The stage is set for a huge day of rugby league in Cobar this Saturday as the Cobar Roosters host four grand final games of the Christie & Hood Castlereagh Rugby League competition.
Cobar teams will feature in two of the four grand finals with the Roosters First Graders taking on the Coolah Roos in the big dance and our young Roosters will meet Gulgong in the Youth League grand final.
In the other games, Gilgandra will play Baradine in Reserve Grade and the unbeaten Narromine team takes on Coolah in the Ladies League Tag match.
It’s been a while since Cobar has hosted a rugby league grand final, 26 years to be exact!
In 1998 the Cobar First Grade side won the Clayton Cup (after finishing the season as the only undefeated side in Country Rugby League) and then went on to win their third Group 11 Premiership when they defeated the Parkes Spacemen 39-14 in the grand final.
Cobar also won the Reserve Grade grand final that day, 38-10, over Dubbo Westside Rabbitohs.
Cobar won another premiership in Group 11 in 2006 and 10 years later moved into the Barwon Darling competition for two seasons.
Cobar’s Roosterettes dominated the Ladies League Tag competition winning back-to-back premierships in 2016 and 2017 and the Under 18s also won the premiership cup in 2017.
In 2018 the Cobar club joined the Castlereagh competition and the following year, the Roosters Under 18s won the grand final.
For the past four seasons of the Christie & Hood Castlereagh Rugby League competition, the Cobar Roosters First Grade team has been very competitive.
They won the premiership in 2022 (under the guidance of captain/coach Loma Atuau), finished as runners-up in 2023 (with captain/coach Thomas Plater) and were on track to claim the premiership in 2021 before the season was called off due to Covid.
A home ground advantage this Saturday is going to be a big bonus for the Cobar Roosters as Cobar teams seem to have the ability to lift when they have a big crowd behind them.
While the Coolah Roos’ First Grade team sailed unbeaten through the 2024 ordinary season, the Roosters proved a fortnight ago that an unbeaten team can be beaten and that will also be an advantage for them going into this match.
Our First Grade had 25 players this season score tries with a total of 90 tries scored in the 2024 competition.
Co-captain/coach Thomas Plater said scoring points was a team effort.
“We’ve got people all over the park from wing to wing and up into the middle that can score points,” Plater said.
His co-captain/coach Loma Atuau was their highest try scorer with a tally of 17 for the 2024 season.
Atuau scored doubles in six matches this year, and Cobar won all of those games.
If Atuau scores a double early in Saturday’s grand final, statistically Cobar should win the premiership!
Other consistent try scorers over the season have been Tim Hillam with eight tries along with Thomas Plater, Nathan McAndrew, and Tristan Everett, all with tallies of six tries this competition.
Schoolboy super star, 17 year old Reece Josephson, who holds the title of the highest scorer in one game in First Grade this season (with four tries in their 42-6 win over the Jets three weeks ago), is also expected to join the team on Saturday (dependent upon how he pulls up after the Youth League grand final).
The Roosters have four options in goal kickers with Plater, Ben Griffiths, James Neyland and Josephson having landed 54 conversions between them this season.
“We can definitely score points, and all we need to do is just get a lead and then we can work to defend it,” Plater said.
“I think defence is going to win us the game.”
“Nathan [McAndrew] has consistently been one of our best defenders and we’ll look to him to shut down Coolah’s strong centre.”
Tristan Everett, Jed Noonan and Tim Hillam, who have played together with the Roosters for a number of years, will also be expected to be included in Saturday’s line-up.
Hillam has clocked up more than 110 games for Cobar (he celebrated his 100th game at last year’s grand final), Everett has more than 60 games for Cobar under his belt, and Noonan has played 50+ First Grade games for the Roosters.
“Tim, Jed and Tricky [Everett] work really well together on that right side,” Plater said.
The Roosters also have more defence options in Gerald Mackey, Jayden Potts, Chris Crotty and Zane Taylor who are all hard to get around and all are responsible for plenty of hit-ups each match.
The team talent goes on with Ashley Davies, one of the best fullbacks in the competition, having played 50+ First Grade games.
Five other team members have played more than 40 First Grade games for Cobar.
There’s 14 players from the 2022 premiership winning side in this year’s squad and all will be hoping to get a run this Saturday.
At this stage, Tyler Coughlan, looks to be the only player with some doubts as to whether he’ll be fit for Saturday’s grand final after he was injured three weeks ago in the Jets game.
With so many options to consider, Plater and Atuau will have a few tough decisions to make this week about how their grand final team will look.
“Having a lot to choose from is definitely better than not having enough,” Plater said.
If the signs of footy fever frenzy in Cobar over the past week are anything to go by, the Roosters team that gets selected can expect to have a huge crowd behind them willing them on to a grand final win!
