By Sam Turnbull

Round 4 saw the Castlereagh Cougar’s teams take the road trip to Manildra to take on Woodbridge. The weather did not deter the excitement of the games, with all teams playing some great footy.

We travelled to Manildra and it was an early start but that wasn’t enough to worry the very eager under 13’s team who had 17 of their 19 players there ready to take on Woodbridge.

The game got off to a good start with Cougars hooker Mokoia Birtles scoring a sneaky try. Soon after fullback Zahlee Fernando went on a stepping run and scored under the posts, try was converted and the Cougars were up 10-0.

After the first drink break Woodbridge scored a try, and the Cougars hit back with Mokoia crossing for another try from their dummy half. Woodbridge had several attacking sets on the Cougars' 10 metre line but some very solid defence saw the girls hold them out.

Jade Craig scored a courageous try from dummy half which was great to see from the smallest player on the field to bring the score to 18-10 at half time.

Woodbridge came out firing in the second half, which saw them hit the front for the first time in the match leading into the final quarter 30-28.

The Cougars kept their composure and muscled up with their defence, led by Paeyton Masling who tackled anyone that moved. Then, with 5 minutes to go, Keisha Thompson crossed for a try off a Molly Burgess pass to put the Cougars in front 32-30.

The final icing on the cake come from a 40 metre run from Talloulah Moore off the kick off from the try, she was taken down and the girls passed it quickly out to the right to see Ava Stanton score a try right on the hooter.

Xanthe Gale converted the try with a massive kick to bring the final score to 38-30. Players Player went to Molly Burgess (Coolah) and Jade Craig (Coonamble) with 3 points to Paeyton Masling (Mudgee), 2 points to Zahlee Fernando (Coonamble) and 1 point to Ava Stanton (Coona).

The Under 15s had a much tougher day on the paddock. Although starting out well and scoring the first two tries, they couldn’t hold off the well-drilled Woodbridge team who come back to defeat the Castlereagh girls 44-12.

The Under 17s girls came up against a strong Woodbridge team. The girls played hard and dug deep for the whole game, unfortunately not being able to capitalise on the key plays or being able to hold of the strong running Woodbridge girls in defence.

The score line definitely did not reflect the effort of the game from our girls, who went down 60-0. 3 points went to Olivia Milsom (Coona), 2 points to Rani Diggs (Gilgandra) and 1 point to Mackenzie Harvey and Amy Verrall.

The Under 19s also had a tough day at the office going 62-4. Very similar to the 17s game where the score line did not reflect the effort and hard work the girls put in for the whole game, while having no reserves on the bench.

Players Player went to Shakaye Walker (Coonamble) and Amarlee Vallette (Coona), with 3 points to Courtney Penfold (Gunnedah), 2 points to Amarlee Vallette and 1 point to Hayley Andrews (Coona).

The Opens were last up and, after coming off a forfeit and a bye, were keen for some footy. Although short on numbers, this did not deter them from playing some good quality footy in some very ordinary conditions.

Woodbridge girls were quick to score, showing how well drilled they were, but the Castlereagh girls were not giving up too easy with Sam Turnbull finding the line with a quick scoot from dummy half just before half time going into the break 22-4 down.

The girls come back in the second half keen to continue building on the positives from the first half and play some footy, however, Woodbridge was wanting the same and scored some quick back-to-back tries through some good ball movement and well-drilled plays.

This did not stop the Castlereagh girls who were able to find set up some good field positions inside the Woodbridge 10m many times but were unlucky to score through with Hannah Carroll and Shay Hooper narrowly coming short each time.

The Castlereagh girls persisted and finally found the line again through a hard-hitting run from Shay Hooper who barrelled over to score Castlereagh’s second try just before the full-time, finishing the game 40-8.

Key players Channy Burgess, Shay Hooper, Amy Ryan and Sammy Turnbull helped lead the way through the game with big runs and big defence.

A big shoutout also goes to some of the under 19s - Shakaye Walker, Ashanti Pennell, Courtney Penfold, Maddy Masman, Hannah Carroll, Hayley Andrews and Nikeata McMasters - with these girls playing almost two full games each, and put in and dug deep to give the Opens the extra effort they needed.

Players Player went to Shay Hooper (Coonamble), with 3 points to Sammy Turnbull (Coonamble), 2 points to Channy Burgess (Coolah) and 1 point to Amy Ryan (Mudgee).

This weekend will see the club host Panorama Platypi in Gulargambone for their last home and round game before semi-finals.