Sport
20 July, 2021
Roosters claim Tableland Cup
THE prized Tableland Cup remains in Atherton after the Atherton Roosters delivered a 30-10 win over arch rivals the Mareeba Gladiators in Sunday’s Cairns District Rugby League premiership match played at Atherton’s Mungalli Creek Dairy Stadium.
THE prized Tableland Cup remains in Atherton after the Atherton Roosters delivered a 30-10 win over arch rivals the Mareeba Gladiators in Sunday’s Cairns District Rugby League premiership match played at Atherton’s Mungalli Creek Dairy Stadium.
Atherton’s strong first half set the platform for their convincing victory in the local derby after they led 24-0 at the halftime break.
The Roosters opened the scoring at the 4th minute when Ned Blackman went over off a top ball from forward Ben Whybird. Blackman followed with another soon after and the Roosters were now up 12-0.
From here the Roosters continued to produce plenty of energy and were troubling Mareeba all over the park. Mareeba did have their chances but were denied by the Roosters who defended their line strongly.
Tries to Ty Grogan and Brad Hammond got the Roosters further ahead and they had built a commanding lead for halftime. Glenn Dumbrell’s try soon after the restart pushed the Roosters lead out to 30-0 with 34 minutes left to play.
Despite their brave effort for most of the match, the Roosters did leak some points in the final ten minutes when Aiden Morgan and Keripo Gutchen-Gela crossed for Mareeba tries.
The Roosters made it a clean sweep over Mareeba in all grades by also winning the under 18s match 28-22 and the reserve grade 28-12.
This Sunday the Atherton Roosters travel away to play Kangaroos at Vico Oval while Mareeba Gladiators play Brothers at Williams Park.
