Photo: Steve Ostini
The French Rugby League side played the Western Rams in Parkes last week to a packed crowd. The Western Rams included two Forbes Magpies players: Ben Maguire and Mitch Burke. It was a tight game, especially towards the end with France winning 22 – 20. “This fixture provided the country boys of the Western region a cherished opportunity to test their mettle against their international counterparts,” said Peter McDonald, Western Rams Rugby League Chairman.
Congratulations to Red Bend Catholic College student Finnley Neilsen, who has been selected in the NSW Rugby League team to play the Under 16s Pasifika team at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday 9 June 2019.
Finnley Neilsen started playing rugby league when he was five, and last week the Year 11 Red Bend student was lost for words. “I thought Dad was joking when he told me I was selected for the NSW team,” said Finnley.
Since last October he’s been living for the sport he absolutely loves. He travels to Forbes every week for training, and quite often to Dubbo and Orange too after being selected to play for the Western Rams for the first time.He then got into the Country team, which was already very special for the lock. But when he realised last week that his Dad was not joking about his first selection for the NSW team, he “was pretty excited”.
The squad was selected after Finnley played in the NSW Country Under-16s team against a Harold Matthews Representative team at Penrith Stadium on Friday, 17th May.
Finnley is the only player of the Country team selected for the squad. There are seven players from the premiership-winning Newcastle Knights team and four players from grand finalists Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
Next Friday he will travel to the Homebush Centre of Excellence for two days of intensive training with the NSW 20-man squad.
The Pasifika is an international side with players from Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Samoa.
For Finnley this is the start of his big dream to play NRL one day.
The Forbes Magpies travelled to Dubbo last Sunday to take on Dubbo Westside. Westside have been having a tough run this year and unfortunately have not been able to field an Under 18 team so the young Magpies have had the week off.
The Reserves had a 30-14 win and the Ladies League Tag team had a resounding 64-6 win over the Westside ladies. The First Grade Magpies had a huge win over Westside with so many tries winning 104-0.
The Forbes Magpies Junior Rugby League under 14’s team has made it all the way through to the Minor Premiers 2018. The Magpies will meet Red Bend in the grand final at Spooner Oval on Saturday afternoon.
“The boys have had an extremely successful year, with all growing as players and as young men,” according to Coach Chris Butler. “Their confidence and ability as a team is impressive,” he said.
A real team effort in 2018 has seen this team struggle with their fair share of setbacks and injuries. They became Minor Premiers for the second year in a row after a big win against West Wyalong on Saturday, 11th August, in front of a home crowd.
Now with a home ground grand final booked the excitement, anticipation and suspense was apparent at training on Tuesday. The boys were trying to remain calm and treat it as just another training session but with special attention from supporters and members of this wonderful club the change in mood was evident.
Speaking with supportive mums, Tracey Bray and Lisa Glasson, this excitement and anticipation was confirmed with both mums saying that their boys where extremely focused and excited. Both mums wanted to wish the team the best of luck and said, “We know you can do it!’”.
Get ready for four great games against our biggest rivals! The Forbes Magpies are having a Twin Town Darby against Parkes Spaceman this Sunday.
In 1958 Forbes won the premiership and now 60 years after winning the competition the Magpies are celebrating their proud history through hosting this special day.
Oldies are encouraged to come along and wear their old guernseys.
Wear your old Magpies jumper or any pre 2000 footy jumper to show your support and receive a $5 canteen or bar voucher at the gate.
There will be replica jumpers of the 1958 premiership side auctioned after the game. Kickoff is at 11am with the girls’ league tag.
On Saturday, 24th March the Forbes Magpies will host the Bathurst St Pats in the Brendon ‘Stubby’ Collits Memorial Shield held at Spooners Oval.
It will be a great day of rugby league but also a day to remember a legend!
This year’s Brendon ‘Stubby’ Collits day will feature a special memorial game for Peter and Kay Corliss who were lifelong supporters of Forbes Rugby League and also attended many Bathurst St Pats games.
Nathan Corliss and Barry Merritt have both put together sides to play on the day with the inclusion of ex NRL players and local Forbes legends playing in both teams.
