All players announced that the club is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Dubbo and District JRL competition, especially in the international age divisions, in particular the Under 14s. The growth and maturity shown by all players to understand the structure of a detailed and skilled game really has shown through. Also evident was the players’ willingness to participate.

The Wellington Junior Cowboys club had two teams make the grand final, the under 14s and under 16s. Our Under 14s won and our under 16s were runners up.

The club would know to acknowledge the effort of the Under 16s with putting up a flight right to the end of the season, but unfortunately the team was struck down with injuries to four players in the semi final match to go into the grand final. Other players were carrying injuries as well but they all battled on and put up a flight right to the end. Well done young men - you did the community, members, officials, and spectators proud.

The club also further reinforced its presence by members of the Dubbo & District JRL executives/members with the naming of Craig Ryan as the Nelson Young person of the year, Wallace Bruce named the referees’ best and fairest player for Under 16s, Elijah Colliss named as the Gerald Yeo Memorial Trophy of the year, Referee Best Fairest player for Under 14s and grand final man of the match, and Brock Naden was named as Dubbo and District JRL international player of the year. 

The presentation was held the next day and welcomed a visit from NRL star Josh Starling from the Manly Sea-Eagles and also former NRL player and Wellington-born Michael Roberson.

It was a fantastic day with congratulations to the entire 2016 perpetual trophy winners and to all the young rising champions that participated in the 2016 Dubbo & District Junior Rugby League Competition. There was acknowledgement to two players with lifetime participation in the junior club - Brock Naden and Ethan Colliss – who have played every year since under 7s with one club.

None of our achievements would have been possible without the committed efforts of the small enthusiastic committee. I would like to thank all of them for their support and their tireless efforts to enable the club to grow as it has done over the past 12 months. We look forward to another successful year in 2017 and welcome any new players and volunteers to be involved with the Wellington Cowboys JRLFC.