NYNGAN TIGERS

Trevor Waterhouse

The Tigers travelled to Dubbo on Saturday to take on Macquarie and start their 2017 campaign. The ladies got the day under way and put in an impressive effort only to go down 10 to six to Macquarie. Tory Richards has got these girls going well and with a bit of luck could have come away with the win.

The under-18s came up against the competition favourites and like the girls could have quite easily come away with cash. With 10 minutes to go the scores were locked at 14 all before the Raiders ran in two late tries to come away with a 24 to 14 victory.

Our boys showed plenty to suggest they will again be in this competition up to their ears. Big frontrower Ned Dawson was impressive for the Tigers, he got through a mountain of defence and also carried the ball with plenty of power. Hooker Jak Jeffery was another to stand out. His work with the footy was impressive and he was close to our best. Daniel Stanley was also impressive looking dangerous whenever he touched the ball.

The reserve grade match was a real quality game for this early in season. Both sides defended strongly with the game only decided in the last couple of minutes by a penalty goal to see us go down 14 to 12.

Captain-coach Deka Knight did what he always does and was as good as what we had. Big Jeff Lennon also caught the eye, he is going to be real handy once he gets a bit of fitness under his belt. Adi Spicer and Gerald McKay were powerful as well.

The first grade clash saw the Tigers turn over way too much ball to win a footy game, we were good in patches but lacked patience with the ball which hurt us in the end. The boys went down 26 to 20 but showed enough to suggest we are in for a top season. Captain-coach Stewart Mills was strong he played the full 80 minutes and had the Raiders looking with his aggressive defence.

He also ran some great lines on his edge and his combination with Jacob Neill will only get better with a couple more games under their belt. Hooker James Fisk was also solid.

He is a real busy little player, this bloke never stopped tackling and was also handy with the ball. Frontrower Tinui was powerful, he made ground with every carry has plenty of speed for his size. Our old veteran front rower, Todd Rope was also good, he took it to the Macquarie pack and didn't take a backward step.

Next week we have the bye and then we will get into the swing of it. The following week we travel to Wellington to take on the Cowboys.

ANYONE COULD WIN TITLE: LOXLEY

Forbes’ stunning win in last season’s Group 11 grand final created unparalleled interest in the competition and the hope is for this season to build on that.

Group 11 operations manger Paul Loxley and the rest of the board is expecting an even competition in 2017 with the bulk of the sides appearing to have strengthened during the off-season.

“The main point for us (the board) is that it was great to see Forbes win it and it wasn’t Macquarie, Parkes or CYMS,” Loxley said. “It was someone else who hasn’t won it in a while and this pre-season has shown that all the clubs look fairly level so you’d like to think anyone can win it.”

There is plenty of new arrivals with former NRL flyer Stewart Mills headlining a number of additions at Nyngan while Forbes and Parkes have had their forward packs boosted by the respective signings of Brendan Tago and Jake Grace.

A number of new coaches are also in place at the Macquarie, Westside, Nyngan and Wellington and Loxley has been impressed by what he’s seen in the trials.

“Nyngan beat Macquarie and played really well, Forbes thought they were going to lose a few but they’ve signed Todd Grace and got a few others back and Parkes are always strong,” he said. “I watched Wellington play as well and they looked stronger.”

One of the biggest things for the board this season is the fact more money will go to the clubs with Group 11 paying referee travel costs.

NYNGAN

We had a tremendous response to the Can Assist charity day, a well balanced field of past, present and future players plus some that have never held a stick in their life. The day was sponsored by Bill Hare from Central West Carpets and organised very professionally by Deb Matheson and her crew.

A grand total of 70 players took part, the huge pool of prizes went to teams by a random draw of score cards. DeBortelli products were very popular. Famy, our local chemist had as many misses as hits with his shot on the 11th getting the nearest to the pin. The locals had him revved up about crocodiles in the river which he gave a wide berth to.

Other pin winners were Tex Tomek, Janice Holmes and David Scott who along with his little mate Nicholas Monaghan played some very good shots.

Lyn Webster and the girls from Can Assist were pleased as punch with the result, about $2000 was raised.

The raffle for the rug and cushions was donated by Central West Carpets and won by Dorro.

All up a great day which went on to midnight around the fire bucket.

Thanks again to Bill, our sponsors and the people supported the event.

Back to serious business on Sunday with another ambrose and a fine knock by Bill Hare and Chicky Parry to score a two under round and 58.75 nett.

Second went to Tex and Colleen Anderson.

The last balls went to Les Dorrington and Nate Matheson on 61 nett.

Pins went to Colleeen, Dorro and Ozzie Smith.

Next weekend is a stableford on Saturday, the Cobar open is on Sunday and a two person ambrose at home.

The badge draw this Thursday is worth $1200.

The jackpot putt is heading toward $800.

Tara McDermott gets nine out of 10 this week for her effort last week, the ball went in then bobbed out. Unlucky without a doubt.

CARPET BOWLS

The scores on Thursday was all one sided which was all big scores.

First up was Dawn and Dorothy. The double d's up against Jacki and Shirley, right from the start the red bowl was going to win which it did when Dorothy and Dawn won 10 to two over eight ends.

The next pair were Jean and Maureen playing with the black bowl up against Shirley and Jacki. he winning score to Maureen and Jean 10 to one.

The final which was four ends saw Jean and Maureen beat Dorothy and Dawn (double D's) nine to two.

We don't usually have this type of score over four holes, but everything went well for the winners.

Don't forget we would like to see some new faces at our carpet bowls on Thursdays at 2pm.