Woodbridge Cup corner: Top try scorers and best new rivalry

No matter if you're a professional athlete or an under 10s player in your first go round, there's nothing quite like taking it to your arch nemesis.

There's certainly no shortage of those rivalries in the Woodbridge Cup, but have we stumbled upon the best one yet?

Most people will remember the photo snapped on July 1, showing players from Orange United and Oberon preparing to square up.

Well, the clubs were back in action on July 22 and there was more of the same.

Pictures taken at the scene by roving photographer John Fitzgerald could be mistaken for portraits straight out of the renaissance era.

Props squaring up in the foreground, a Tiger with his shirt pulled over his head in the back, with an eager crowd soaking in every minute of the action.

Now, don't get me wrong, in no way am I advocating for all-out brawls at the footy...just look at what happened at Spooner Oval on July 23, where a Peter McDonald Premiership game between the Forbes Magpies and Wellington Cowboys had to be called off early after an alleged crowd fight.

But a little bit of push and shove never goes astray and this makes it twice in two games between these former Mid-West Cup competitors. It always helps when the rivalry is genuine and the one between the Warriors and Tigers appears just that.

What takes a good rivalry to the next level though, is when the outcome of the match also means something.

That was certainly the case over the weekend, with Orange United walking away as 26-24 victors.

The win almost guarantees a fifth place finish for the Warriors, while the Tigers should settle in sixth.

With an NRL-style finals format, the next time these sides could feasibly meet would be the 2023 grand final on August 27 out in Manildra.

The way the top four clubs - Condobolin, Trundle, Canowindra and Manildra - have been playing, it seems unlikely we'll see a third sparring session for the Warriors and Tigers this year however.

But never fear, because there's always next year and if there's one thing that's needed more than anything to keep busy footy alive, it's a good, solid rivalry.

Without trying to sound like a knock-off Reg Reagan...bring back the biff?

With just one regular season round remaining, we've got an early indication of who may take home some of the coveted individual accolades, including top try and point scorer.

Let's take a minute to see where we stand and who needs to do what if they want to guarantee themselves some silverware come the end of the season.

Canowindra flyer Jade Harding added to her lead atop the league tag try scorers list with a double against Grenfell on July 23.

This took her 2023 total to 21 from just 13 rounds.

The only other player who could conceivably catch her is Peak Hill's Juanita Keed, who also bagged a double on the weekend against Eugowra to bring her total to 18.

The top ten include Molong's Katie Fulwood (14) and Libby Peschka (13), CSU's Lily Bannan (13), Peak Hill's Sheldyn Briggs (13) and Manildra's Meg Murray (12) with three player's names not available online.

Should Keed fail in her attempts to pip the Tigers sprinter at the post, she'll always have the top point scorer to fall back on, having racked up 120 so far.

Next best is Harding, who has amassed 84 points without kicking a single goal. This was followed by Cargo's Jorja Lees (78), Bannan and Fullwood (each with 64).

As for the men, they're still a week behind in reporting, so prior to round 13's action it was Warriors star Kyran Ah-see leading all try-scorers with 13.

Second is Blake Fitzpatrick, who scored six of his 12 tries in a single game.

After that, we have Oberon's Caylib Marston (11), Condobolin's Frankland Ross (11), Canowindra's Josh Cooney (10), Cargo's Daniel Madden (10), Grenfell's Ty Mill Gate-Ashe (10) and CSU's Ray Sargent (10), with a few more "not availables" to note.

The top ten point scorer list is a lot of the same names, with Ross leading all players with 150 - 26 more than Fitzpatrick in second.

The other new names which feature are Trundle's Mitch Wright (120), Eugowra's Ricky Whitton (60) and Orange United's Matty Fuller (54).

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