Back to the Future. 2014: Madaline Brayshaw (Brahmans secretary), major sponsor Stan Waldren, Michael Brayshaw (President) and Captain-Coach Chris Rawlinson.
Yes they all look a little younger than they do now, but there is a reason for that. This photo was taken over 10 years ago. Little has changed though with The Brayshaw family still huge Brahman supporters and now steering the Binalong Community Club to great outcomes, including the Australian Sand Green Championships later this year. Stan Waldren is still there supporting the Brahmans club with his business, via sponsorship, an integral part of keeping bush clubs alive, and then there is ‘Peter Pan’ the fella on the far right. Aptly named this way in a cheeky way, because he just keeps producing in the world of Rugby League. Chris Rawlinson led the Brahmans to 3 premierships in 2013, 2014 and 2015 across George Tooke Shield and Woodbridge Cup, securing a 3-peat. He is back some ten years later, not at 30 when some footballers hang their boots up but at 40, guiding the Brahmans around the paddock. Rawlinson celebrated his 40th birthday this week but expect the diminutive veteran to have an inspired performance today against his old rivals the Harden Hawks.
By Tallon Smith
The Binalong Brahmans have sewn up second spot and a home Qualifying Final against local rivals Harden after a comfortable 28-4 win over the Cootamundra Bulldogs at the Binalong Recreation Oval on Saturday. The Brahmans ran in five tries to one, with Kobi Bradshaw scoring a try and adding four goals to lead all scorers with 12 of Binalong’s 28 points on the day.
Binalong President Ben Spencer said that the prospect of a finals campaign has the small town buzzing, with this season being the first such foray into the playoffs in his decade long tenure as President. “[It’s] definitely really exciting, 10 years in the making, we made finals in COVID and they got called off, so this is our first time making the finals, let alone hosting them in over 10 years,” he said. “So pretty exciting times, [the] town’s buzzing, unfortunately, I don’t think the girls will be playing here as well, so it won’t be a normal home game, but it’ll still be a massive crowd being a local derby. “It was a great game on Saturday, so we’re really pulling it together at the right time of year.” Central to their win over the Bulldogs, and the broader success the side has had in its run home, has been a focus on defence and kicking for field position, as the Brahmans seek to use their experience to nullify their opponents’ attack. “We just had a game plan for these last three rounds in a comp playing the top three sides [and] probably having the hardest run out of all the clubs into the finals,” he said.
“We just had a massive game plan of using our defence to win our games and our kicking game and that’s what we really did on the weekend, we just starved them with the ball and [during] the time that they had with the ball, with our line speed. “We just cut them down fairly well and that was our plan for the last three games. “So we’ve done really well with that, and we’ve been able to pull it off the last three games, [it was a] pretty solid effort on the weekend.” Despite the tough run home appearing as a disadvantage at first, Spencer said that it is a source of confidence for the Brahmans as it clearly demonstrated their ability to match it with the big sides.
“I guess it does [give us confidence] when they are the four potential final teams,” he said. “We’ve just shown that we can beat them, we got a draw with Bungendore and then beat the other two, so yeah, I think it’s a no-brainer that’s going to give us confidence. “But in saying that as well, we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a pretty good plan for the season and that’s just week by week.”
“We’ve got [a] fair few old heads there mate that are now 10 years older than our last finals [campaign], we’ve got a lot of age and experience there that are keeping us grounded, so we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves.”
Meanwhile, the Jersey Girls went down to the Bullettes 10-8 in a close encounter between two evenly matched teams. Both sides scored two tries, but a conversion to Lilly Welch saw the Bulldogs take the win, sending the Jersey Girls into a must-win showdown against North Canberra at Cootamundra on Saturday. Looking to other results around the grounds, Boorowa put in their worst performance of the season when it mattered, and the UC Stars capitalised, with the crucial fixture ending in a 28-all draw at the Boorowa Showground. A draw was the bare minimum needed to scrape past Crookwell for fifth spot, and was reliant on the Green Devils losing to Harden.
Speaking of the Green Devils, Crookwell finished one point behind Boorowa in the race for the fifth and final playoff spot after going down 34-16 to the Harden Hawks. The Hawks’ victory elevates them above Cootamundra into third, giving Harden two bites at the cherry, and forcing the Bulldogs into a sudden-death showdown with Boorowa this weekend. Finally, in the last game of the weekend, the Bungendore Tigers secured the Minor Premiership with a 58-10 thrashing of North Canberra. The Tigers will have the weekend off as they await either the Brahmans or Hawks in the Major Semi Final next weekend. The Brahmans’ finals campaign kicks off at 2:30pm on Saturday at home, while the Jersey Girls play North Canberra at 1pm in Cootamundra.
