29 October, 2015

There’s no other event on the calendar quite like the Koori Knockout – a “modern day corroboree” that brings together some 15,000 people from all parts of the State.

This year’s Knockout was held at Dubbo over the October long weekend with Redfern All Blacks taking home the men’s and women’s competitions and earning the right to host next year’s event.

In the women’s final, Redfern All Blacks accounted for Kempsey Women’s RLFC 28-10 while the men’s final was a thriller with the Redfern All Blacks and Newcastle All Blacks locked up at 32-all at full-time after a late conversion by Shane Nolan.

While Newcastle All Blacks had their chances to win, it was the Redfern All Blacks who came up with a try in extra time with Jono Wright scoring in the corner to make it 36-32.

Junior competitions were also held. In the Under 12s, the 2829 Boys Coonamble and La Perouse Panthers shared the trophy with an 18-all draw in the Grand Final.

Barwon United Swans defeated Kempsey United 24-16 to take out the Under 15s title while Toomelah Tigers were too good for Walgett AC in the Grand Final of the Under 17s, winning 20-10.

NSWALC was proud to support the Koori Knockout, providing a grant of $75,000 to the Barwon Aboriginal Corporation to help discount registration fees for the first 75 male or female teams who registered

We will provide extended coverage of the Knockout and cover other issues from the Land Rights network in our next edition. But in the meantime, check out our photos from the Knockout at https://www.facebook.com/nswalc/photos_stream