was written off all over the world except Western NSW,” Deighton said in his president’s speech at the club’s end of season presentations on Saturday night at Tom Knight Memorial Oval.

“Nothing was going to stop us playing footy in the western region.”

Deighton, who is also the president of the Castlereagh group, praised the efforts of both his committees who worked hard to ensure the season could go ahead.

“It has been a great year.

“We were strong and competitive in each grade with the Under 18s bringing home the cup he said of the Roosters teams.

Deighton said a lot of the credit for the Under 18s win should go to Simone Knight and Cobar Junior Rugby League who did a great job of nurturing and developing the players through their junior years.

“I feel like our club as a whole is going great,” Deighton said.

The club’s major award winners this season were: Most Improved Footballer—Hannah Carroll; Most Consistent Forward—Gerald Mackey; Norm Armstrong Most Consistent Back—Nathan McAndrew; Most Consistent Footballer—Naomi Whitehurst; Di McLeod Award for Player with the Most Potential—Jacob Christie; Most Tries of the Season—Jarrad Whitty (12); Highest Point Scorer of the Season—Jimmy Neyland (66 points); Daryl Bannister Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year—Tyler Coughlan; Barry Fox Most Dedicated Player Award—Aisha Schofield; the Robb Gilligan Memorial Junior Clubman of the Year—Lochlan Ford; and  the Tom Knight Clubman of the Year—Tom Good.

The Best and Fairest players of the season were: Under 18s—Ash Davies; League Tag—Naomi Whitehurst; First Grade—Jarrad Whitty and Whitty was also named the Eric Martin Club Best and Fairest Player of the Season.

The League Tag team awards went to: Coaches Award—Jezebel Hitchins; Most Consistent Player—Naomi Whitehurst; and Most Dedicated Player—Aisha Schofield.

There was a three-way tie for the Players Player award between Whitehurst, Tyler Chiswick and Kayla Hasson.

The First Grade team award winners were: Coaches Award—Marty Turton; Best Forward—Loma Atuau; Best Back—Tim Hillam; and Players Player—Loma Atuau.

Team awards for the Under 18s went to: Ted Smith (Coaches Award); Jacob Christie (Best Forward); Ash Davies (Best Back); and
Ash Davies also collected the Players Player award.