Sport
24 August, 2026
Young Roosters last men standing
THE Mareeba Gladiators Reserve Grade are out of the finals race following a narrow six-point loss at the weekend, while the Atherton Roosters Under 19s will get one more shot at a spot in the grand final this week.
The Gladiators Reserves will be disappointed about missing out on the preliminary final this weekend after a 28-22 loss to Southern Suburbs in Innisfail. However, they will be proud to know they were the club’s first Ressies side in 13 years to make it past the regular season.
Meanwhile, the Under 19 Roosters will have a few things to work on throughout the week after letting slip a 16-0 lead to Cairns Brothers, resulting in a 28-16 loss.
ROOSTERS vs BROTHERS
THE young Roosters got off to a flying start in their highly anticipated match against Brothers at the weekend.
Winger Isaac Nasser found himself a first half double after scoring in the 5th and 19th minutes. He was soon followed by hooker Jackson Clark, which gave his side a 16-0 lead after just 25 minutes.
However, the first place finishing Brothers soon answered back and managed to bring the score to 16-12 by halftime.
Atheron were unable to produce any points in the second stint, while Brothers crossed the line three times to claim a 28-16 win.
This weekend, the Roosters will face off against the Ivanhoe Knights in the preliminary final, with the winner facing Brothers in next week’s grand final. The game will kick off from 12pm at Coronation Park (Mossman Showgrounds), Mossman this Saturday.
GLADIATORS vs SUBURBS
MAREEBA got out to a quick 12-0 lead in the major semi-final at the weekend, after their big props Tyrone Williams and Narason Moorcroft-Kose crossed the line in the 5th and 8th minutes respectively.
However, their opposition soon scored one of their own and went on to add another two to the tally before halftime. The Gladiators went into the break down 16-12.
Suburbs got the jump on Mareeba in the second, scoring two tries within the first five minutes of play (41st and 44th minutes) to extend their lead to
28-12.
However, it didn’t take long for Mareeba to answer back with a try in the 50th minute, before prop Jason Hastie claimed one of his own in the 56th to put his side back within distance.
For the remaining 20 minutes of the match neither team were able to add any more points to the board and the game finished 28-22 in favour of Gordonvale.
