West and Cessnock have dominated Newcastle Rugby League this season and their meeting in the major semi-final at Harker Oval was expected to go down to the wire. But it didn’t pan out that way as West ran out 42-4 winners.
Rosellas fullback Sam Wooden was the star, he combined with Wes Tillott for a length of the field try to open the scoring. Wooden made two more dynamic kick returns in the second half, both of which led to tries.
A bit of feeling between the sides emerged when the Cessnock kicker was hit a touch late. With their forwards dominant, the Rosella’s classy outside backs secured victory with Tillott and Jermaine Ale scoring doubles.
Cessnock now face Central Charlestown in a grand final qualifier next weekend. The winner will have the ominous task of taking on the Rosellas in the grand final the following week.
Take a look at the finals action from the weeks captured by NBN and below for this weekend’s preliminary finals fixtures.
Preliminary Finals — Peacock Field – 24th August 2008
First Grade – Cessnock v Central Charlestown – 3.00pm
Reserve Grade – Western Suburbs v South Newcastle – 1.30pm
Open Grade – Macquarie Scorpions v Kurri Kurri – 12.00pm
U/19 – Western Suburbs v Wyong – 10.30am
