All Stars here to stay

Pictured from left to right are Bob Locke and Anthony McLaughlin with garbage bins containing golden perch fingerlings ready to be distributed around Leslie Dam last Saturday.

By CASEY O’CONNOR

NOT many sleeps now until the NRL season gets underway and if the entres are any indication the main course, the 2016 NRL season is going to be a knock out.
League fans have been lapping up the morsels we have been served up like hungry contestants on MKR and equally as critical.
I have been one of those critical of the All Stars games and the concept in the past, however I was pleasantly surprised to see that the 2016 game was an outstanding contest between two great sides played with passion and pride. What has impressed me most however is to see and hear how the concept has developed and grown this year, and I have been swayed to the other side of the fence.
It was great to hear from Preston Campbell medallist and Pommie to boot James Graham what the week and the game meant to him.
His attitude towards and the importance he and other players place on the concept was impressive. Fans and media are quick to criticise our rugby league players and some deserve that criticism. When you get a group of elite players who truly believe the most important thing is not their egos or the $$$ they earn but that by their actions they may change the lives of those less fortunate, you start to think the game is doing something right.
I hope the All Stars is here to stay. As we go forward I believe the concept can have a major social impact as well as being a rugby league showpiece.
However, the jury is out on that war cry. In past years, I’ve heard more stirring renditions of the Gregory Terrace War Cry in the bar of the Country Club Hotel at closing time than what we heard on Saturday night. The Hakka it was not – back to the drawing board boys.
The World Club challenge highlighted the void between the NRL competition and the English Super league, and if the results of the three games are anything to go by there is as much distance between the two as there is ocean between here and the old dart.
Wayne Bennett looks to have his work well and truly cut out with the English side. The man has made no secret of the fact that he loves a challenge and by the looks of things he has set himself that.
On the NRL front the performance of all three sides has to spell out this is going to be another sensational season.
The mercurial man JT looks to have slipped back in to sensational form and Paul Green has his side humming. The Broncos look like they deserve their place as early favourites and the Roosters, despite their internal issues, looked sharp as well. While back at home Bunnies fans have plenty to like with the return of Sam Burgess and Inglis looking fit. You can almost hear the opening whistle. Not long now – tipsters sharpen your pencils.
Casey
CRICKETERS LIFT MITCHELL SHIELD
STANTHORPE cricketers reclaimed the Mitchell Shield for the first time in eight years last weekend when they defeated Lockyer in the final at the CF White Oval on Sunday.
The visitors batted first and set the home side a moderate target of 163 after a good performance from the home side in the field. Lockyer, who defeated Stanthorpe in the final of the Mitchell Shield last season, suffered the worst of starts to their innings, losing two wickets for just three runs. Their batsmen were able to regroup however and looked on track for a good score with a partnership that took them past the 100 mark. Under pressure from a good bowling attack, wickets began to tumble and they were dismissed for 163. Duane Lihou (3/29) Andrew Einam (2/34) and Danny Folkers (2/13) showed all of their experience in a fine display of team bowling and they were well backed up by the men in the field who held on to their catches and chased hard after very ball.
A moderate total on the CF White wicket is not always an easy target and big things were expected of the in-form openers Ross Lupton and Hayden Lanza. Stanthorpe all too soon found themselves at 2/40 but a partnership between Jamie Carnell and Sam Dowie steadied the ship as the home side passed the 100-mark. When Dowie was dismissed with the score on 103, Stanthorpe looked to be in a comfortable position. It was left to Luke Brady and Jamie Carnell to close out the innings after Brady received a reprieve when he was caught off what was deemed to be a no ball.
There was no such joy for the Stanthorpe Davis Shield team who were defeated in their final played in Gatton on Sunday.
The Stanthorpe side never came to terms with the Gatton attack and were dismissed in the 30th over for only 98 runs. Lockyer had little trouble chasing down the total and the game losing only three wickets along the way.
Despite some good performances from the Stanthorpe bowlers, there were just not enough runs on the board to defend.
The Mitchell Shield win earned Stanthorpe a shot at the Slade Shield and they will play Chinchilla this Sunday to wrap up the Representative season.
