IT was a weekend which saw the Parkes Spacemen come crashing back to earth, Forbes swoop in the battle of the Magpies and Lithgow Workies take a huge step towards avoiding the wooden spoon.
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But they weren't the only talking points to come out of the latest round of the Peter McDonald Premiership.
Check out this week's Set of Six:
1) Zamparini wants Group 10 to bring the cup home for Ace
GROUP 10 president Linore Zamparini has enjoyed seeing how clubs from his region have fared thus far in the inaugural Peter McDonald Premiership, but he's also issued them a challenge.
Zamparini wants the premiership cup to be in the hands of a Group 10 club come full-time on grand final day. He feels that would be an excellent way to honour McDonald.
Peter 'Ace' McDonald was a much admired administrator for the Cowra Magpies, as well as filling roles for Group 10, Western and Country Rugby League.
He died last year just before his 66th birthday, but his memory lives on through things such as naming the new Western premiership involving Group 10 and Group 11 clubs after him.
"He was a pretty humble man, but to have it named after him would've made him happy and one thing that would make him a lot happier would be one of our teams brining that cup home," Zamparini said.
"It would be great to bring it home, particularly for Ace, for Peter McDonald, because he meant a lot to the Group."
While Group 11 clubs Dubbo CYMS, Forbes Magpies and Parkes Spacemen rank amongst the best performers so far this season, Zamparini has faith a Group 10 club can win.
Mudgee and Orange CYMS have only lost twice and Bathurst Panthers is close behind in the Group 10 pool.
"Panthers are still going good, Mudgee is going terrific, you've got Orange CYMS in there as well and St Pat's is still in the top four," the Group 10 boss said.
"Orange CYMS on their day are unbeatable, but it's been proved a couple of times that they are beatable and Parkes are certainly coming home with a full wind, so it makes for a great finals series and a great end to the competition.
"Particularly playing like the NRL top eight, that's the format and anything can happen with that format, all you've got to do is keep winning."
2) Greenhalgh's golden boot helps Forbes win the Magpies battle
NICK Greenhalgh had a day at Cowra on Saturday, scoring a try and booting a perfect 11 goals from 11 attempts in Forbes' 66-10 demolition job in the battle of the Magpies.
"It looks good on the scoresheet," Greenhalgh laughed when discussing his goal-kicking.
"I wasn't taking too much notice until I took one from the sideline, I think it might have been the 10th one, and one of the boys yelled out it was for 10 from 10 so then it clicked.
"I had to pull my finger out on that one, but it was pleasing to rack up a few points and hopefully it puts me up in the points a bit.
"But the boys made it pretty easy for me and scored a few next to the posts. As long as they keep scoring for me, hopefully I can keep turning four points into six."
The Forbes captain's day out moved him closer to the leading scorer in the competition, Parkes' Chad Porter.
Porter moved to 102 points with two successful conversions in his side's loss to Orange Hawks on Sunday, while Greenhalgh is second with 92 points.
Brad Pickering of Dubbo CYMS is next with 76 points, making it three Group 11 players at the top.
With leading Group 10 captain-coaches Daniel Mortimer and Jack Littlejohn recently saying they feel Group 11 sides play a little more attacking and a little quicker, that should come as no surprise.
3) Fire-breathing Dragons are making a point - well many points
EIGHTY-eight points in a game of football - Saturday's clash between Mudgee and Nyngan was certainly about attacking flair rather than defensive mettle.
The Dragons were responsible for 12 of the 16 tries scored in that contest at Glen Willow to notch up a 64-24 win.
It was an effort which now sees Mudgee (340) having scored more points than any other club in the Peter McDonald Premiership - a mantle previous held by Bathurst Panthers (334).
The win over Nyngan was the third time this season the Dragons have cracked the 50-point mark in a match - another attacking record no other side can match.
The Dragons scored 10 tries when belting Lithgow 54-6 in round six, while in round eight Mudgee crossed 11 times on the way to beating Cowra 66-6.
