The 2017 Christie and Hood Castlereagh League season is well and truly underway with both the league tag and rugby league knockouts having been played and the representative squad named for the upcoming Western Rams selection trials at Parkes.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Gilgandra Panthers began its defence of the 2016 premiership by scoring back-to-back knockout wins.
The Panthers again lifted the shield in front of a bumper field at Baradine on Saturday.
The Panthers downed an undermanned Dunedoo outfit in their first game which set up a second round battle with their grand final opponents for the past two years, the Gulgong Terriers
Unfortunately an injury to the Terriers’ highly talented fullback Brad James early in proceedings bought the game to a halt and after a lengthy and worrying break they were in no mood to continue the contest and handed the win to the Panthers.
Coming from the bottom half of the draw the Coonamble Bears rounded up the Coolah Kangaroos in their first game before coming away with an 18-6 win over a spirited Baradine combination in their second outing to set up a confrontation with the Panthers in the final which, Gilgandra won 16-0.
After the knockout the Christie and Hood Castlereagh League selectors named a 21-man under 23 squad to train for the Western Rams representative games to be played at Parkes on April 22.
Attention now turns to the start of the Castlereagh League competition proper which begins on Saturday.
The Baradine Magpies face a test first up against Gulgong while Coonabarabran and Coonamble will do battle. Gilgandra will be out to make a statement against Trangie while Warren and Dunedoo meet in league tag and Coolah has the bye.
CASTLEREAGH SQUAD: George Alchin, Kyle Alexander, Austin Burgess, Braidon Burgess, Joel Davis, Lyndon Deans, Brayden Carney, Anthony Capperonis, Sam Christenson, Dan Crane, Jake Fernando, Zac Gardiner, Blake Gorrie, Anthony Harris, Warwick McMaster, R.J Merrit, Luke Michaels, Damon Nixon, Josh Nixon, Daniel Pracey, Tom Reddish, Lewis Varty, Brett Warwicker