The town’s competitive age groups battled it out in the Parkes and District Soccer Grand Finals on Saturday. The following is a report from Dan Fredericks, who also provided an exciting commentary during the games.

Presentations were held immediately after each game with Parkes Mayor Ken Keith OAM and Parkes Cobras representative Adam Parker on hand to assist the club’s president Wayne Osbourne.

The Under 12s grand final was played between Power and Olympic.

Mitch Roberts as Power’s coach has seen his side on top of the four-team table throughout the season. Olympic, coached by 2019 winning coach Matt Kennedy, have hit good form in the last few weeks. Both teams have fast attackers with solid defenders. However, it was Power who came out on top in this grand final, winning 3-1.

Ashton Cohen scored a hat-trick and then in the second half was a strong defender, a worthy winner of the Player of the Grand Final. Finlay Quince – the Under 12s Best and Fairest Boy winner – was a constant threat down the right wing, sending over numerous crosses which Cohen scored from. Also impressive was Kayden Charlton-Little, who scored Olympic’s only goal.

The Under 12s Best and Fairest Girl was jointly shared by Isabella Batt (Power) and Chelsea McMaster (Olympic) who both had good games too.

Also having impressive games on Saturday were Power players Ruby Wilson, Ashton Boland and Nate Henry. Olympic had Indianna Kennedy in defence and Toby Thornbury in goal to thank for keeping Power’s attacks mostly under control.

Congratulations to Power and well done to runners-up Olympic and losing semi-finalists Victory and Warriors.

The Under 17s grand final between Thunder and Rovers had drama before a ball was kicked, with Thunder losing key midfielder Tom Jessep the day before to a broken collarbone.

Thunder keeper, Liam Freeman, saved an early penalty. However, it wasn’t Thunder’s day with Rovers scoring three quick goals not long after. Spencer Draper was bossing the match with great attacking play, scoring two goals.

When Rovers went four-nil up, it looked like it was all over for Thunder. Will Tanks scored just before half-time to make the score 4-1. Whatever Thunder coach Helen Vousden-Airey said at half-time obviously worked because Thunder scored two quick goals to make it 4-3. A thoroughly entertaining game saw Rovers get one more, the final score finishing 5-3.

Congratulations to Rovers and their coach Matt Burkitt, and well done to runners-up Thunder.

Key players for the two teams were Liam Snyman, Spencer Draper, Tom Burkitt and Tim Nguyen (all Rovers) and brothers Sam and Kai Airey, Ruby Smith and Thomas Fredericks (Thunder). Player of the Grand Final went to Thunder keeper Liam Freeman. Under 17s Best and Fairest Boy was Liam Snyman, with Makayla Sloane (Rangers) winning Best and Fairest Girl.

Losing semi-finalists were Rangers and Wolves.

The ladies grand final saw the ‘top of the table’ Raptors taking on Commercial Kookaburras. But it was the Kookaburras who took an early lead, with a left-wing cross finding Lara Kronenberg who sidefooted the first goal.

The game developed into a war of attrition as both sides’ defences dealt with their opponents’ attacks. 1-0 at half-time.

The second half was more open and it was again Kronenberg who popped up to chip the keeper and take the score to 2-nil. Raptors pulled one back from a well worked corner, and the many spectators thought that Raptors may catch the Kookaburras. However, Stephanie Behan scored a goal worthy of the Premier League when she took a shot with her right foot on the left of the goal, curling the ball into the top right corner.

The Raptors have been strong for a number of years, but this year saw Commercial Kookaburras being crowned worthy champions.

Maisy Osborne was named Player of the Grand Final for her calm composure in defence. This was a well-earned honour considering on the park were Behan, Jaimie-Leigh McGrath and Emma Jones (Commercial Kookaburras) and Teagan Massurit, Te-Ana Riley and Pascal Berry (Raptors), just some of the fantastic players in the ladies’ competition.

Well done to all ladies’ teams and we hope to see you all again in 2021.