Halves pairing Pacey Stockton and Jack Littlejohn have been responsible for plenty of those tries, but centre Corin Smith, winger Jared Robinson and lock Ben Thompson have also scored some bags.
In the other big scoring match of round 12, the Forbes Magpies posted a commanding 66-10 over the Cowra Magpies.
Zeke Hartwig scored a hat-trick for Forbes in that match as it cracked 50 for the first time this season.
Three other clubs - Parkes, Orange CYMS and Bathurst Panthers - have cracked 50 as well.
Panthers beat Cowra 64-10 in round six, CYMS did it when trouncing Lithgow 56-10 in round nine while Parkes posted a 54-24 win over Lithgow in round 10.
4) Charlie's happy homecoming at Forbes
NO, not Charlie Staines.
Forbes would no doubt love that, but the Group 11 premiership-winner is busy sorting out his future in the NRL.
Charlie Lennon is the one back at home and making a real impact for the Magpies.
A Red Bend junior, the hard-running back-rower impressed in Sydney in recent years and was playing Jersey Flegg for the Canterbury Bulldogs this season.
But, as is the case with many country kids, he battled a little with homesickness and has opted to return to Forbes for the remainder of the 2022 season.
It's great news for the Magpies and the young gun has already made his presence felt.
Starting from the bench against both Dubbo CYMS and Cowra the past two weeks, Lennon scored a try in both games and is expected to earn a spot in the starting side for the meeting with Macquarie next round.
5) Cowboys miss their chance, Lithgow likely to avoid wooden spoon
THERE'S still four rounds of the regular season remaining, but it appears the wooden spoon is heading to Wellington.
The Cowboys had a golden chance to score their first win of the season on Saturday when they hosted the bottom team in Group 10, Lithgow Workies.
Workies had just one win prior to the weekend, but they made it two victories on the bounce with a tough 24-12 success.
The pair of wins will come too late for Workies to launch any kind of raid on the finals, but they are now just one win off Cowra in the Group 10 pool.
Lithgow has the bye this weekend but with Western Rams hooker Isaac Thompson shining at halfback in recent weeks, there's no reason it can't push finals hopefuls Mudgee, St Pat's and Bathurst Panthers in the final rounds.
For Wellington, it faces Nyngan, St Pat's, Dubbo CYMS and Parkes in the final four rounds.
After such promising performances against Dubbo sides CYMS and Macquarie in recent weeks, many in Group 11 were shocked the seemingly improving Cowboys missed out at home on Saturday.
6) Will Dubbo be CYMS-ply the best in Western 18s?
JUST as Dubbo CYMS has been the best performed side in the Peter McDonald Premiership to date, when it comes to the under 18s the Fishies are leading the way as well.
Like the club's first grade outfit, Dubbo CYMS' under 18s have dropped just one match to date - a 22-20 nail-biter against Nyngan Tigers in round three.
The Dubbo side has won all three of its cross-over games against Group 10 clubs to date, disposing of Orange Hawks 22-12, St Pat's 22-18 and Mudgee 30-0.
That win over the the Dragons was the second time Dubbo CYMS has kept a clean sheet this season, the young Fishies have also held Wellington to nil.
Halfback Latrell Fing Fing has scored 100 points for the season thus far - 68 of them having come off his boot - and is leading the chase for the top point-scorer honours too.
"He's a freak," CYMS captain Cooper Ferrari said of Fing Fing earlier this season.
"It's lucky he's on my side because I'd hate to play against him."
But as good as Dubbo CYMS has been, the Western under 18s premiership is certainly not a one-horse race.
As well as being the only side to beat CYMS, Nyngan's other match with the Dubbo outfit was decided by two points as well.
Bathurst Panthers, who sit in third but two points behind Dubbo CYMS, has not been draw to play them during the regular season.
Though St Pat's is on the list of Dubbo CYMS' victims, the Saints came within a try of beating in round two.
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