A wet Saturday morning set the stage for some classic wet weather football on a muddy Rankins Springs footy ground for the sixth Proten Cup Knockout.
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All 12 teams turned up on the miserable rainy morning in the best turnout for a knockout so far, the first time all six women's teams have competed in the knockout. The girls were up first with Goolgowi v Hillston with the Rabbitohs getting up by 2, 10-8 over the Bluebirds.
Other girl's results through the day saw Barellan continue their undefeated domination, winning 30-0 over both Rankins Springs and an Ivanhoe scratch side, who had to make up a team of mostly other club's players due to the majority of their own players not making it through the rain.
Hillston and Goolgowi both fell to the Narrandera Lizards, while Rankins Springs and Ivanhoe played out a 4-4 draw in the other match.
The men's pool games followed the same draw as the women's, with this time Hillston defeating Goolgowi in the first match, 6-4.
A similar scoreline followed in the Rankins Springs and Barellan match, with the Rams getting up. Narrandera came out and had a similar fortune to their girl's team, winning 12-0 over Hillston and 18-0 over Goolgowi.
Rankins Springs got up 16-10 over Ivanhoe, who unfortunately had to forfeit their final match against Barellan due to injuries.
The results meant Barellan & Narrandera qualified for the final in both women's and men's divisions. A big day of rainy footy had become a hot, sunny afternoon.
The Lizards women gave Barellan their best challenge so far in the day, keeping the Rams to only 6 points in the first half. The Rams asserted their dominance in the second half, coming away 18-0 winners with a hat-trick to Tommi Booth.
The lights were turned on for the men's final. Narrandera had won three times before, while Barellan had lost this match twice, in 2019 and last year.
Despite this, the Rams were first on the board, with captain Noah Forbutt going over from dummy-half. With a lot of aggression from both sides, the game had to be stopped several times, and the Rams finished the half 6-0.
Unfortunately, some stray swinging arms and a few scuffles derailed the second half, and with six minutes to go, the game was called due to poor player behaviour after a third foul play penalty against Narrandera in a row, and Barellan was declared the winner 6-0.
This year's knockout title becomes their first title since the beginning of the ProTen Cup.
Thank you to Rankins Springs for hosting the day and, all their volunteers for their hard work, as well as the referees and touch judges for their efforts and all clubs for turning up and making another great day of ProTen Cup football.
The competition proper kicks off Saturday, May 18, at Narrandera, with Hillston playing Barellan, Rankins Springs vs Ivanhoe, and Narrandera hosting Goolgowi.
