Sport
7 May, 2026
Round two full of action for Panthers
The Gilgandra Panthers grabbed a win and two losses across Castlereagh RL action last weekend.
Round two of the Castlereagh Rugby League competition was full of action and sentimental moments for the Gilgandra Panthers Senior Rugby League Club.
The Youth League started the round off with a trip to Narromine to take on the Jets on Friday night (May 1).
With a great crowd and many Gilgandra locals making the drive to support our youth league, the boys put on a first half performance that took them into the break with a 12-point lead.
Unfortunately, Narromine came out in the second half and held most of the possession, taking the win 32-22.
Brodie Heffer, Sailor Ryan and Sam Dunn were the stand out performers, collecting the best and fairest points picked by one of the Gilgandra old boys.
On Saturday, May 2, the club travelled over to Coonamble to take on the Bears in the ladies league tag and first grade.
In the Ladies League Tag Coonamble held most of the territorial advantage in the opening 18 minutes, with the Gil girls struggling to make it over half way. After the 20th minute, Gil broke the Coonamble defence and backed it up with the first try of the match by Samantha Hazelton from close range.
Minutes before the half time break, Kiara Brown out-paced the Coonamble defence to score a 70 meter try and take a 8-nil lead into the break.
Gilgandra were first to cross the line again in the second half, with a Camella Hazelton try out wide, following a good backline movement.
Not long afterwards , Coonamble replied with a try next to the posts to Hope Fernando, and conversion to Sam Turnbull. Taking The score 12-6 to Gilgandra.
Set up by Kadesia Wakley, Camella Hazelton went over for her second try out wide to take Gil to a 10-point lead. Several repeated sets to Coonamble, called on Gil to defend their line.
Managing to do this successfully, Wendy Brown made a big run deep into Coonamble territory and caught just short of the line.
Another big run from halfway saw Kiara Brown seal the win for the Gilgandra girls, converting her own try to take the win in the end 22-6.
The best and fairest points this week going to Camella Hazelton, Samantha Hazelton and Kirsten Louie.
A special moment for the men’s first grade side this weekend saw three youth league players making their first grade debut with the Panthers and two father-and-son combinations taking the field.
Curtis and Cobie Carr and Mick and Mason Louie took the field together for the first time, making their respective fathers’ dreams come true.
With emotions aside, Gil couldn’t hold Coonamble out and they crossed the line just minutes into the game taking a 6-0 lead.
Although Coonamble continued to look dangerous, Gil cleaned up a Coonamble spill and replied with a try out wide to captain-coach Tyler Bamblett. With the score close at 6-4,
Coonamble’s Kevin Thurston-Welsh scored from a grubber kick taking the score out to 12-4. Despite Gil making a long break at the 18th minute, they lost the ball.
Not to let that get to them, the Panthers’ Isaiah Gleadhill crossed a couple of minutes later from short range to close the gap to four points.
It took 12 minutes, a vocal crowd and a few penalties before Coonamble beat three defenders to reply with a converted try and take the score out to 18-8.
Despite Coonamble throwing everything at them, Gil held on and the score remained the same at the break.
Two quick tries in the first several minutes of the second half, and Coonamble increased the lead to 28-8. Following this, Cobie Carr scored back-to-back tries and with a conversion by Luke Ritchie put Gil back into the game at 28-18.
The home ground advantage and a vocal crowd helped the Bears take charge of the next 10 minutes with a couple more tries, creating a lead almost out of reach for the Panthers.
It was a bitter-sweet end for the travelling Panthers, with a hat-trick to Cobie Carr on debut as he scored his third and the final try of the match.
Gilgandra went down 40-24 in the end but the crowd were not disappointed with an entertaining game under their belts for a Saturday afternoon.
Holding their own and never out of place, all three debutants were awarded the best and fairest points. Congratulations and welcome to first grade Cobie Carr, Jackson Lang and Brodie Heffer.
Next weekend the youth league have the weekend off while the reserve grade competition kicks off.
