Canberra Region Rugby League enters round 6 this weekend after the representative round took place on Saturday. The Binalong Brahmans will be home to the Bungendore Tigers, The North Canberra Bears will welcome the UC Stars to Kaleen and Boorowa will welcome The Crookwell Green Devils.
Boomanulla has the bye. The match of the round will be against The Harden Hawks and the Coota Bulldogs, two sides who first started playing each other over 100 years ago.
It will be a huge day of Rugby League with Harden’s juniors taking on Coota with games commencing from 9:00am in the mini league, before the mod leagues and intermediate leagues kick-off.
The undefeated Harden Hawkettes will take on the Bullettes at 3:00pm before the Hawks take on the Bulldogs for the Peter Leitner Cup at 4:20pm. Rhonda Turner and Carmel Wilcox, Peter’s sisters, will be on hand to present the trophy to the winning side.
Peter passed away on May 26, 2012 which will mark the ten year anniversary of his passing for the family. His daughter Angla said, “Peter played for both Harden and Coota and won Eric Weissel medals for Reserve Grade in 1980 and First Grade in 1984. He won a premiership with Coota in 1990.
It’s nice that they do it every year and it should be a good day.”
Harden Coach Nick Hall will be looking to get the Hawks back on the front foot after their loss to The North Canberra Bears. Harden are playing consistent football and just need to find another gear to take their season to the next level.
Unfortunately they find themselves 6th on the ladder having played 5 games for 3 wins with 108 points for and 130 points against. The Bulldogs find themselves in a better position having played 4 matches for just the 1 loss.
They sit in 2nd place. Their attack is slightly better than Harden’s with 130 points for and their defence is solid with just 78 points against.
Hall said, “We will be at near full strength, it’s the first week I’ve really had to ring a few blokes and say that they will miss out on a game. Myself and Jordy shouldn’t have to fire our boys up too much, it’s the local derby and it’s a bit like fighting with your brother, you always play that little harder.
We have always had that someone who is not available or out or coming and going this year. This week is different, we are looking forward to it. Both Will Manwaring and Drew Arabin will be dangerous as will a few others that will ask questions of the Coota side.”
Coota’s Ned Miller has been around the Bulldogs and was at the club when Peter Leitner was playing at both Harden and Coota.
He said, “It will be a big day on Saturday. I was involved in the club when Peter was there. A great bloke, fierce competitor on the field and one of the nicest blokes off it. For the older guys in the clubs who remember Peter from back in the playing days, it is a privilege to play for that, he was very humble off the field.
With a later start it should be a cracking day, hopefully some of the juniors will stick around and watch the seniors. From a spectacle point of view it should be great.”
Ned said that Coota is not at full strength but they have some guys back and will be ready to go. Don’t miss a big day of footy at McLean Oval on Saturday.