The day will run from 12pm starting with Magpies vs St Pats league tag and then followed by the under 18’s.
Then onto the very special memorial game, the Peter and Kay Corliss charity match. The day is ended off with the Forbes Magpies 1st Grade vs St Pats match.
Join the club for a great day out, entry only $5 (under 16’s free). All proceeds from the gate will be donated to CanAssist in honour of the Corliss’.
Following the day, proceedings will move to the Forbes sponsor pub for refreshments and presentations.
Year 10 student Charlie Staines took a step closer to achieving his dream this week when he signed a two-year NRL Player Development contract with the Penrith Panthers Rugby League Club.
NRL talent scouts have been watching Charlie for some time and the offer came after recommendations based on the skills and abilities Charlie has displayed in both club and representative football competitions.
Charlie will continue his schooling at Forbes High School for the next twelve months. The Panthers will assist with costs associated with any representative football he is involved in including the Western Rams and Country NSW. He will be provided with strength and conditioning, diet and training programs to further develop his talent over the year at which time he will be considered for a pre-season program in preparation for the inclusion in the Under 18 squad and possible relocation to Sydney.
Charlie attended and participated in training camps with the Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Raiders this year too. He and his family are taking everything in their stride, but they are excited by the prospects the signing will bring in the future. Charlie will compete with his local team, the Forbes Junior Magpies U16’s, in the grand final of the local competition in a couple of weeks before flying to Samoa to fulfil his representative commitments with the NSW Country side on the long weekend in October.
By Anita Morrison
The Forbes Magpies put in an incredible performance to come from behind and win the Group XI Rugby League grand final in Dubbo 26 – 22 on Sunday. Taking on Dubbo CYMS, who have been undefeated for two seasons, was a daunting task for the Mapgies, but coaching coordinator Cameron Greenhalgh said this diasadvantage only ramped up the players’ enthusiasm.
“We were massive underdogs going in, but we knew that we had the side, we had the belief that we could win,” Greenhalgh said. With 12 minutes to go, CYMS had pulled out to a 10 point lead, but two tries in the final minutes gave Forbes the impressive victory.
Acknowledging that Forbes is sporting a very young team this year, Greenhalgh said it was difficult to single out top performers. “Our captain-coach Jake Grace won the Bob Weir Medal for man of the match, and he certainly led by example. “They were all excellent. They’re a young team, but have great confidence and big game performance,” Greenhalgh said.
By Cindy Nutley
The Forbes Magpies League Tag side could unfortunately not repeat their stellar performance of the previous week and went down 22-12 against the Parkes Spacecats on Saturday. They went into the game with level heads and had a half time lead of 8-6, but could not hold out the strong attack of the Parkes side. At the end of the game they were down by one try, and missing all three conversions during the game did not help the score line. They play Westside in an elimination game tomorrow.
Good news is that the Magpies’ chance of a Group 11 first grade title improved vastly on Saturday with a 32-26 win over the Parkes Spacemen in the elimination semifinal.
The star of the day was Dylan Gunn scoring two tries.
The Forbes Magpies League Tag side won in spectacular fashion last Saturday against twin town rivals the Parkes Spacecats. With the Spacecats in top position on the Group XI leader board, the Magpies went in as the underdogs, but came out with a will to win. They also became the talk of the day defeating Parkes 16-10 after a half-time lead of 16 – 0.
“It was the best possible way to finish our regular season,” said Captain, Amy Townsend. “The girls put everything into action that we have been working on all year. There is nothing better than beating Parkes at home!
“We will take a lot of confidence from our performance this weekend and look to continue our form into the finals.”
The next game for the girls is a home semi-final this Saturday, playing the Parkes Spacecats again. “We are looking to put in another ground breaking performance,” said the Captain.
It was a spectacular day all round for the Magpies with all four grades taking home wins. The Under 18s won 26-6; Reggies won 30-14 and First Grade Lead won 22-20. First Grade will also play the Parkes Spacemen tomorrow. Gates will open at 10:00am with the Ladies League Tag game at 10:30am.