Feeling the finals fever

As finals fever spreads, there's still a couple more exciting weeks left for the handful of Parkes teams in football and hockey who remain in the premiership race. While the SpaceCats in the Western league tag competition and the Trundle Boomers in the Woodbridge Cup have fallen agonisingly short, two more Parkes teams have secured their places in their grand finals. Joan Carolan at dummy half. The Parkes Panthers in the AFL Central West Men's Tier 2 competition had a comfortable win over the Cowra Blues in the preliminary final on Saturday at George Park in Bathurst, 53-8. They will once again go head-to-head against their arch rival this season, Dubbo Demons at South Dubbo Oval this Saturday (see page 21 for our grand final feature). After a semi-final demolition took place on the Parkes Hockey Field on Saturday, Parkes United men are into the Central West Premier League grand final when they sent the Lithgow Workies back to the office with a 9-0 victory. Minor premiers and still undefeated, the local side will enjoy a week off now as they await to find out who will join them on the pitch in Lithgow on Saturday 5 September, following this Saturday's final between Lithgow and the Dubbo Lions. The Parkes United women played their first week of finals on Saturday at home too, with a convincing win over Orange United 5-3 in a semi-final elimination. They head into the final this Saturday against Bathurst St Pats at Bathurst Hockey Complex at 1.50pm, fighting for a place in the grand final on 5 September. The women's grand final will also take place at the Lithgow Hockey Complex - the location for both grand finals this year determined by the winner of the women's major semi-final. The Lithgow Panthers are the first into the women's grand final and will play the winner of this Saturday's final. Cass Ward in action for the SpaceCats on Sunday. Grace MacGregor attempts to speed past the opposition. It was a well-fought but tough match for the SpaceCats, who went down swinging 52-6 against the Orange CYMS in Dubbo on Sunday and have been eliminated. So too have a strong first grade Boomers outfit who had their fans hanging on during the preliminary final at Berryman Oval. Trundle's Boomers and Eugowra's Geagles bowed out of the first grade and league tag competitions on Saturday. Trundle hosted the qualifiers, with Berryman Oval awash with green and gold. The first grade sides battled it out for 12 minutes before the visitors crossed the line and put first points on the scoreboard. Boomers levelled the scores at 6-6 after another 10 minutes of play when Bill Ryan scored, to the delight of the home crowd. But the Bears crossed again to lead 6-12 at half time and in the second half established themselves 10-34 winners to secure their grand final berth. They'll now meet Oberon Tigers, who defeated Cowra Magpies 36-8 on the weekend. The Trundle Boomers Rugby League Club congratulated the side on what it said has been a tremendous year. "You’ve done our club incredibly proud, and we couldn’t be prouder of the effort, commitment and heart you’ve shown throughout the season," the club shared on social media. For Eugowra, the Geagles met a Manildra side that has contested the last four league tag grand finals. Eugowra restricted the Rhinos to 8-0 for more than 40 minutes of play, but couldn't break through the defence for points themselves. At the end of the day it was Manildra who secured another grand final with a 24-0 win. They meet Cargo Blue Heelers in the grand final after Cargo defeated Cowra 12-10. Sunday 30 August, Sid Kallas Oval Cowra Gates open 9am 10.30am Youth league - Cowra Magpies v Oberon Tigers 12.15pm League tag - Cargo Blue Heelers v Manildra Rhinos 2.30pm First grade - Oberon Tigers v Blayney Bears Meanwhile in the Lachlan Junior Rugby League competition, finals continue this weekend in Grenfell, with kick off at Lawson Oval at 10am. There are four Parkes White teams playing. The draw is: Under 14s league tag: Parkes White v Red Bend JRL Under 14s boys tackle: Parkes White v Condobolin JRL Under 17s league tag: Parkes White v Forbes JRL Under 16s boys tackle: Parkes White v Red Bend JRL