CONSISTENCY WINS THE DAY
GRAHAM Tonkin played a consistent round of golf to take out the single stableford competition sponsored by Matt Waterworth and Nikki Rossow at the Stanthorpe golf club last Saturday. Tonkin recorded 22 points on the front nine and followed up with an inward nine of 21, defying the heavy conditions out on the course following the mid-afternoon storm. John Spiller, who has just regained his AGU handicap, also had an impressive round finishing with a score of 40 points to take second place.
The ladies event was won by Neta Thouard with 26 points who finished one point ahead of runner-up Chris Welstead (25). Co-sponsor of the event, Nikki Rossow finished with a score of 27, but declined to accept her own trophy. The remainder of the field decided it was too wet to finish the round.
Pin shots went to Jason Lawer at 3/12 and John Spiller at 17. Pro-pins were claimed by Luke Reardon (1/10), Jason Lawer (5/14) and Sean O’Reilly (9/18). The Birdies nest at hole six was shared by Luke Reardon and Eric McLellan.
In the run down, a ball to Mick O’Brien, Matt Waterworth, Alan Kerr, Luke Reardon and J. Purcell.
On Saturday, Rob McConnell his mobile golf shop will be visiting from Warwick. Golfers who need special equipment can ring Rob during the week.
Golfers will be spolit for choice as we head into the Apple and Grape celebrations. The Apple and Grape Cup for men and ladies will be decided on Saturday. Tee off is from 11.30am. Wednesday 2 March is the single stableford RSL golf day with an optional two time tee off.
Friday 4 March is the A and G Festival Two Ball Ambrose with a shot gun start at 9am – an event open to all comers. Time sheet for all events have been posted in the club house.
SAFE OPTION FOR MUZZLE LOADERS
THE muzzle loaders were out at Sunday’s shoot at the Inglewood Sporting Shooters Association. Event organisers took no risks following the intense heat in recent weeks, and the event was restricted to benchrest due to the fire danger. Burning powder and wads flying about in near 40 degree heat can be a recipe for disaster in a bush setting.
Ray Dudgeon had a successful afternoon, taking out the event ahead of Dean Neal and Stephanie Dudgeon. This week it is pistols drawn with competition Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
GREAT SUPPORT AT ALLMAN PARK
A GREAT crowd and good fields were the order of the day at Allman Park last Saturday to celebrate the St Mary’s School Charity race day.
Some were left to ponder whether there was the hand of divine intervention at play when former student and one of Toowoomba’s leading trainers Michael Nolan trained the winner of the richest race on the seven race card, the $10,000 Magic Millions March Yearling Sales QTIS Three-Years-Old Class. Starting at the remarkably good odds of $16, the aptly named Big Dollars a gelding owned by Sonador Lodge Thoroughbreds, jumped from barrier nine in the 11 horse field and was well handled by Toowoomba jockey Kenji Yoshida. Having his first start since Boxing Day, Big Dollars covered the 1200m in 1:10.73 and defeated Command Hunter by almost a length with local galloper Whispering Wings not far away in third place.
The meeting opened with a win for the connections of the Jackie Crompton trained Storm Magic in the Benchmark 70 event.
In the second event, the McNally Construction Maiden Ron Goltz took full advantage of barrier three on the Donald Baker-trained Bacharolle and the three-year-old Oratorio (IRE) gelding cruised to a comfortable win to break his maiden.
Ben Currie and Josh Oliver combined to take out the 1500m R and F Steel Buildings Maiden plate. The winner Rock Spark started at $4.
Race Five on the program was one of the major events on the program and sponsored by the Basil Nolan family stud Raheen. The Raheen Stud Class Three was won by the Wendy Bannerot-trained Venecia and ridden by Taylor Williams. The Choisoir mare jumped from barrier one and went on to win comfortably by over a length and half from Rock Day and More Leverage.
Honours in the Hynes Newsagency Class One handicap went the way of Pure Intelligence ridden by Michael Schrapel and started at $13, giving bookmakers some reprieve.
The meeting wrapped up with the running of the 1500 Brownlie Concretors Ratings Ban 0-60 Handicap and More Favulous gave trainer Donald Baker a winning double when she narrowly beat home Cool Day and Artistic choice.
Organisers of the St Mary’s Charity Day and Turf club officials were delighted with the great response to the day.
