The Spacecats scored a vital 24 – 10 win over the Forbes Magpies on Sunday to secure a place in the Group XI Grand Final. It was a happy Father’s Day for the Spacecats as the last team to fly the Parkes banner high and proud as their drive for a spot in the final proved to be greater than rivals Forbes.

Forbes started the clock with a great kick and Parkes making great ground through five sets of hands to allow Demi Winter to put the first points on the board. Next points came from a successful penalty by Claire Barber to take Parkes’ lead to 6.

Forbes came back five and a half minutes before the break to level the scores, but was soon answered by Parkes scoring with under a minute remaining of the first half. In the second half Forbes scored the first points, but Captain Hannah Kelly put in a great kick that Forbes knocked on 5 metres from the try line. Spacecats made the most of the Magpies error and Shayna Male broke through the Forbes defence with Claire adding the extras to put Spacecats in an 18 – 10 lead.

A Magpies penalty allowed the Parkes tally to go up by another 4, and Claire, with another awesome strike took Parkes to 24. This last 6.5 minutes was the most physical a non contact sport can get with the Spacecats playing well until the sound of the full time bell.

Congratulations to 1.Claire Barber, 2.Brittney Ryan, 3.Sarah McAneney, 4.Hannah Kelly, 6.Ella-J Harris, 7.Sally Dwyer, 8.Demi Winter, 9.Katie Caldwell, 10.Sami Afele, 11.Emma Bayley, 12.Sam Cox, 13.Codie Wakefield, 14.Louise McAneney, 15.Nat Gardiner, 16.Emeline Lavaka, 17.Shayna Male, 20.Brittany Dumesny and Michael, Rock, Tim and Ricky.

Group XI Grand Final is on Sunday at Caltex Park in Dubbo. We need all the support we can get to cheer us on.

By Kim Ryan

The Parkes Spacecats will have to claim another win to make it to the grand final as they went down to the CYMS in Dubbo 7 – 4 last Sunday. In the opening ten minutes Parkes had a lot of ball and made CYMS work hard in
defence to put on an awesome display of a quick league tag match. First points of the game awarded to CYMS with three minutes to half time, so at drinks CYMS lead 6 – 0.

Halfway into the second half a wall of Spacecats disallowed CYMS a try. They could not break Parkes in defence and kicked a field goal for the 1, taking their lead to 7. With ten minutes remaining in the match, Spacecats trailed by 7 until Demi Winter intercepted a wild pass from CYMS to score, and that was where the score remained at full time: CYMS 7 Parkes 4.

Playing on the day were 1.Claire Barber, 2.Brittney Ryan, 3.Sarah McAneney, 4.Hannah Kelly, 6.Ella-J Harris, 7.Sally Dwyer, 8.Demi Winter, 9.Katie Caldwell, 10.Sami Afele, 11.Emma Bayley, 12.Sam Cox, 14.Louise McAneney, 16.Emeline Lavaka, 17.Shayna Male and 20.Brittany Dumesny.

On Sunday the Spacecats play the Forbes Magpies for the fifth time this season for a place in the grand final.

By Kim Ryan

The Spacecats fought back with determination last Saturday to walk away with a 22-12 win against the Forbes Magpies in the first round of the lead up to the Group XI grand final. After the previous week’s shock loss
against the same team, the Spacecats played the game they wanted to play at Spooner Oval in Forbes, even though the first points went to the Magpies. The scoreboard lit up after a strong run by Sami Afele to go over, and a great kick from Sam Cox put Parkes in front by 2 with 3 minutes till drinks. Forbes took the lead again scoring on half time.

The Maggies started the second half firing on all cylinders and keen to get the first points of the second half. But the Shayna plane ran through the Forbes defence with Claire Barber adding the extras. Demi Winter took Parkes’ third and Claire scored from the sideline. Forbes tried to match the Parkes side and added another 4 to their tally taking them to 12.

Parkes took a deep kick into Forbes territory and Demi went over in the corner for her second to bring the total to 22. On Sunday the Spacecats play minor premieres CYMS in their territory at Caltex Park in Dubbo at 10:30am. The winner will go straight into the grand final on 11th September at Caltex Park.

By Kim Ryan

The Parkes Spacecats moved into the number one spot on the Group XI leader board after a convincing win of 16 – 4 over the Dubbo CYMS last weekend. Taking to the Jock Colley field at the Pioneer Oval for the Group XI second last round against the number one placed CYMS were

1. Claire Barber, 2. Brittney Ryan, 4. Hannah Kelly (C), 6. Ella-J Harris, 7. Sally Dwyer, 8. Demi-Joyce Winter, 10. Sami Afele, 11. Emma Bayley ,12. Sam Cox, 13. Codie Wakefield, 14. Louise McAneney, 15. Nat Gardiner, 16. Emeline Lavaka, 17. Shayna Male and 20. Brittany Dumesny.

In a game that didn’t disappoint the crowd, the Spacecats had the Fishes rattled from the first kick. It was a tough game from the onset with the Spacecats controlling their game. Parkes scored twice to Sally Dwyer and Shayna Male, and Claire Barber with two lots of extras. The CYMS’ only try had the half time score at 12 – 4.

The pace did not slow in the second half with the Spacecats applying pressure indefence and attack. The Spacecats’ one try to Nat Gardiner stayed unanswered by the CYMS to bring the final score to 16 – 4. The final round of the competition is in Forbes against the Magpies on Sunday.

By Kim Ryan

The Spacecats outplayed Dubbo Macquarie in round 10 last Saturday at the Pioneer Oval with a final score of 42 – 0.
All four grades of the Parkes Spacemen/ Spacecats wore black armbands for the passing of Toni Day. The Spacecats played without captain, Hannah Kelly, goal kicker, Claire Barber, and winger Shannealle Wyrzynski. Parkes made great ground in the opening minutes after Macquarie kicked to start the game.

