Thursday, September 5, 2024

Issue:

Mackay and Whitsunday Life

Premiership Quadrella For Mighty Wanderers Roosters

Walkerston Wanderers Rugby League Club are celebrating a premiership quadrella in the Mackay & District Junior League.

The Roosters underlined their depth of junior talent by annexing the Boys Under 15 and Under 16 premiership titles and the Girls Under 16 and Under 18 trophies in Grand final action at BB Print Stadium last weekend.
It is a tremendous feat by the Wanderers club that remained undefeated in both the Under 15 and Girls Under 16 years divisions.

Trent Peno’s all-conquering Under 15s capped a memorable campaign with an emphatic 30-10 Grand Final victory over Mackay Wests Tigers.

Classy halves Darcy Cabassi and Isaac McFarlane spearheaded the win with top performances after promising forwards  Nate Faulkner, Tom Mulherin, Amos Grigg, Connor Peno, Quinn Douglas and hooker Harrison Gordon laid the foundations with strong games.
Cabassi used his swerve and deft footwork to nab two of the Roosters’ six tries with playmaker McFarlane booting three goals.

Lock forward and skipper Nate Harding, hooker Marik Srsen and centre Zac Hansen impressed for the Tigers.
Impact forward Faulkner proved an inspiration as the Roosters won all fourteen matches played during the 2024 season.

Nate and elder sister Cianna created some type of record by both captaining their respective Wanderers teams to undefeated titles.

Talented lock Cianna was best on ground in the Roosters’ 32-6 Grand Final triumph over Souths Sharks last Friday night – bagging two tries and four goals for a personal tally of sixteen points.

Sharp centre Zoe Ziegeler and power running prop Theresa Malayta also grabbed try doubles as Duncan Watt’s enterprising Roosters asserted their supremacy.
Other players to impress were halves Ruby Watt and Keeley Logan, hooker Jade Williams and forwards Kelsi Hazledine, Matilda Clark, Jaylynn Matheson-Hone, Jayda Earl and Sophie Searle.

Wanderers clinched the Under 16s Boys trophy with an 18-8 Grand Final victory over Mackay Magpies.
Rugged prop Sam Dodgson, five eighth Koby Daly and winger Aidan Marteene scored tries for the Roosters with lock Caleb O’Brien adding three conversions.

Dodgson, skipper O’Brien, number seven Bekem Van Kerkwyk and back rowers Dominic Sorbello and Sam Anderson, a former Queensland Schoolboys Under 15s rep, led the way for Wanderers.

Wanderers young gun Paige Mooney capped a stellar season by guiding her club to an Under 18 Girls premiership.

Mooney, a rising half back, demonstrated her skills and vision as the Roosters edged out Souths Sharks 10-6 in the title decider.

The Junior League premiership was the fourth piece of silverware acquired by Mooney in 2024 after earlier lifting the Confraternity Shield and Secondary Schools trophies with St Patrick’s College Mackay and the inaugural Under 19 Harvey Norman championship with the Mackay Cutters.

Wanderers’ centre Ella Webb and fullback Ava Wheeler scored tries and hooker Jaymie Clancy potted a conversion with Sharks’ half Jaccoa Keyssecker crossing for the Sharks.

It was another trophy for Roosters super coach Imogen Healy but a bitter blow for Danny Contor’s talented Souths squad that finished the preliminary rounds undefeated.
Wanderers won both finals clashes against the Sharks by narrow margins: 4-2 in the major semi-final and by four points in the trophy decider.

Mackay Magpies brought home the Under 13s Boys and Under 14s Boys premiership titles.

The Magpies edged out Souths Sharks 10-8 in the Under 13s and rolled the Sarina Crocodiles 32-22 in Under 14s for a deserved double.

Wests Tigers collected the Under 14 Girls trophy after toppling Proserpine Brahmans 14-10 before capturing
the Under 17 Boys title with an 18-8 triumph over Brothers Bulldogs.

Canberra Raiders signing Mark Morrow starred with centre partner Mason Ryan-Ellul and forwards Lachlan Starr, Jack Townsend, Jackson Aslette and hooker Slade Kretschmar.

Souths tossed Brahmans 32-14 in the Under 13 Boys Plate Final with Wests Tigers securing the Under 14 Plate with a 36-18 win over Wanderers.

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