Well isn't this exciting!

Just a week out from finals and it's a genuine three horse race for the Western Plains Rugby crown in 2025, with no way to split them.

The winner of Saturday's clash between Nyngan and Warren was destined to take home the minor premiership in 2025, with Walgett comfortably taking down Gulargambone 78-7 earlier that day.

Both sides traded blows all game long as they have all season, but on Saturday Warren pushed that little bit harder.

Penalty goals were all the difference for Warren, with both sides crossing over for three tries apiece, and converting two of them.

But a third penalty goal to Hagan Size was enough to beat out Nyngan's two penalty goals.

A close game that went right down to the wire, but the class of the 2023 premiers Warren was just enough to get the job done.

And with Warren's win over Nyngan on Saturday, the two sides along with defending premiers Walgett now all sit with 7 wins and 2 losses on the year.

But more interestingly is the actual breakdown of those win-loss records.

Each of the top three sides have notched up one win and one loss against eachother this year, with Saturdays result in Warren completely a circle of parity of sorts.

Round 1: Nyngan def Walgett 23-12

Round 3: Warren def Walgett 24-20

Round 4: Nyngan def Warren 20-15

Round 6: Walgett def Nyngan 24-14

Round 8: Walgett def Warren 17-9

Round 9: Warren def Nyngan 28-25

Warren's class was on full show on Saturday [IMAGE: Warren Pumas]

And as it stands after round 9, Warren now sit atop of the ladder on 35 points, Walgett in second on 34 and Nyngan in third on 33.

Barring any crazy upsets in the final week in which the top three are all expected to come away as winners, the ladder should now be mostly unchanged.

Nyngan have now lost out in more ways than just Saturdays game.

After sitting atop the ladder for eight weeks straight and boasting an undefeated home record they are somehow set to finish in third place behind Warren and Walgett due to the bonus point system that awards teams an extra point for scoring 4 or more tries in a match.

Therefore its looking like they will be forced to play Bre-Bourke in the minor semi - albeit at home if that’s any consolation for the Bulls.

This leaves Warren and Walgett on yet another collision course come finals.

But with the biggest winning margin between any of the three sides sitting at a measly 11 points (Nyngan and Walgett in week 1) your guess for the winner of this years competition is as good as mine.

Until then we still have one more round of rugby to go.

First up Walgett will take on Coonamble.

Always a big match between these rivals, Coonamble will look to get one back against a Walgett team that put on a 68-10 demolishing in Walgett earlier this year.

As for Nyngan they head down to Gulargambone.

What has the potential to be a bit of a percentage booster for the Bulls, Nyngan won their last meeting 43-0 and will need to put on a similar score line if theyre to give themselves any chance of sneaking into that major semi.

Lastly Warren head over to play Bre-Bourke.

The most likely of any of the games to result in an upset, Bre-Bourke on their day can hang with the best of them, and you never know what might happen out west on Saturday.

Round 9 Western Plains 1st Grade Results:

• Warren (28) def Nyngan (25)

• Walgett (78) def Gulargambone (7)

• Brewarrina-Bourke (39) def Coonamble (26)

Ladder following Round 9:

1. Warren: 7 wins, 2 losses, +191, 35 points
2. Walgett: 7 wins, 2 losses, + 193, 34 points
3. Nyngan: 7 wins, 2 losses, +167, 33 points
4. Brewarrina-Bourke: 4 wins, 5 losses, -37, 21 points
5. Coonamble: 1 win, 8 losses, -250, 7 points
6. Gulargambone: 1 win, 8 losses, -264, 5 points