Although errors were prevalent in both teams in the first quarter, the Spacecats shook it off before Macquarie could overcome the pressure that Parkes were applying. Sarah McAneney made good metres down the sideline, Ella J Harris ran through Macquarie’s defence to off load to Sally Dwyer who started the Spacecats’ tally. Ella was successful with the conversion. The second try came from Sarah close to the posts and Ella made it two from two.

A third try and conversion increased the score to 18 – 0 for Parkes at half time. Spacecats started the second half with determination to leave Macquarie scoreless with Sarah over the line for her second. Next up it was winger Emeline who went over in the corner. She did it again for her second after good hands on the far side from Katie to Sam Cox to her: Parkes 30 Macquarie 0.

The next score came from Demi after Macquarie could not get out of their half with a kick on the last with Demi running 50m to score under the uprights. Ella added another two. In the last minutes Parkes had the ball
with Coach Mick Dumesny wanting another. They did not disappoint and with quick hands and controlled passes, a great run came from Shayna who offloaded to Sami Afele to run it in. Ella’s successful conversion took the final score to 42 – 0. After round 10, one point separates first and second place with Cyms on 19 and Spacecats on 18. The Spacecats have scored 388 points with 48 scored against them so far. Cyms have not played 2 rounds and have scored 256 and have 42 scored against them.

The Parkes Spacemen executive and the league tag team would like to thank their major guernsey sponsor Parkes Services Club and Sleeve sponsors: 1. Simply Bellissima by Kim, 2. Cunninghams IGA Parkes, 3. Nicko’s Bricklaying, 4. Parkes GP, 5. Bunnamagoo Wines, 6. BMJC (The Moran boy’s), 7. La Bella, 8. Dippin Dots, 9. Parkes Mensland, 10. THD studio, 11. Parkes Railway Bowling Club, 12. Parkes Services Club, 13. Nangar Gems.

The Spacecats travelled to Nyngan to face the Tigers at Larkin Oval. Claire Barber began the game with a deep kick to Nyngan’s right winger and Parkes began defending early. Sally, who has made a great comeback after a few weeks off, made a great run in what was shaping up to be a fast paced game. Nyngan played well but Shayna managed to tag a runner, averting a Tiger try.

Captain Hannah Kelly had a great run with Ella J Harris going under the posts to score the first points of the game. Quick play by Parkes caught Nyngan unaware, with Shayna and Emma managing to tag Tiger players. Diving tags seem to be a speciality of the Spacecat defence and Sally and Ella demonstrated that multiple times. A bad bounce from Nyngan allowed Shayna to make a run and get over the line, taking Parkes to 10 with Nyngan still scoreless and a quick turnover allowed Ella J over the line again with Claire converting, adding to the score for Parkes.

Just before half time Nyngan were trying their best to put points on the board however Spacecats Captain Hannah Kelly sprinted 60 metres to dive under the posts making the half time score Parkes 20 Nyngan 0. The second half began with Nyngan possession before Sarah took the Spacecats lead to 24-0 after a try in the corner before Claire goes over again and successfully converts the ball to add 6 points to the score for Parkes. Another try was scored by Demi with Claire adding the extras and Hannah also went over with only 2 minutes remaining. Final score Parkes 42- Nyngan 0. This Sunday, the Spacecats are at home on Jock Colley field taking on Macquarie, please come and support our girls.

Jock Colley field at Pioneer Oval on Sunday saw the first game of the second half of the draw. Facing a Wellington side that had gained experience through the first half of the season showed as they opened the scoring after an intercept three minutes after kick-off.

The determination of each player was high and a few injuries resulted in Spacecats player Sam Cox leaving the field with a suspected broken nose, a Wellington player dislocating a finger and another benched with suspected concussion. The game continued and Sarah McAneney opened the Spacecats tally after a great run from Emma Bayley. The Parkes ladies had the urgency to keep the momentum after a great set but were left waiting on Wellington to kick for the restart.

Demi Winters took the ball and ran hard but a knock on gave Wellington possession andthe Spacecats had to work hard not to let them make metres. Pressure from Parkes saw a wild pass from Wellington scooped up by Claire Barber, which was kicked by Ella-J Harris on the last.

With Parkes still down by two Codie Wakefield replaced Emma Bayley and Demi Winter ran in Parkes’ second. Another error from Wellington allowed Sarah McAneney over for her second and again the Spacecats waited on Wellington to restart. Demi got the ball and made a break with a nice pass from Claire Barber to Hannah Kelly who set up Shayna Males first try with Claire adding the extra two. Half time score Spacecats lead 18-6.

The Wellington girls started the second half but Sarah McAneney quickly got hold of the ball and ran hard at their defence. A good set with a great tag by Britt Dumesny meant Wellington struggled to make ground. The urgency of the Spacecats possessed their play and Emeline Lavarka got her first touch on the ball but the Spacecats couldn’t get too far before the penalties starting coming. Wellington scored with thirty seconds remaining but it wasn’t enough to beat the Spacecats and the Parkes ladies won the game, final score Parkes 24 Wellington 14. The Parkes Spacemen executive along with the league tag team would like to thank their major Guernsey sponsor Parkes Services Club and Sleeve sponsors 1. Simply Bellissima by Kim, 2. Cunninghams IGA Parkes, 3. Nicko’s Bricklaying, 4. Parkes GP, 5. Bunnamagoo Wines, 6. BMJC (The Moran boy’s), 7. La Bella, 8. Dippin Dots, 9. Parkes Mensland, 10. Thd studio, 11. Parkes Railway Bowling Club, 12. Parkes Services Club, 13. Nangar Gems