HAMPSTEAD SHOWS THE WAY IN THE OPEN
WALLANGARA golfers are recovering after a big weekend of golf. On Saturday, good numbers attended the annual Wallangarra Rams Football Club Day. There was a mix of good, average and other golf on the day but an enjoyable day was had by everyone and there were plenty of prizes shared around after the game.- no-one to be named and shamed for their performance here.
On Sunday, competition was far more serious in the Wallangarra Open. A field of 40 golfers turned out to support the 2016 Open. Local golfer Steve Hampstead showed the big field how to play his home course, taking full advantage of his inside knowledge to win the Open Championship. Hampstead played a great round and was the A grade Gross winner. The A Grade net winner was Norm Mitchell and runner-up in that division was E. Britnell.
In the B Grade the Gross winner was Jamie Purcell. Net B grade winner was Gary Maguire ahead of runner-up Peter Butler.
G. Morris was the winner of the C Grade Gross while the Net winner was Shane Purcell ahead of runner-up Justin Moore.
Stanthorpe golfer Mandy Benussi claimed the open Ladies event. The Division One net winner was another Stanthorpe golfer Neta Thouard fresh from a good round on her home course on Saturday. Division two went to M. Jarman. T. Potter was the net winner in this division and L. Moore the runner-up.
The big field included visitors from Texas, Toowoomba City, Stanthorpe and Tenterfield. Sponsor of the 2016 was Free Range Kids Childcare Wallangarra and organisers would like to thank both the sponsors and all the visiting golfers for their great support of the event.
This weekend things will be much quieter on the greens – a standard event has been pencilled in, however as organisers recover the format is still to be decided, but we are reliably informed that it will be golf of some description.
The final round of fixtures in the Warwick cricket competition were decided on Saturday. In what many saw as an upset, Warwick Hotel Colts downed front runners and leaders in the A Grade competition Maryvale Condamine. The game which had been scheduled for Slade Oval was moved to Hamilton Oval following overnight rain on Friday. Maryvale batted first and set Allora only a moderate target of 150. It was a total that never looked enough despite a fine knock of 38 from Jason Steketee and Pat Bourke (36). It was the spinner Shaun O’Leary who did the damage, taking 4/24 to put his side right in the game.
Full of confidence after his heroics with the ball last weekend, Cameron Peterson top scored with 49 to help guide Colts to a three-wicket win with 12 overs in hand.
Following the win, Colts are likely favourites to win the reserve grade premiership while Condamine Maryvale will be hoping to regain the good form they have shown throughout the season.
In other games, Inglewood hosted Sovereign Animals in what turned into a thriller.
In a tight game, Inglewood eventually got the points with a 17-run win. After winning the toss, Inglewood put Sovereign Animals in on the synthetic wicket. Inglewood opened their innings in very positive fashion, and Brent Bennett showed he is equally as talented with a cricket bat as he is in footy boots when he slapped three sixes on his way to 34 late in the innings. Inglewood were eventually dismissed in the 33rd over for a reasonable total of 201.
In reply, Sovereign Animals steadily chipped away at the total but with eight overs remaining they lost the wicket of captain Anthony Nero who was caught by Tyler Wolfe who took an outstanding catch at mid-on. Shortly after, Tony Munro fell to another good catch in the deep. Good bowling restricted the Sovereign batsmen. Bowling honours in this game went to Glen Doyle who took 5/50.
Railway Hotel Rascals scored an away win over Allora. Rascals had little trouble chasing down the required total of 128. Rascals opener Brad Johnson was impressive, finishing not out on 51. Good bowling performances from Liam Duncan (4/37) and Jake Christensen (4/25) set the platform for the Rascals win on a weekend where the ball appeared to dominate the bat in all games.
CONDITIONS NO DETERENT
IN SPITE of the scorching conditions last week, seven determined players braved the heat to play association croquet in Stanthorpe.
Heather Widderick and Grace Howard went down to Pat Schnoor and Effie in an entertaining game. The final score 21 -17 despite Pat Schnoor having a break of five and three in the game.
Joy Newman pegged out at 26, against Andrea Denkewitz and Val Richardson 17. Conditions were certainly draining, but the players all enjoyed the competition.
Conditions were also less than favourable for Hoop Runners and players for once were grateful of that 8.30am start. The game finishing before the heat got beyond the endurance level of sane human beings. There was an excellent turn out of players and one group of four played doubles while the remaining five played triples with one member playing two balls.
