THERE was little discussion needed when Group 11 officials met in Narromine last night to work out ground allocations for week one of the 2014 finals series.
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With Wellington's Kennard Park out of commission for the weekend and Dubbo Macquarie involved in all three grades, the only choice was to have the qualifying finals played at Apex Oval with the Raiders hosting. And with Nyngan to play in all three elimination finals the sensible decision was to have those fixtures at Larkin Oval.
The only glitch came with the fact Nyngan's home ground couldn't be used on Saturday, which is traditionally when the elimination fixtures are played. The end result is the qualifying finals will be played on Saturday, with the elimination games a day later. While both Macquarie and Nyngan will benefit in the short-term, the big winners could be Wellington.
Depending on results over the next fortnight they could potentially host a preliminary final at home, which would be a huge boost for them if they are to go on and win this year's premiership.
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There's something to be said for having a charity day or reunion day, judging by some results from the weekend.
Narromine spent Saturday raising funds for Parkinson's Disease, the Narromine Rescue Squad (VRA) and Narromine Cancer Support Group, and combined with sponsors day a good crowd was on hand to watch them beat Westside 44-28 and avoid the wooden spoon. Yesterday at Nyngan the Tigers held a reunion for some past players, and a massive crowd got right behind their side as they did what many thought was impossible and rolled Dubbo CYMS 24-16.
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A couple of interesting disciplinary matters have emerged from the weekend's round of matches, with two send-offs and a biting accusation.
Westside's Robbie Olsen was sent off for a high tackle just a few seconds before half-time of the Rabbitohs' clash with Narromine, while his teammate Brad Darcy also got marched for being the third man involved in an ensuing melee.
Then yesterday a Parkes under-18s player made an allegation after full-time that he had been bitten by a Macquarie opponent about 20 minutes into the second half of their clash at Apex Oval.
Whether the allegation stands up remains to be seen, as usually those kinds of incidents need to be reported to the referee immediately.