The newly refurbished Eugowra Rugby League Football Club Team of the Century mural, which commemorates 100 years of Rugby League in Eugowra, features none other than Parkes own Spacemen President, Tony Dwyer.

Tony has a long association with rugby league across both the towns of Parkes and Eugowra. He started playing football for the Parkes under 12s in 1972 when they won the competition. However, he then did not return to the game until his first year in under 18s, saying: I stayed two years in 18s, then played for Parkes until 1983 when we won the competition under Ted Goodwin.

Despite playing the entire year for Parkes in 1983 at half-back, Tony was dropped for the semi-final and didnt get back on the field in the grand final, prompting the need for a change of scenery.

I went out to Eugowra, Jock Colley was the coach at the time, and he told me to come out for a run, so I had a run with him for a season and then Jock retired and I coached for the next two years.

Tonys first year in Eugowra was 1984, and he stayed with the team for three years until 1986. We got beat in the grand final in 1984, we won the competition in 1985 and were beat again in 1986, said Tony.

Following the 1986 competition, Tony took a year off football to fix an injured knee, before heading back onto the field with Parkes in 1988. We won the competition that year under Neil Moy, then I gave away playing football and started refereeing, said Tony.

Tony started off refereeing junior league, then stepped up to referee senior league in 1991, resulting in the next 10 years spent in Group 11.

Tony has also coached junior league in Parkes and has been President of The Parkes Rugby League Football Club, for the past four years, declaring that he is happily tied up with the club forever.

Tony never imagined he would one day be depicted larger than life on a mural to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Eugowra Rugby League Football Club.

Tony explains: That was out of the blue. They rang up one day and said – have you got a picture of yourself? They explained they were doing a mural of all the grand final coaches who had won the competition.

It worked out well, because my good mate Wayne Medlyn came out playing with me in 1985 and he stayed on when I got my knee fixed. He ended up coaching in 1988 and also won the competition.

Tony has fond memories of his time playing football for Eugowra. Eugowra is a great place, and the people, they are a great community, they always welcome you back. Each year there is an event and we all travel back to catch up, I look forward to it every year, concluded Tony.

 

Parkes cousins Elizabeth and Maely MacGregor are continuing to amaze the crowds whenever they strap on a pair of footy boots. Last weekend the Parkes Boars Women’s team took on CSU Bathurst, winning the game 50 – 0, and notwithstanding a great all round team effort, incredibly all 50 points on the board were scored by the two cousins.

Eighteen year old Maely only just played her first season of rugby union for the Parkes Boars in 2023, and has been very exciting to watch. Last Saturday Maely scored one try and kicked 5 from 8 conversions.

We asked Maely what teams she thought would be some of their biggest competition this year, she said: “Wellington has become strong and Mudgee is always really strong, so they will be two tough teams to beat.”

When asked what the girls were focusing on at training this week Maely said “I think just our structure is mostly what we are working on, and making sure that we can complete our plays and retain the ball to score tries.”

Seventeen year old Elizabeth played her first ever game of Rugby Union last Saturday in the hit out against CSU. Elizabeth is an established up and coming rugby league star and credits her extension into rugby union to her cousin, saying: “Maely tried to get me to play union last year and didn’t get me, but this year she convinced me”.

Before heading out on the field for her first match, Maely gave her younger cousin Elizabeth a solid piece of advice: “Just get the ball and run.”

“I didn’t know the rules, I kept running back to try and get on side, before realising I didn’t need to do that. I was nervous, and a bit confused at the start, but I got the hang of it a little bit more at the end”.

Heading into the away game this weekend against Wellington, Elizabeth will be focused on scoring more tries. “I am still very new, but I will try stay on the outside of Maely, she should set me up and put me in a couple of holes, and just run,” she said.

Last Saturday, April 20th, was go time for the Forbes Rugby Union Club as all four senior grades kicked off for round one of the 2024 season. We spoke to Club Captain Frazer Dunn to catch up on how all four teams fared.

Colts

Colts travelled to Mudgee, it was a close game but the boys were unlucky this week and weren’t able to get the win.

Colts 19-15 loss

3 points Justin crisp

2 points Toby jarrick

1 point Tom nikolic & logan Evans

Women’s

The women had a good win, they’ve got Lilly Mason Spice back, which has made a big difference in structure and she has a calming influence on the team. Mel Martyn had her first game back for a couple of years, and she got players player, so she did well.

Women’s 38-5 win

3 points Mel Martyn

2 points Maggie Townsend

1 point Zoe McRae

Second Grade

Callum Mclaren played his first game for Forbes, coming over from West Wyalong, he was players player, closely followed by Callum Reed.

2nd grade 19-9 loss

3 points Callum Mclaren

2 points Callum Reed

1 point Hamish Napier & James moon

First Grade

A good win by First grade. Cowra threw a lot at us early in the game, we did a lot of defending in the first 10 minutes and the scored a few quick tries after that. The team dug deep and worked hard in the second half to hold on to the win.

1st grade 27-14

3 points Zorro Bainivalu

2 points Frazer Duff

1 point Johnny monk

This Saturday, April 27th, is a home game against Bathurst. Would be great to get plenty of people to come down and support the club. It is also Sponsors day so all Sponsors are encouraged to come along.