The doubles pairing of Teresa Pyne and Liz Ellway proved a winning combination. The pair was successful in their game against Val Fancourt and Judy Lock. The score 13-10. Val Fancourt was well on target, scoring a hoop in one twice. Liz Ellway top scored with seven hoops in a tight game.
In the triples game, Bill Golding, Dianne Wren and Elaine Brown managed a narrow win 13 -12 over Shirley Page and Shirley Evans. Both Shirleys scored a hole in one during the game, but Dianne was the star of the show a tally of five hoops. All players in her team had shot four hoops each up to the point where she scored a fifth to break what was a tied game. It was a great way to enjoy her birthday which was later celebrated in style with a chocolate cake brought along for the occasion.
In the second session, numbers were evened up with one player unavailable due to other commitments. Both groups played a short game of doubles. Liz Ellway and Elaine Brown won the first grouping 7-4 against Bill Golding and Judy Lock. Elaine struck a hole in one, and Liz again top-scored with four of the seven hoops.
In the second group, Dianne Wren and Shirley Evans defeated Val Fancourt and Teresa Pyne7-3. Wren was in great form and top-scored for the second time with four hoops.
Sporters Golf remains very popular and continues to draw good numbers each Sunday in Stanthorpe
There was another good roll up last week. Paul Armstrong played well to finish ahead of runner-up Mick Doorley and the rest of the field. He also returned the best Gross score for the day. The run-downs went to Angelo Doorley and Trevor Stratford. The Pin shot on the 12th went to Domenic Doorley and the 17th to Mark Lynam. No Won Kim took the Pro Pin, but the meat trays found homes with Phil Zikan and Mick Doorley.
Sporters will go around this Sunday at the same time with tee off between 8am and 8.30am.
KISSES FOR FISHES
IT IS a well-known fact that you can sense an election in the air when politicians start kissing babies but two of the Southern Downs Mayoral candidates put their own spin on that age-old custom last weekend. It wasn’t babies as such that were the object of the attention of Ross Bartley and Tracy Dobie it was fingerlings. The pair joined members of the Warwick Fish Stocking to help distribute 20,000 fingerlings into the Condamine River. No word on how many were kissed, however the pair got up close and personal with the youngins as they were released into the waterways and got a first-hand look at the good work of the restockers.
On Leslie Dam, three power boats were used to distribute 43,000 Golden Perch fingerlings around different parts of the dam in ideal conditions.
Neil Masters of Allora also took 1000 Golden Perch fingerlings to release into different locations in Dalrymple Creek.
The fingerlings were purchased from Redgate Fish Farm, Murgon – one of the farms that regularly supply Warwick Fish Stocking.
Club president Roger Martin said he was very pleased with the excellent quality of the fingerlings and thanked the owners of the boats and the members who helped on the day’s activities.
GENTLEMAN AND FRIEND RECOGNISED
ON SUNDAY 14 February, the Southern Downs Rifle Club held a barbecue following the 400-yard shoot to celebrate the dedication of the new “tractor carport”. The materials for the awning were donated by F. Loy and Sons and Laney Fabrications. Chris Loy had requested that the shed be dedicated to honour Noel Hildred who was a long-time member of the club and a family friend.
Noel Hildred was a gentleman liked by all and much loved by family. Present at the barbecue Dorrie and two of her sons, their wives and four of her great-grandchildren.
It was no coincidence that the two top shooters were Grant and Luke Hildred. Luke in fact used his grandfather’s rifle. Both boys were brought up to know and use firearms in safety and respect.
Anyone wishing to continue this tradition is welcome to contact the Southern Downs Rifle club by phoning Margaret on 4666 1018 or contacting the club captain by email at roberttyller@bigpond.com.
The club shoot every Sunday. Sunday 28 February is however the Darling Downs District Rifle Association Champion of champions competition. The winner of this competition will go on to Brisbane to represent the region which covers an area from Goondiwindi to Crow’s nest Gatton and Warwick.
Following the Champion of Champions competition, the club will be holding a Premier shoot between teams from each club in the district.
If you would like to see some very good target shooters in action go along to 196 Connelly Dam Road and be prepared to be amazed.
The club’s regular shoot at 300 yards will be held on 3 March.