Christie and Hood Castlereagh League

Unicorns and Bull Terriers head to sudden death!

The first weekend of the 2025 Christie and Hood Castlereagh League finals saw some great on field action taking place at Narromine on Saturday and then again at Gulgong on Sunday.

Narromine’s Cale Oval was the venue for Saturday’s qualifying semifinals with the opening reserve grade game between the Baradine Magpies and the Binnaway Bombshells setting the tone for the weekend when they put on an entertaining game with the Maggies just getting up 12 to 10 after the Bombshells got out to an early lead.

Following that the Dunedoo Swannettes and the Narromine Jets engaged in a closely fought game of league tag for the majority of the encounter.

The Swannettes powered away in the latter stages to record an impressive 24 to 8 victory after it was 12 points to 8 in their at halftime.

As much as the Narromine Jets ran out deserved first-grade winners over the Coonabarabran Unicorns they benefited from several errors made by the blue and gold.

For the opening quarter of the game the Unicorns barely made it over halfway due to their lack of possession and after 17 minutes the home side had racked up 18 unanswered points, six of those coming after an interception off a very adventurous pass by Coonabarabran in one of their rare attacking forays into Narromine territory.

The Unicorns did manage a converted try not long after to make it 18 to 6 and looked to be in again not long after but the final pass of an otherwise impressive backline raid went astray and the chance to reduce the margin was lost.

The visitors’ woes continued when they lost a player to the sin bin for holding down in a tackle with four minutes remaining in the first half.

The Jets immediately took advantage of playing against a team one man down, and at halftime they lead by 24 to 6.

To their credit, the Unicorns came out and “won” the second half 16 to 10, but the scoreboard damage done in the first half was too much to overcome.

They now walk the sudden death tightrope next Saturday when they host the Gulgong Bull Terriers in the minor semifinal.

The Bull Terriers had to fight hard against the Coonamble Bears in the elimination final on Sunday.

In a game that ebbed and flowed, going from one end to the other, the lead changed twice in the first half before it was locked up at 16 all at halftime.

The lead changed twice in the second stanza before Gulgong got their nose in front with just 12 minutes remaining and went on to score two converted tries to win the game 32 to 22.

The earlier games at Gulgong saw the Coonamble get over the top of Coonabarabran in the reserve grade by the tune of 42 to 24, and Baradine beating Cobar in the League Tag with a 30 to 10 win.

The four remaining teams in each grade will be whittled down to three next weekend, with the losers of the games being played at Coonabarabran on Saturday ending their 2025 campaigns.

Sunday’s major semifinals at Coolah will feature the only two undefeated teams in the Castlereagh League competitions thus far this season, those being the Coolah Flyers in league tag and the Coolah Kangaroos in first grade.

The big carrot for the winner of the first-grade clash between the ‘Roos and the Narromine Jets is the hosting rights for the 2025 Christie and Hood Castlereagh League grand finals.

The first game at both the minor and major semi-final venues will kick off at 11.30 am with the other grades to follow straight on.

Christie and Hood Castlereagh League semifinal scores.

Qualifying semifinals played Saturday 9th August at Cale Oval, Narromine.

Reserve Grade

Baradine Magpies 12 (Jai Caine, Brandon Worrell tries; Caine 2 goals) defeated Binnaway Bombshells 10 (Michael Daley, Jade Hooper tries; Travis Tighe 1 goal).

League Tag

Dunedoo Swannettes 24 (Chelsea Gallagher, Shelley Cox, Alexis Gallagher, Jessie Newton tries; Shelley Cox 3 goals, Chelsea Gallagher 1 goal) defeated Narromine Jets 8 (Chloe McLean try; Shian Chatfield 2 goals)

First Grade

Narromine Jets 34 (Darby Gordon 3, Corey Cox 2, Epeli Dranunidalo tries; Corey Cox 5 goals) defeated Coonabarabran Unicorns 22 (Brad Fuller 2, Jarvis Watton, Jordan Baker tries; Nick Willoughby 3 goals).

Elimination semifinals played at Billy Dunn Oval, Gulgong, Sunday 10th August.

Reserve Grade

Coonamble Bears 42 (Malakai Haley 2, Nathan Walker, Mat Boney, Kevin Thurston-Welsh, Brendan Draper, Vincent Hill, Lewis Ellis tries; Kevin Thurston-Welsh 3 goals, Brendan Draper 1 goal, Kobe Leonard 1 goal) defeated Coonabarabran Unicorns 24 (Jake Deshon 2, Sonny Bill Walker, Marshal Tighe tries; Sonny Bill Walker 4 goals).

League Tag

Baradine Magpies 30 (Maria Nagy 2, Jalika Leslie, Zali Fulton, Jorja Carey, Chelsea Woodham tries; Maria Nagy 3 goals) defeated Cobar Roosterettes 10 (Taylah Good, Kayla Hasson-Williams tries; Brianna Watson goal)

First Grade

Gulgong Bull Terriers 32 (Toby O’Leary 2, Jason Morrison, Jackson Pascoe, Blake Gorrie, Will Hawkins tries; Brad James 4 goals) defeated Coonamble Bears 22 (Elvy McEwen 2, Kane Wiggins, Andrew Peacocke tries; Brenton Glover 3 goals).

Next Round:

Saturday 16th August: Minor Semi Finals at Coonabarabran.

Reserve Grade: Binnaway Bombshells v Coonamble Bears

League Tag: Narromine Jets v Baradine Magpies

First Grade: Coonabarabran Unicorns V Gulgong Bull Terriers

Sunday 17th August: Major semifinals at Coolah

Reserve Grade: Narromine Jets V Baradine Magpies

League Tag: Coolah Flyers V Dunedoo Swannette

First Grade: Coolah Kangaroos V Narromine Jets