The battle royale for the Rugby League Bundaberg Broadcasters A Grade Premiership minor title is set to go right down to the wire after the top three sides Past Brothers, Wests Panthers and Waves Tigers each posted impressive round 12 victories on Saturday over Wallaroos 36-8, Hervey Bay Seagulls 60-10, and Easts Magpies 28-16 respectively.
Brothers had six individual try scorers, while electrifying centre Israel Power led the Panthers’ prowl with a double, and ultra-consistent winger Lachlan Dullaway had a field day for the Tigers with 16 points from three superb tries and two conversions.
Before tomorrow’s bye weekend, Brothers are on 19 points, with Wests and Waves each on 16, with the Panthers having a superior net points differential to them of 226 to 138, with Magpies on 13 points, Wallaroos on eight, and Seagulls on zero.
Brothers have a tough run home against Waves, Easts and Wests respectively, while the Panthers meet Magpies next Saturday, before taking on Roos in the penultimate round, when the Tigers take on whipping boys Seagulls, before journeying to Maryborough for a last-round duel with Roos.
It is even closer in Reserve Grade, with three teams on 18 points, split only on points differential, Easts, Brothers and Waves, with 230, 172 and 142 respectively, with Wests on 14, Roos four, and Hervey Bay zero.
In the Northern Districts Men’s Premiership, Isis Devils established a four-point lead on the ladder with four rounds to go with winger Zak Tomlinson bagging a hat-trick of tries in a 36-0 white-wash of hosts Miriam Vale Magpies on Saturday.
Interchange player Ken Rex and centre Tyren Hoyle each also crossed twice as Gin Gin Hawks grabbed a 28-all draw with second placed South Kolan Sharks to shore up fourth place.
There was a boil-over in the Women’s League Tag with Agnes Water Marlins inflicting Gin Gin Hawkettes’ first loss in over two years, getting home 14-10.
This Sunday at Tegege, there will be a Men’s top of the table shoot-out between Sharks and Devils at 1.15pm, before hosts Tigers try to pluck Magpies at 2.45pm.
There is just one Women’s match on the program, with Avondale to suit up against Isis at 12.15pm
FOOTBALL
After bouncing back from their midweek loss to Bingera, Across The Waves returned to their brilliant best with a 5-1 drubbing of hosts Fraser Flames in their Football Queensland Premier League McDonald’s Wide Bay Men’s showdown last Saturday, it will be tougher when they host Gladstone heavyweights Clinton in the Mitre FQPL Men’s Champions League Leg 1 at 6pm tomorrow.
Stalwart Sam Meyer relished his return to the starting side with a hat-trick against the Flames.
By their win, Waves regained a share of the lead on the ladder with United Park Eagles (UPE), while Bingera slipped from first to third with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of UPE, with United captain Josh Adcock scoring his 18th goal of the season to get to within one of Waves young gun Preston Cox in the Golden Boot standings, and Matthew Sobczak also finding the back of the net.
But the UPE Women, who are second on their ladder, had to settle for a 1-1 draw with sixth placed Bingera last Friday.
There are no FQPL matches this weekend.
AFL
AFL Wide Bay fixtures resume tomorrow after the representative round last Saturday, and all matches are in Bundaberg.
Brothers Bulldogs host Bay Power on their Sponsors Day, while Waves Eagles host Hervey Bay Bombers at Frank Coulthard Oval.
In the Senior Men’s Premiership, the Bulldogs will try to keep Power winless at 3pm, after the improving Bulldogs’ Senior Women will be able to join Power in equal-third place in the Takalvans Premiership if they are able to beat them at 1.30pm.
The Eagles’ Men face all conquering premiers Bombers at 3.30pm, while their unbeaten Women attempt to power on in their title defence at 2pm.
BASKETBALL
Bundaberg will host Ipswich Force in the last round of the Basketball Queensland State League 2 at Autobarn Arena tomorrow, with the Autobarn Bulls hitting the court at 7pm with third place already secure against the sixth placed Force.
The Bulls outmuscled the Force 105-96 in Ipswich when they last met on 23April.
Positions are reversed in the Women’s competition, with the Bears in sixth spot and needing a big victory against the third seeded Force at 5pm and also needing No. 4 RedCity Roar and No. 5 Logan Thunder to lose to Moreton Bay Suns Fire and Southern Districts Spartans respectively to be any chance of snatching fourth place and the last spot in the finals.
HOCKEY
Fresh from their Premier League Grand Final victory, Raiders/Rovers continued on their winning ways, edging out reigning premiers Arrows/Athletics 2-1 in their Bundaberg Division 1 Women’s clash at Hinkler Park on Saturday.
Their coach Dean Wightman also showed his talents as a player, bagging a double, along with Colby Zahn, but it was not enough, having to settle for a 4-all draw with Arrows.
Both the Men’s and Women’s All Blacks v Waves Cities games also finished in draws, 3-all and 4-all respectively.
Cities play Arrows this weekend, with the Women’s game at 6.20pm tonight, and Men’s at 4.40pm tomorrow.
All Blacks take on Raiders/Rovers, with their Men lining up at 3.20pm tomorrow, and their Women to take to the field at 6pm.
Saturday’s results:
U11s
Raiders Rovers 5 (Beau Kendall 1, Will Baldry 1, Levi Kendall 3) defeated All Blacks 0
Arrows Athletics 3 (Jessica Stehbens 1, Bennett Smith 1, Amity Hannay 1) defeated Waves Cities 2 (Lillian Pashley 2)
U13s
Arrows Athletics 2 (Hamish Cook 2) drew with Waves Cities 2 (Cooper Pashley 1, Ruby Potter 1)
Raiders Rovers 8 (Silvana Powell 1, Courtney Kendall 2, Molly Crow 6) defeated All Blacks 0
U16s
Arrows Athletics 2 (Bridie Stehbens 1, Tully Dorgan 1) drew with Waves Cities 2 (Sophie Aitkenhead 2)
All Blacks 1 (Kooper Lane 1) defeated Raiders Rovers 0
Division 2 Women
Raiders Rovers 1 (Alana Durrant 1) drew with Arrows Athletics 1 (Michelle Wilson 1)
Waves Cities 3 (Karen Frances 1, Angela Asnicar 1, Anna Smith 1) defeated All Blacks 0
Division 2 Men
Raiders Rovers 4 (Dean Wightman 2, Riley Howard 2) drew with All Blacks 4 (Aaron Chanoff 1, Bayley Fagg 1, Lachlan McLaren 2)
Division 1 Women
All Blacks 0 drew with Waves Cities 0
Raiders Rovers 2 (Jasmine Fagg 1, Susan Kendall 1) defeated Arrows Athletics 1 (Bridget Stehbens 1)
Division 1 Men
Raiders Rovers 4 (Dean Wightman 2, Colby Zahn 2) drew with Arrows Athletics 4 (Tully Dorgan 1, Jake McCaig 1, Sam Kenny 1, Ethan Kenny 1)
All Blacks 3 (Isaac Wales 1, Bayley Fagg 2) drew with Waves Cities 3 (Adam Harradine 1, Jonty McMahon 1, Matthew Quaite 1)
NETBALL
Warren Family Homes Division 1 Premiership fixtures resume at the Superpark tomorrow, with three times defending champions Waves Gold taking on Natives Magpies at 6.30pm.
Earlier at 5pm, there will be a Brothers intra-club duel between Hurricanes and Cyclones, and an all-Blue affair between the Alloway and Waves teams of that colour.
- Last week's sports report: Minka helps Raiders/Rovers win Premier League
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