All games at Leonay Oval, Jack Myers (Blacktown City) and Waite Reserve (Quakers Hill) for Saturday 25th May have been cancelled and will more than likely be rescheduled for the June long weekend bye round.

It is with the saddest of hearts that I inform you all that Lynn Foster, wife of our club president Pete, sadly passed away this afternoon after a long battle with breast cancer. 

I spoke to Pete tonight and he indicated that he couldn't have got through the past twelve months without rugby league and the Emu Plains JRLFC. Our community is about more than just rugby league.

The thoughts and prayers of the Emu community are with Pete, Alana and Blake. We're here for you all.

To Lynn, a wonderful mum, wife, sister, aunty and friend, may you rest in peace. xo

Well the mornings and getting chillier and the training nights are definitely brisker so Winter is coming! Dust off your grand final jackets (if you're lucky enough to have one) and hoodies and get them ready. If you don't have one of our awesome hoodies, head on down to the clothing shed on Friday nights from 6:30pm-7:30pm to pick one up for $45.00 - they'll warm you up throughout the season! In other news, our 140 trivia night tickets sold out in less than a week - we can't wait for all the fun and games on Saturday 25th May. Thanks to Alisse Canning who organised the Emu Plains PS hall for us as a venue.

To the footy now and unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me last weekend so don't have any photos to include with this round-up. I'll hopefully get around to a few games this weekend though and get some happy snaps. Let's round up Round 3!

SATURDAY ROUND 3 SUMMARY

Mini Teams: The Under 6s are on fire! Not one team has lost a game yet after they all came away with wins again in Round 3. Tom Pittman and his team of baby Emus came away with a 18-8 win over St Clair. Brown's boys in the 6/4s won 26-8 over Quakers Hill while Jon Lester's merry band of Emus in the 6/3s laid on 7 tries to beat Minchinbury 28-12. Pearcey's 6/2s got home in a close one over Blacktown Workers, winning 20-16 in the end. Luke Hale from the 6/2s has also taken out this week's Property Central Player of the Week Award! Scott Lever's 6/1s won another tight match against Quakers Hill 16-12. Well done to all the Under 6 teams, their coaches, managers, trainers and parents, on such a great start to 2013. We think you're awesome win, lose or draw, but it's great to see Emu on top on the scoreboard :) In the Under 7s games, the 7/3s won convincingly 34-4 over Brothers, while the 7/2s won a close match 18-16 over Minchinbury with just a conversion in it. Unfortunately the 7/1s lost 38-4 to Brothers but are sure to come out firing in Round 4. The 8/3s continue to impress with a massive 42-4 win over new PJL club, PCYC Mt Druitt. The 8/2s also put big numbers on the scoreboard, beating Hawkesbury City 54-14. 8/1s coach Andrew Robinson had a smile on his dial when his side took out their first win of the season. A midweek visit from Penrith Panthers' first grade coach, Ivan Cleary spurred the boys onto a big 28-4 win over St Clair. Robbo said, "I couldn't be prouder of the effort and commitment of our boys".

Mod Teams: Townesy's 9/2s lost their first game of the season 18-6 against Glenmore Park while the 9/1s won yet again, 16-10 over St Marys. It's great to see the 9/1s stringing together those wins! The 10/2s traveled up to Warrimoo during the hottest part of the day and lost 36-20 in a high-scoring game over Lower Mountains. The 10/1s put in a tidy performance over Glenmore Park taking home the goods from Ched Towns Reserve with a 30-10 win. Our Under 11s were the only mod sides to play at Leonay Oval and the 11/3s started off well beating Quakers Hill 46-0. Our 11/2s went down 32-14 to St Marys while the 11/1s absolutely smashed Riverstone with a mercy score of 56-6. 

International Teams: The 12/2s relaxed with a bye in Round 3 but there was no rest for the wicked 12/1s who unfortunately lost 16-6 to Windsor. Our 13/3s lost a close one 16-10 to St Clair while the 13/2s were on the right end of a close one, beating Windsor 12-8. The 13/1s came out of the sheds ready to play, and defeated Blacktown City convincingly in their 30-4 victory. The 14/2s lost 64-18 against Quakers Hill in a game that probably rather forget, while the 14/1s were victorious 30-14 over Minchinbury with stand-in coach Brett McElroy obviously giving them the edge ;) It wasn't a fun day for our Under 15s sides with the 15/2s losing 36-4 and the 15/1s bowing out early in their 50-0 loss to Glenmore Park. Next week is a new week boys :)

SUNDAY ROUND 3 SUMMARY


Juniors: The U16s continue to impress after winning 42-20 over the big boys at Minchinbury. The Under 17s also beat Minchinbury taking it out 28-4. Mark Savage and Merv Lopez are both doing a great job with our young Emu men in 2013.

Seniors: The senior boys travelled down to Meurants Lane to face St Patricks. Our C-Grade boys suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 18-14 on the buzzer. Reserve Grade also lost, going down 22-18. Our A-Grade side shone some light and remain undefeated after winning 32-18.

This weekend, all five grades will play at Leonay Oval against St Clair (except the 16s who will play Cambridge Park) so come on down from 9am when the U16s kick-off, with the main game kicking off at 2:30pm. Hopefully the amazing footy weather we've enjoyed over the past few weeks continues. What better way to spend Mother's Day right Mums????? ;)

Until next week, train well and play hard!

