By BRYSON LUFF

With half the competition rounds completed the Cobar Roosters are perched at the top of the 2022 Christie and Hood Castlereagh League ladder having suffered only one defeat thus far this year, that being back in Round 3 when they went down to the Gulgong Bull Terriers 30 points to 24 at Gulgong.

As expected, the Roosters were made to work for the competition points last Saturday in their Round 9 game against the youthful Coonamble Bears outfit at Coonamble.

The visitors scored six tries to five to notch an important win, the final score being 34 to 26.

This was the second loss in a row for the Bears, having gone down narrowly to Gilgandra the previous week and such is the closeness of the competition those two losses have seen them tumble from being second on the ladder to now sitting sixth, albeit just one competition point outside the top four.

They will enjoy a bye next week whilst the Roosters will be out to avenge their earlier loss to Gulgong when they host the Terriers at Tom Knight Oval next Saturday in what is a crucial game for both clubs.

Meanwhile at Baradine a tenacious Magpie team, spurred on by a vocal crowd who were getting ready to celebrate Baradine’s 100^th anniversary at a “Black and White Ball” that night, almost caused a major boilover when they fully tested the Gilgandra Panthers.

In fact, there were many at the ground that thought that perhaps the better team might have lost such was the rather remarkable and stirring comeback staged by the home team.

It all looked like smooth sailing for the Panthers as they raced away to an 18 nil lead midway through the first half, before going to the sheds seemingly still in control with the scoreboard reading 24 to six.

Whatever went down in the Baradine dressing shed at half time had the desired affect and for 32 of the final 40 minutes they were on top of their opposition and quite incredibly, much to the delight of their supporters, with just eight minutes remaining they were in front 30 points to 28!

It was desperate times for the visitors as they tried to breach the Magpies defence, but sadly for the Black and White faithful the Panthers did manage to score a breakout try with just three minutes remaining followed by another in the final seconds to claim the competition points and retain their second position on the competition ladder.

Whilst they did not get the win the Baradine players deservedly got a standing ovation as they trooped from the ground after a memorable performance.

The Panthers can look forward to another tough encounter this Saturday when they travel to Dunedoo to meet up with the Swans in a Boronia Cup Challenge game.

After a slow start to their season the Swans have certainly established themselves as premiership contenders in recent weeks, stringing together a number of victories and playing at home, in front of their large band of supporters, they will be a tough proposition for the Panthers.

Christie and Hood Castlereagh League Round 9 Scores

League Tag

Dunedoo 28 (Alexis Gallagher 3, Eva Hogden, Hannah Christie tries, Hallie Hogden 4 goals) defeated Binnaway 0

Coonamble 46 (Hannah Towns 4, Tori Canham 2, Jess Solomon 2 tries, Canham 6, Shakaye Walker goals) defeated Cobar 0

Baradine 28 (Zali Hyde, Stephanie Bowling, Meg Walton, Maria Nagy, Hayley Andrews tries, Nagy 4 goals) defeated Gilgandra 6 (Mab Fuller try, Shian Chatfield goal)

 Competition ladder

Dunedoo 25, Baradine 24, Narromine 23, Gulgong 21, Gilgandra 19, Coonamble 19, Cobar 14, Binnaway 10.

Rugby League

Cobar 34 (Ashley Davies 2, Tom Plater 2, Jack Brown, Gerald Mackay tries, Plater 5 goals) defeated Coonamble 26 (Tyrell Kennedy, Mark Jones, Jack Kelly, Jeremy Fernando, Danial Sangster tries, Mitc Nalder 2, Andrew Wallace goals)

Gilgandra 38 (Hayden Smith 2, Luke Ritchie 2, Ty Sutherland, David Smith, Ash Hazelton tries, Smith 4, Ritchie goals) defeated Baradine 30 (Jesse McElhinney, Travis Houghton, Jarvis Watton, Silver Bunner, Hugh Horder tries, McElhinney 5 goals)

Competition ladder

Cobar 25, Gilgandra 23, Gulgong 22, Narromine 21, Dunedoo 21, Coonamble 20, Baradine 14.

Round 10 Saturday 2^nd July

Dunedoo V Gilgandra (Boronia Cup Challenge), Cobar V Gulgong, Binnaway V Narromine. Coonamble bye, Baradine bye.

There is a strong possibility that the Round 10 Binnaway V Narromine league tag game will be played at Binnaway at 7.30pm on Friday 1st July subject to referee availability