Sport
10 February, 2026
Weekend pennants readies for the finals
It’s official. Twelve teams from six different clubs will battle for the three weekend pennants starting this Saturday after two teams snuck into the top two at the conclusion of the regular season.
DIVISION ONE
With the finals bracket confirmed last week, the top four consisting of the Maryborough Highland Society, Talbot, Dunolly Blue and Mary-borough Golf only had pride to play for.
Despite that, all upcoming finals participants scored victories to conclude their regular season. Yet all faced heavy competition from eliminated teams.
Highland had the easiest time of the top four, defeating Carisbrook 86-34.
Greg Shay opened proceedings by dominating Ross Gregory 33-10, followed by Greg McHugh trouncing Roy Pickering 31-9 and Garry Coburn overcoming Ron Baker 22-15.
Their semi-final opponents, Talbot, had a tougher time against a valiant Maldon, but an outstanding performance from Robert Jackson allowed them to scrape through with a 66-59 victory.
Maldon held a noticeable advantage with Wesley Honeyman thwarting Peter McLaughlan 24-17 and Annette Gillham besting Chris Crossley 21-17. However, Jackson flipped the script with a com-manding 32-14 win versus Peter Sedgwick to give Talbot the victory.
Maryborough Golf also came back from a two-rink deficit to vanquish Newstead 60-56.
After stunning the Maryborough Highland Society, Newstead looked poised for another upset, with David Cobden defeating Kevin Prime 22-18 and Brian Daly taking a nail-biter against Anthony Chambers 19-17.
Gerry Carmody denied Newstead another memorable victory, over-powering Andrew Theckston 25-15.
Maryborough Golf now turns its attention to Dunolly Blue, who rounded out their regular season by defeating Avoca 78-50.
After splitting the first two rinks, Dunolly Blue held a hefty advantage thanks to Alan Weir dominating Frank Shannon 36-10, which negated the effects of Ian Proctor’s 15-14 win over Tony Galofaro.
Chris Williams sealed the result for Dunolly Blue, overcoming Daniel Giddings 28-25.
DIVISION TWO
In a stunning turn of events, Maryborough Golf flipped a 13-point deficit on the final day to snatch the finals double chance away from Highland White by a single point.
Last season’s runner-up held their end of the bargain by overcoming Bridgewater 42-25.
Gary Chaplin and Trevor Young gave Golf the sweep they needed, with Chaplin conquering Christopher Brooshooft 20-14 and Young besting George Mabon 22-11.
Even with the victory, Golf were on the outside looking in of the top two, with Highland White only needing one point against Talbot to clinch the double chance.
Finding themselves on the precipice of the top two, Highland White were sent a crushing blow with Talbot winning 43-23.
David Reynolds delivered the opening uppercut by thwarting Frank Mifsud 18-12, allowing Ray Prentice to throw the knockout blow with a 25-11 win over Dennis Prosser.
Golf will now meet Highland Black in the double chance semi-final after the minor premiers avenged their only loss of the season by defeating Dunolly Green 55-27.
Albert Spencer impressed on Saturday with a victory against Sandra Chaplin 31-17. Robert Bursill followed suit by conquering Fabio Delconte 24-10.
Dunolly Green’s sister team, Dunolly Gold, prepared for their finals encounter with Highland White by outlasting Avoca 43-32.
The game went down to a deciding rink after Aaron Britten drew with Geoff Loosmore 19-19. Raeleen Mebbrey came out on top for Dunolly Gold, besting Ann Loosmore 24-13.
DIVISION THREE
Simultaneously with Mary-borough Golf’s ascent into the division two double chance, Carisbrook managed to leapfrog Newstead to finish division three’s round 14 in second.
Newstead opened the door for Carisbrook after drawing with bottom-of-the-table Maldon 39-39.
The two teams split seven points thanks to Newstead’s Angela Hill defeating Leonie Briggs 25-20 and Maldon’s Glen Coy overcoming Noel Bott 19-14.
Despite Newstead dropping points, Carisbrook still needed to defeat the Maryborough Highland Society, who had only lost twice all season.
With double chance on the line, Carisbrook delivered with Jeff Smith vanquishing Allan Pike 22-18 and Phillip Burt overpowering Gregory Long 18-15 to secure a 40-33 victory for Carisbrook.
That result forces Newstead into an elimination semi-final with Dunolly, who bested Avoca 54-26 over the weekend.
Graeme Cain delivered the bulk of the damage with a 32-13 victory over Anthony Brennan, while Paul Chase had a trickier time conquering Gordon Marr 22-13.
SEMI-FINALS
After 14 rounds, the weekend pennants have reached the semi-finals, with six tantalising matches scheduled this weekend.
In division one, the Maryborough Highland Society’s quest to rectify last season’s straight sets exit begins with a clash against Talbot.
After being eliminated in the semi-final by Dunolly Blue last campaign, Talbot is guaranteed to advance past that mark in 2025/26.
Highland and Talbot were evenly matched in both regular season encounters, with Highland taking both matches.
Speaking of revenge, that will be on Dunolly Blue’s mind when they meet Maryborough Golf in another sudden-death final.
After their heartbreaking 55-54 defeat to Golf in last season’s Grand Final, Dunolly Blue has been unable to defeat Golf this season, including another one-shot loss in round four.
Division two sees heavy favourites Highland Black attempt to book their place in the Grand Final at Maryborough Golf’s expense.
Highland White attempts to wash away any bad taste from losing their double chance spot versus a Dunolly Gold team that bested them in round eight, 38-32.
After defeating the Maryborough Highland Society in the final round of the regular season, Carisbrook looks to achieve a repeat in a division three semi-final rematch, with the winner going to the Grand Final.
The loser will meet either Newstead or Dunolly in the preliminary final after what’s expected to be an entertaining elimination final.