At the halfway mark in the 2026 Christie and Hood Castlereagh League competition, Cobar Roosters sit alone and undefeated at the top of the ladder after brushing aside Coonamble Bears at Tom Knight Memorial Oval last Saturday in their first defence of the Boronia Cup.
The Roosters held a commanding 28-4 lead at half-time, extending that to 50-4 at one point during the second stanza before the Bears scored twice to make it 50-14. The home side then powered up again to register a comfortable 68-14 victory.
This weekend the Roosters first grade side will enjoy the bye, and subsequently will remain in the number one position, before defending the Boronia Cup again in Round 9 against Narromine Jets, who currently sit third on the table.
After having two consecutive byes the Jets will be on the road on Friday night to take on Gilgandra Panthers, a side that will be desperate to get a win in front of its home crowd after going down to Coolah Kangaroos last Saturday.
In a game transferred to Gilgandra after Coolah’s Bowen Oval was closed, the Panthers certainly were in the contest against the reigning premiers but errors and lack of discipline at times cost them dearly.
After leading 10-4 midway through the first half they went to the break down 22-10 with the visitors proving to be too strong overall to take the game 38-14. Second rower Austin Burgess scored a hat-trick in a Player of the Match performance.
In what was a huge reversal of their first half performance in their previous match, Gulgong Bull Terriers strode into the sheds at halftime leading 26-0 in their match against Warren Bulldogs at Warren.
The Terriers went on to record what was, in the context of their Semi-final aspirations, an important victory for them, the final score being 38-12.
The Bulldogs are yet to secure a victory this season, but they will be all out to change that on Saturday when they travel to Dunedoo to face a Swans outfit that has suffered two sizeable defeats in their past two games, the last being against Coonabarabran Unicorns at Coonabarabran last Saturday where they went down 52-22.
Those two losses leaves them somewhat vulnerable in the top five, with both Coonamble and Gulgong potentially being able to leapfrog them on the ladder should they lose again this weekend.
The final round of the Castlereagh Reserve Grade competition will be played this weekend, with the four sides contesting the Semi-finals already known. Those sides are Gulgong, Coonamble, Cobar and Coonabarabran, with the game between Coonamble and Coonabarabran this Saturday having a big bearing on the final pecking order of those sides.
Click here for all Round Seven results from the Christie and Hood Castlereagh League.
