By Caitlin Craig
Round 2 did not disappoint! The Festival of Rugby League weekend gave us some nail biting edge of your seat match ups.
The A Grade season underdogs, Norths got away to a quick lead against the Sarina Crocodiles in the first 20 minutes, however as being labelled the 'comeback crocs', Sarina ended up taking out the victory with the end score being 56-34.
It was a great atmosphere with both clubs bringing along an array of supporters and putting on a real show for the crowd. Some standout performances from Ben Lui, Mitch Lane (Sarina) and Kagan Davies (Norths)
Another game that went down to the wire was Brothers v Wests A Grade with Brothers coming away with the win 22-20 in the last few minutes of the game.
All games were hard fought battles which were great to see. The reserve grade and Under 18 results showed that all teams will be in close contention for the grand final. It will be interesting to see how the season unfolds once everyone has really found their feet. We didn’t get to see from Norths and Sarina Under 18’s with both teams having a Bye. I look forward to seeing how they will add to the competition when they next take the field.
From a spectator’s point of view, I thought it was fantastic to be able to watch every junior and senior game at the one venue over the two days. I believe that the festival of rugby league weekend should be supported in years to come by our clubs as it is great for the game in our region.
The organisers of the weekend truly need to be commended for their hard work in the success of running this huge event. As we are heading in to Easter, we have a week off with round three kicking off on Saturday, April 11.
We will see Wests and Souths face off in a grand final rematch which I am sure will be a fast paced game, Magpies and Sarina proving that they are both real contenders in 2015, Norths making the trip out to the Moranbah Miner country and Brothers heading up north to Proserpine. What an action packed weekend it will be!
Mackay Juniors Report - Round 2
What an exciting weekend of junior rugby league it was for Mackay & Districts Round 2 Festival of Rugby League Weekend! There were some action packed, edge of your seat games over the two days and some teams that showed a lot of potential to be real contenders this year.
Wanderers V Magpies U15 was a game that really stood out over the weekend. Magpies are usually without a doubt, hands down favourites however Wanderers managed to take out the victory over the weekend with the end results being; Wanderers 14 – Magpies 10. Nicholas Williams from Wanderers and Mason Thorpe from Magpies both had great games.
Special mention also needs to go to a few players who put some big points on the board for their respective teams over the weekend. TateBrodel (Magpies U13) scoring 4 tries, Ronin Hassall (Brothers U14) also scoring 4 tries and Jack Anderson (Norths U15) scoring a whopping 5 tries! I would also like to recognise the Sarina U15 team. They have been doing it tough lately and not having much luck on the paddock, but regardless they keep showing up week in week out which shows a great deal of sportsmanship and team unity. Keep up the hard work boys.
Although the season has only just started, it is already Easter and school holiday time. Therefore MDJRFL now has a couple of weeks off. Round three will kick off on Saturday 18th April 2015. Round three has the home team clubs playing at their own venues. Round three will see Whitsunday V Souths at Whitsunday, Moranbah V Brothers at Moranbah, Norths V Magpies at Norths and Sarina take on Wanderers at Sarina. Wests will have all of the extra games at their home grounds as well.
Watch this space in a few weeks to get the recap of round three.
