Country tough: Locals help lead way for Woodbridge Cup

Players from the Cowra Magpies and Canowindra Tigers helped lead the way as Woodbridge Cup representative sides recorded two wins from four matches during the 2026 Rep Round at Grenfell on Saturday. Held at Lawson Oval, representative teams from across the Woodbridge Cup competition joined forces to take on Canberra Regional Rugby League and George Tooke Shield opponents, with local players featuring heavily across senior and junior squads. Cowra and Canowindra were strongly represented in the senior men’s side, with Cowra Magpies duo Blake Duncombe and Darcy Howard joined by Canowindra Tigers player Bailey Kennedy. The senior men’s side capped off the day in style, claiming an entertaining 42-22 victory after overcoming a fast-finishing George Tooke Shield team. Woodbridge Cup representative Marc McLeish said it was a successful outing overall for the competition. “Overall it was a successful day for the Woodbridge Cup,” McLeish said. “It was five games of football, so it was a long day of footy, but everything was played in the right spirit.” “Woodbridge came away with two out of four games, with a win in the under 20s league tag and the senior first grade game.” The under 20s league tag side continued its dominance, securing back to back representative victories with a thrilling 14-10 win after a late try. Under 20s League Tag winning Woodbridge Cup rep side. Cowra Magpies players Abby Slattery, Caitlyn Bluett and Hayley Ingram represented the region in the under 20s squad, helping continue the team’s strong form. Meanwhile, the senior women’s league tag side faced a tough challenge, going down 54-0 despite determined efforts. Canowindra Tigers players Maddie Barrett, Amy Harrison, Laura Price, Tegan Hunter and Lily Bannan represented the squad alongside Cowra Magpies player Danielle Garlick. The under 18s youth side narrowly missed out on victory, falling 22-10 in what was described as a much closer contest than the scoreboard suggested. Cowra Magpies players Leo Sheehy, Zac Porter, Nate Gunn, Jett Cummings, Noah Hamer and Thomas Craig all featured in the youth league side. McLeish said local players had performed strongly throughout the day. “Every Cowra player really contributed to the day,” he said. “We were well represented, and they all contributed really well to the day.” He said one of the biggest challenges for Woodbridge representative teams was limited preparation time compared with rival competitions. “The challenges for the Woodbridge Cup is basically we’re up to round two where we’re playing against competitions that are in round four and five,” he said. “They’ve had a lot more footy and a lot more chance to get their rep side together and prepare.” “I coached the under 18 side, and we sort of picked the team on Sunday, trained for an hour on Wednesday, and we played on Saturday.” “So across all four teams, they really acquitted themselves well for what our preparation allows us to be.” McLeish said representative football remained an important part of the local rugby league calendar and something young players should aspire to. “It’s great that Cowra is involved in these things, and representative football needs to be something that we aspire to,” he said. “We were very proud of the Woodbridge sides.”