Charters Towers juniors battle wet conditions, tough opponents

JUNIOR players for the Charters Towers Bulls braved wet and sloppy conditions in games played last weekend.

The Under-18 Bulls had the bye for the week and all three girls’ teams — U18, 16 and 14 — won by forfeit from Teachers West.

The U14s took on Teachers West who won 19-7.

The U13s were defeated 29-7 by Teachers West, while the U12s won 34-5 against Western Suburbs.

The U11s drew with Teachers West 25-all and the Under 10s had a tight 35-30 win over Teachers West.

In the U16s, the weather was wet, the ground was sloppy and the ball greasy when this year’s SPAR Richmond Bulls took on Western Suburbs Dragons on Saturday afternoon.

Although Western Suburbs technically forfeited, the teams played a scratch match, which the Bulls won 46-7.

The Bulls capitalised on a mistake from the Dragons early in play and Jackson Curtis opened the scoring for the season.

Western Suburbs were not bothered in the slightest and hit back with some extremely strong attack.

Solid defence by prop Caleb

Kadiko on the Western Suburbs’ try line kept the opposition out, until the Bulls forced a turnover.

However, the Bulls didn’t use the change of direction in play to their advantage, allowing Western Suburbs to take control again and cross to score.

The coach said a fair bit of messy play, in all senses of the word, ensued, with continual turnovers and penalties from both teams. He said the coaching team called for calm and collection, and a solid run by Riley Amos put the Bulls back on track, with Mickey Luke, Riley Williamson and Jasper Guy all scoring before the halftime whistle.

Zai Hopkins kicked one conversion. The halftime score was 22-7.

During the break, the Bulls coaches spoke about the need for maintaining possession, careful ball control in the wet conditions and just going back to basics.

The game finished like it started, with Jackson Curtis crossing to score right on the whistle, ending the game at 46-7.