Sports

TWEED SURFER ON TOP AT MARGARET RIVER PRO

Isabella Nichols in action Photo: Dunbar/WSL

MAX PERROT

Tweed Head’s Isabella Nichols has won the Margaret River Pro in the eight-to-ten-foot waves at Main Break.

Nichols’ win not only marked her maiden CT victory, but saved her position to continue through the back half of the 2022 CT following the Mid-season Cut.

Coming into the Final Day of competition at the Margaret River Pro, Nichols sat in 12th position on the rankings and below the Midseason Cut line.

To move above the cut and keep her spot on Tour, the equation was simple: Win the event.

In her second year on the CT and having only one CT Finals appearance under her belt, taking a win at the elite level would be no easy feat, but the

Sports results

Cherry Street Croquet Club

ASSOCIATION CROQUET :

S.Hume P.Hume 9 d H.Young B.Reddy 8

RICOCHET CROQUET :

Club Handicap Singles Championships

G.Drew 14 d R.Chapman 13

GOLF CROQUET :

Club Division 3 Singles Championships

C.Edlund d J.Dorward

D.Jones d J.Huxley

J.Hannigan d F.Frederiksen

J.Saunders d M.Rennie

D.Jones d C.Edlund

J.Hannigan d J.Saunders

Final to be played

Jim Hannigan v Debbie Jones

TOURNAMENTS :

Beryl Chambers Association Handicap Qualify Coffs Coast :

Jonathon Deans Urunga 1st

Simon Cook Coutts Crossing 2nd

Peter Deeth Coutts Crossing 3rd

Greg Porter Cherry Street Ballina 4th

All new members very welcome.

Grafton District Anglers Club Monthly Competition

The Grafton District Anglers Club April outing was held 30th April - 1st May. 22 members nominated for the outing with 18

The winner of the senior division was Ron Waterson with his bag limit of twenty luderick weighing 11.140kg for a total of 132 points.

Second place went to Terry Daly with his bag limit of twenty luderick weighing 10.41kg for 124 points.

Third place went to Krystal Pfeiffer with her bag limit of luderick weighing 10.49kg for 95 points after her 30 point handicap, for winning a previous outing, was deducted.

The Junior Division was won by Jensen and 6 tailor.

Second in the junior division was Mahkai Haynes with a catch of 1

The Club’s Presentation Night will be held from 4pm on Saturday 7th May at the Grafton District Services Club.

The next monthly rock, beach and estuary outing is 28th - 29th May 2022.

Sunshine Coaster dug deep to overcome local hero Bronte Macaulay and rookie Gabriela Bryan (HAW) in the Final. back-and-forth battle between Nichols and Bryan, but in the end, it was the smooth frontside of Nichols that saw her claim her maiden CT victory, and save her spot on the elite level.

Nichols will now head to the Quiksilver Pro G-Land sitting in the fourth position on the rankings.

“This moment doesn’t even feel real at the moment,” Nichols said.

“I’ve dreamt about this my whole life and I feel like this is going to take a while to sink in.

“There is no better feeling than this in the whole world.

“I just came to this event, and as corny as it sounds, I just had fun.

“It was just yesterday I was thinking about falling off Tour... and now, it’s all about the WSL Final 5, the goals have changed. I just want to thank friends, family, fans, and sponsors, this is just amazing.” The new Mid-season Cut has now reduced the men and Top 10 women.

Our male Northern Rivers pro surfers Callum Robson, Connor O’Leary and Owen Wright had different outcomes with Robson and O’Leary securing their place in the in 8th and 18th positions respectively while unfortunately Wright cut line in 23rd spot.

Kyogle Bowls

Wednesday May 4 - P Crewe J Coston d G Knapp P Doyle + 8, B Ryan N Parker d W Farrell S Colley + 5, J Arnold R Felton N Bodycote d P Anderson K Hayes B Hyde + 2.

Saturday May 7 - L Condon T Winkler d W Farrell P Doyle + 5, G Knapp J Coston T Holder drew with P Anderson T Burgess B Hyde 16 all.

A grade singles championship R Goebel d D Zelcer 31 to 20. S Hall d S Colley 31 to 19, D Farrell d K Hayes 31 to 22.

Ghosts 10-minute try-fest haunts Panthers

TIM HOWARD

A 10-minute try-fest for the Grafton Ghosts just before halt time was the difference between the hosts and the Sawtell Panthers on Sunday.

Turning out on a sodden Frank McGuren Field the Ghosts and Panthers slogged it out for 30 minutes, scoring a converted try apiece as fans settled in for a mud-soaked arm wrestle.

After 30 minutes of tough, grinding play the Ghosts exploded with Kyran Heron, Vincent Williams and Cooper Woods scoring tries in quick successions to open up a 24-6 lead, which the visitors were unlikely to catch.

For the Ghosts it was an all too rare passage of play where passes stuck and the ball bounced their way.

Halfback Vinnie Williams scored one of the tries after charging down an attempted backing up to get the

But it was his short Woods for his second try of the half that was a highlight.

A brace of tries was good reward for the fullback who was secure at the back under the high ball on the type of day fullbacks usually dread.

The second half was a the points explosion in

Instead both sides traded tries as they wrestled with each other and the conditions.

After the game Ghosts captain coach Todd Cameron said he was just happy to have the two competition points.

“It was always going to be a slog out there today,” he said.

“We didn’t expect it to be anything else.”

He praised the Ghosts hard working forward pack who dominated their opponents in defence.

“We didn’t have a bad player out there in the pack,” he said.

But he was disappointed at the amount of dropped ball and a couple illdisciplined incidents.

“The dropped ball was mostly our doing,” he said.

“It and the discipline is something we’ll need to work on,” Cameron said.

But he did cut his players some slack, saying the disjointed preparation and start to the season due to the wet weather was having an effect.

“We didn’t get to train and not playing last week has meant players are still getting used to each other.

“We also had a couple of players out this week, which didn’t help.”

Cameron said the Ghosts would need to improve their attack for Sunday’s game against the Coffs Comets.

“Coffs had a draw with Macksville this weekend.

“They’re likely to be two of the teams that will b the biggest threat have to be better next week.”

The game against the road trip for the Ghosts this season, which is another test for the team.

“They’ve been a hard team to beat down there,” he said.

“But we’re looking forward to the challenge.

“We’ve got a few

SCORES

GRAFTON 30: Tries: Cooper Woods 2, Oliver Percy, Kyran Heron, Vincent Williams. Goals: Matthew Muller 5. Def SAWTELL 10: Tries: Robert Brilley, Seth Martin. Goal: Damion Dumas.

players coming back, so we’re going to be close to full strength.”

The South Grafton Rebels attempt to play season against the Orara Valley Axemen failed to materialise McKittrick Park.

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