Junior Report Round 7: Regional Roosters Reach Junior Grand Finals

Author: Sydney Roosters
Timestamp: Tue 23 Mar 2021, 02:49 PM

The strength of the Club’s Central Coast junior program will be on display this weekend with the Central Coast Roosters playing in the Laurie Daley Cup (under-19) Andrew Johns Cup (under-17) Grand Finals this Saturday.

The Laurie Daley Cup and Andrew Johns Cup are the NSWRL junior representative competition for regional NSW, which has seen the Central Coast Roosters travel to Lismore and Harden to participate in this year’s competition.

In horrendous conditions at Blacktown’s HE Laybutt Field on Saturday, both sides earned a spot in the Grand Finals as the semi-finals were set to be played in Wyong, but moved due to ground closures.

In the Laurie Daley Cup, the Roosters came out on top in a tight tussle against Monaro Colts, and will play Northern Tigers in the Grand Final after a 12-6 victory.

Tyler Moriarty scored the opening try of the game in the 22nd minute and Jessi O’Neill-Pethebridge converted to give the Roosters a 6-0 lead, which the team hung onto until halftime.

Monaro struck the scoreboard early in the second half to level the scores, but Moriarty scored his second try in the 50th minute and the team held out the Colts during the final 20 minutes to record a 12-6 win.

The Andrew Johns Cup squad also faced Monaro Colts in the semi finals, earning a spot in the grand final with a comfortable 22-0 win.

Noah Owens gave the Roosters the perfect start with a try in the first minute, but the Tricolours did not run away with the game until the second half.

Three tries in the space of 10 minutes – including two from Jarrod Dann – helped the Roosters seal a grand final berth.

The Roosters will take on Illawarra South Coast Dragons in the Andrew Johns Cup grand final.

The Andrew Johns Cup is set to start 11am, and the Laurie Daley Cup has a 12:40pm kick-off time at HE Laybutt Field, Blacktown.

The Central Coast have become a big part of the Club’s junior pathways in the metropolitan junior representative competitions, the Club has a Central Coast Roosters team in the Harold Matthews Cup, with a number of Central Coast players representing in the SG Ball and Tarsha Gale Cup teams.

None of the round 7 games of the metropolitan competitions were played due to ground closures, but the competition has been extended a week as the games washed out have been rescheduled to April 10.

This Saturday, Central Coast Roosters Harold Matthews side take on South Sydney at Redfern Oval (Ironbark High Performance Centre), with the game kicking off at 11am.

Sydney Roosters will be in a triple-header with Parramatta Eels at New Era Stadium in Cabramatta as the Harold Matthews Cup kick off the day at 9:30am, followed by the SG Ball Cup game at 11am, and Tarsha Gale Cup completing the footy fest with a 12:30pm kick-off.

ROUND 7 SCOREBOARD

LAURIE DALEY CUP

Central Coast Roosters 12 (Tyler Moriarty 2 tries; Jessi O’Neill-Pethebridge 2 goals) def Monaro Colts 6

ANDREW JOHNS CUP

Central Coast Roosters 18 (Jarrod Dann 2, Noah Owens, Lack Legge tries; Malachi Smith 1 goal) def Monaro Colts 0

SG BALL CUP

Wash out: Game vs Western Suburbs to be played April 10

Next Round: 11am Saturday vs Parramatta Eels at New Era Stadium, Cabramatta

Ladder: Fourth, currently a win and points difference above the seventh-placed Penrith Panthers

TARSHA GALE CUP

Wash out: Game vs Wests Tigers to be played April 10

Next Round: 12:30pm Saturday vs Parramatta Eels at New Era Stadium, Cabramatta