Sport
8 January, 2026
BEST OF 2025: Flamin’ Galahs hunt down lady Pumas on cold Sponsor’s Night at McGrane
First published July 5, 2025. In the whole circle of life thing, it would normally be the lady Puma hunting the lady Galah. But not the Flamin’ Galahs! They are far too hot a delicacy for the lady Puma.
By The Pink Parrot
On a cold wintery night at McGrane Oval on Friday night this was the case as the Flamin’ Galahs kept their undefeated season run going in style with a 55-0 victory over the lady Pumas in Ahrens Cup Tri Tag action.
It was sponsor’s night for the Gulargambone Rugby Union Club and those sponsors lucky enough to have drawn Flamin’ Galahs players Paige Wilson, Rani Diggs, Kayla Beaton, and captain courageous Makaila Gordon as their sponsored player.
All had the privilege of heading to the bar and got a free one as these players scored tries on the night.
Those lucky enough to have Kayla and Rani headed three times and Paige twice.
But the biggest celebration of all tries was the second try in the first half when captain Mak stormed over by just running hard and at a gap in defence.
This was Mak’s first ever try in any form of football in her sporting life.
It was a special moment and well celebrated by the whole team.
Tries for the Flamin’ Galahs began in earnest again by the ladies who scored in the second minute thanks to always dynamic fullback Paige and then as mentioned earlier the try of night by captain Mak.
That had the ladies off to a quick 14-0 lead over the Lady Pumas.
Things got a little physical shortly later when a hard run by winger Kelsey Hutchison was met with a penalty by the official on a Warren player for hard contact.
Winger Kelsey not to take a backward step took the tap from the penalty mark and ran the ball up to again only to be hit hard by the same Warren player in an offside position.
Another penalty came for hard contact and by this stage Kelsey “The Wrecking Ball” Hutchison repeated the tap and run again into the Warren defence where for the third time the same Warren player was again penalised for hard contact on Kelsey.
There was no thought by the official for professional fouls by the player in question from Warren for these three exact infringements one directly after the other.
But when Flamin’ Galahs forward Jess Fleming got penalised for making contact once a few minutes later she was immediately shown to the sin bin for 10 minutes!
The official did square the ledger some five minutes later when a Warren lady was shown to the sin bin for a hard contact play.
Things settled and fly half Caitlynn Mills, aka CK, and scrum half Rani Diggs started orchestrating the attack and defensive moves of the Flamin’ Galahs. The Flamin’ Galahs back line was in scintillating touch with beautiful draw and passing from centres Lucy Irish, Grace Lummis, Kayla Beaton and playing her last game for the Flamin’ Galahs Rachel Drury.
As a result, great breaks were being made on the wings led by Sharna Steadman, “The Wrecking Ball”, Tegan Watt, Abigail Dobson, and under a sickness cloud Fiona Wright gave her all.
Again, the platform was set by hard running from the Flamin’ Galahs forwards Mak, Jess, Canelle ‘The French Resistance’ Coppin, Allana Clark, and Cailtin Spora.
This article could not be complete without mentioning the nonstop efforts of our hard never say die rover Clementine McIntosh who was making great tags in defence and getting to the ruck with lightning speed to keep the Warren ladies back peddling in defence.
Clem will be missed for the remainder of the season as she takes a spatial break for the better good of the human mind and spirit for the next couple of months and will return to cleanse the souls of all the Flamin’ Galahs squad when she returns.
The university duo of Heidi ‘Newcastle Uni’ Ferguson and Kayla ‘Wollongong Uni’ Beaton were setting the house on fire in scrum half and the centres respectively and it is great to have them home for an extended period.
The score by half time was 33-0.
The Flamin’ Galahs did not relent in the second half and went on to score another four tries that saw the final score at full-time reading 55-0.
Fly half CK had an outstanding game in her organisation, kicking, passing game and general direction of the game.
Not far behind again were the skills of the scrum half Rani and Heidi and the always the reliable fullback Paige.
This again was a wonderful team effort by a wonderful group of ladies who are enjoying their rugby and also enjoying the spoils that come with it when you commit to training hard, keep to a game plan and not take life to seriously.
Life may get a little serious in a two weeks’ time when the Flamin’ Galahs will head to Coonamble on their ladies day to take on the Coonamble ladies.
The Coonamble ladies have only tasted defeat once this season and that was at the hands of the Flamin’ Galahs in round one.
The Coonamble ladies will be keen to even the ledger on their ladies day.
The Flamin’ Galahs will be relishing a rematch with their main rivals.
Points for this week. Three points CK. Two points Kelsey. One point Mak. Players’ player Rani.
