Inaugural country championships a big success even as Geraldton fall short in semis

Geraldton was filled with out-of-town sports fans over the weekend as the Geraldton Touch Association hosted the inaugural country championships.

The championships saw six mixed teams face off in the round-robin tournament with three teams sourced from the Mid West.

Hosts Geraldton supplied two teams, the Crusaders and Mavericks, with Exmouth also sending down a team.

Karratha and Goldfields also entered, with a mixed regional squad the Country Barbarians completing the table.

Being the inaugural championships it was also a litmus test for regional associations to see where they sit in the pecking order and it was the Goldfields that established themselves as the standard bearers for the competition.

Despite several tight games, they won all four of their group games to finish at the top and face the Crusaders in the first semi-final.

Here they put in their most dominant performance running in 12 tries to four to face Karratha in the final.

Goldfields won the first half 5-4 and were deservedly crowned champions with a 12-9 win.

They also swept the awards with Rose de Thierry named Female MVP and Kaea Walker Male MVP with Andrea Georde the top female try scorer.

The Crusaders were the best performers for Geraldton starting the tournament with two straight wins over the Mavericks and Exmouth before falling to the Barbarians and Goldfields and being outclassed by Karratha.

The Mavericks’ best result came in a 5-5 draw with Exmouth and pushed the Barbarians all the way in a 6-7 loss.

The Geraldton association was honoured to be able to host the inuagural championships.

“Thank you to Touch Football WA for their help in managing the tournament and all the refs who travelled from Perth,” they said.

“Our Geraldton players put in 100 per cent effort every game and we hope to see everyone again next year.”