Sport
15 April, 2025
Atherton find another win, Mareeba draws
THE Atherton Roosters found their third win of the season against the Ivanhoe Knights over the weekend while the Mareeba Gladiators drew against the Mossman Sharks after a last-minute try levelled the score.
The Roosters now hold fourth spot on the ladder after their 22-8 win over Ivanhoe’s. The Gladiators are currently eighth in the FNQRL competition after their 32-all match against Mossman earned them just one point.
Atherton
The Roosters took on the Knights in Smithfield on Saturday and found another win early in the season, with centre Brad Hammond scoring a double.
The Knights opened the scoring through centre Quinnlan Tupou in the fourth minute, but Atherton soon fired back with winger Regan Herd going over in the 17th minute followed by interchange prop Scott Bolton five minutes later.
Not long after, the Knights went in again through winger Caiban Thaiday. Atherton led 10-8 at halftime.
The Roosters remained tough in the second half, not allowing a single point to be scored by their opposition.
Centre Brad Hammond found the tryline twice in the second half, going over in the 45th and 64th minute.
Regan Herd converted both of his centre’s tries and kicked three from four conversions on the day, bringing the final score to 22-8.
The Atherton Roosters Reserve Grade side fell just short to the Knights Reserve’s, with a final score of 24-20. However, the Under 19 Roosters thrashed their opponents 50-6.
Mareeba
The Mareeba Gladiators drew against the Mossman Sharks at Davies Park, Mareeba, on Sunday in a hard-fought game that was levelled up through a last-minute try from Mossman.
Mossman opened the scoring in the back-and-forth match in the seventh minute and Mareeba answered back shortly after through a try from fullback Trezman Banjo.
Mossman answered back through centre Windsor Bowie before Mareeba found a try through interchange prop Tyrone Williams.
Mossman went over again just shy of halftime, bringing the score to 16-12 in favour of the visitors heading into the break.
The Gladiators struck early in the second half after halfback Kaleb Eaton went over in the opening four minutes.
There was a 10-minute battle before Mossman went over for their fourth try to reclaim the lead. They then went over again shortly after to extend the lead to 26-18.
However, a fired-up Aparama Vulavou (centre) went over for his first try of the game several minutes later to bring the score to 26-24.
With six minutes left to play, the Sharks gave away a penalty and Mareeba opted to take a two-point penalty goal to level the scores, with Trezman Banjo successfully converting it.
Just two minutes later, Vulavou went over for another try and Mareeba claimed the lead with just a few minutes to play.
But an error from Mareeba as they were coming out of their end gave Mossman an opportunity.
The visitors took advantage and scored in the final minute of the game, with the conversion bringing the final score to 32-all.
“We should’ve won but yet again we’re just hurting ourselves with errors,” A Grade co-coach Trent Barnard said.
“We lost both of our hookers to injuries, so we were down a couple on the bench again.
“But credit to the boys, they hung in there. Mossman skipped out to a lead and we just grinded our way back, so there’s a lot of positives there.
“There’s still little moments that we’re not getting right, but it’s all there which is good.
“I’m really happy we came away with a point, we would’ve been pretty annoyed if we came away with nothing because the boys deserved a point after a physical game against Mossman.
“Also, it was really good to see a big crowd on Sunday in Mareeba. It looks like the town is getting behind us and the club, which is great to see.”
The Gladiators Reserve Grade fell just short to the Sharks, with a final score of 16-12, while the Under 19s also fell short, going down 26-10.
All teams will have a week off over the Easter holidays and will return for the ANZAC Day round where Mareeba will host Edmonton Storm and Atherton will travel to take on Yarrabah.
