Jamie Parsons, Narrandera Argus

Barellan’s men’s side have finally repeated their women’s side’s grand final feats, winning the 2025 Proten Cup premiership against Ivanhoe 22-20 in Hillston on Saturday. It is the Rams first men’s premiership since 2003 in the old Group 17.

Barellan started the day off with a third straight premiership to their women’s side, defeating the Ivanhoe Hens for the third time in a Grand Final.

Barellan had defeated Ivanhoe 16-14 and 26-6 in the 2023 and 2024 deciders, yet it was the Hens who started the game the better, kicking an early penalty for a 2-0 lead.

Despite repeated attacks on the Rams line, they weren’t able to convert them into points and Barellan hit back with a try off a grubber kick to Amie Fazekas.

Sophie Taylor grabbed another one before halftime and the Rams were firmly in control again. It was all one way traffic in the second half with three tries to Sophia Kelsey, Barellan retaining the Proten Cup for another year. Kelsey was named Player of the Match.

Barellan’s men’s side started their game the way the girls’ finished, dominating early exchanges with Ivanhoe.

Luke Farmer went over from close range with a show-and-go, second-rower Gary Braddick ran through a gap to score the Rams second not long after and a disallowed try to Ivanhoe’s Shaun Aylett saw Barellan co-coach Adam Thomas score out wide for the Rams to put them 16-0 up at halftime.

Another disallowed Ivanhoe try saw Barellan hit back straight away again with Farmer going through from his own half and finding co-coach Noah Forbutt up the middle to put the Rams 22-0 ahead.

Ivanhoe finally got one back with a try in the corner to Jake Whyman midway through the second half, and then again to five-eighth Jermaine Dixon to have them back in striking distance.

A flurry of penalties saw Ivanhoe with ample opportunity and from a tap restart Shaun Aylett did it all himself to force his way over to have the score at 22-14 with eight minutes to play.

Four minutes later Aylett repeated the very same play to barge his way over from another penalty tap and the Roosters were within two.

Within the last minute of play Ivanhoe had three penalties within Barellan’s half but elected to tap the ball each time, and a last ditch grubber kick almost paid off but they were unable to ground the ball and Barellan came away victors 22-20 in a thrilling game very worthy of a Grand Final. Rams centre Mesu Navakayala was named player of the match.

Congratulations to Barellan on both premierships including their first men’s Proten Cup title, and commiserations to the Ivanhoe Roosters and Hens.

Another hard one to take with both teams now experiencing three grand final losses over the past four seasons.

This article appeared in Narrandera Argus, 7 August 2025.