Yours in Sport,
Megan Townes
E M U  P L A I N S  J R L F C
Club Secretary

I'd like to thank Emma Raven for helping us out in the top canteen on Saturday. She was able to step in and run the canteen while many of the committee had to go to away venues to watch their own kids play footy. Emma stepped in and made sure the canteen still operated while we were away. Thanks to Cass Corey who also stayed down at the bottom canteen instead of going to Windsor to watch her son play in his game.

I'm pretty frustrated with having to hunt down teams to get two people on the BBQ. Usually it isn't the fault of the manager or coach. They have either asked for volunteers and received none or have rostered people on and those people haven't turned up. Depending on the size of your team you will probably only have to be on the BBQ once during the season - that's ONE HOUR in SIX MONTHS. 

It's also frustrating to see the same people on the BBQ every week. Although I'm very gratfeul for their efforts, I don't think it's very fair that they are covering for lazy people. I've seen coaches and managers on the BBQ before their game instead of parents as they haven't been able to get parents to help. This is not fair on the coach or manager, or your kids! The manager and coach have responsibilities in the lead up to the game and can't be expected to be on the BBQ as well as warm up kids and get team sheets written up.

I can understand that it is often difficult to go on the BBQ if you have small toddlers, are a single parent or have Saturday work committments, so we ask that coaches and managers provide a roster early in the season so people can possibly plan to have a grandparent or aunty/uncle come along and be on the BBQ instead. Often though, it is the single parents and/or parents with toddlers who regularly turn up for BBQ duty. All too often, it is the parents of our older players who fail to turn up to BBQ duty, preferring to adopt the 'drop and run' approach. It's a sad state of affairs when people cannot offer one hour of their time to help their child's footy club out.

Our canteens are our major source of funding but if we don't have the people to operate them we will close
them down for a short time until we have the help required. Stage 1 of our new building going up on the top field is due for completion this year. Although we received an $82k government grant, the final cost for Stage 1 is around $130k. Ensuring our canteen is operating and profitable is essential for all 511 of our players and the larger Emu Plains JRLFC community. 

I really do hate to have to write such a negative post as I realise we have a fabulous group of parents who offer their time and assistance wherever possible, as well as those who turn up for their rostered BBQ duty each season without fail. I thank all of those fabulous people and know that your good work is appreciated by the committee and the kids of the club.

To the group of people who just don't think it's their job to help out for one hour,  please do your bit for your kids.

Yours in sport,
Megan Townes
Club Secretary
E  M U   P L A I N S  J R L F C
Established 1967
PO Box 16, Emu Plains NSW 2750
Telephone 0423 512 848

The show rolls on as the school holidays come to an end. Though the week saw a few sore heads after ANZAC day, the weekend brought good fortune to many of our Emu teams. Let's round up Round 2!

SATURDAY ROUND 2 SUMMARY

Mini Teams: Our Under 6 teams remain undefeated! The 6/1s played in their first game of 2013 following their first-up bye, beating Blacktown Workers by 38-0 - what a start! The 6/2s got home in a nail-biter over Quakers Hill winning by just 2 points in their 12-10 game. Our 6/3s beat the Brumbies 24-12 and the 6/4s smashed Minchinbury 46-12. Our tiniest Emus in the 6/5s beat Windsor 20-12 in our only mini-game at Leonay Oval. I got to watch a bit of this game and was impressed by our youngest Emu player William Pittman who is just 4 years old - he will tackle anything that moves and scored his first every try! The 7/1s sat out this weekend with a bye. At Peppertree, the 7/2s beat St Clair 26-16 with some awesome running and great passing. Their man of the match, Lachlan Price, bagged a double. The 7/3s continued the mini winning streak with a big 44-0 win over Cambridge Park. Our 8/1s continue to come up against tough Division 1 opposition and unfortunately lost their game against Colyton/Mt Druitt 24-6 in a gallant effort. The 8/2s looked impressive against Riverstone winning 38-0 with Sam Brett running amok once again. The 8/3s traveled over to Hickeys Lane and lost 16-6 in a close one against Brothers. Our mini teams continue to impress, win, lose or draw! Keep it up guys and girls!

Mod Teams: Brett Sams' 9/1s won their second game in a row coming from 20-0 down at the break to win 28-24 over Katoomba in a very impressive second-half effort. The 9/2s traveled down to Blacktown City where newcomer to rugby league Ryan Virgo, scored his first try in their 36-14 win. The 10/1s got up 34-10 over Windsor while the 10/2s unfortunately went down 24-14 on the big field at Leonay Oval. The 11/1s went down 24/18 to Colyton/Mt Druitt while the 11/2s were just nudged out by Quakers Hill in their 22-20 loss. The 11/3s had it all over Glenmore Park in their 42-4 win and are looking impressive considering they are a newly formed team in 2013. 

International Teams: It was great to see our 12/1s get a win over St Marys in Division 1 taking the game 14-12 at Leonay Oval. The 12/1s put on an impressive display against Blacktown Workers taking out the game 38-0 to remain undefeated! Well done boys! The 13/1s went down to the big boys of Minchinbury 36-18 while the 13/2s defeated Blacktown City 26-10 with Matt Richardson impressing when taking the ball to the line. Our 13/3s were unfortunately defeated 32-14 but Lachlan Hordern had a great game. The 14/1s had a tough game against St Clair going down 26-20. It was great to see our boys wear black armbands as a mark of respect to the St Clair manager's dad who sadly passed away during the week. Our 14/2s actually played their game on Friday night under lights at Windsor Sporting Complex - better yet, they came away with a dominant win over the Wolves, beating them 48-18. The 15/1s lost narrowly to Brothers 16-10 and are still looking for their first win of the season but I'm sure it's not far away. The 15/2s got to enjoy their final weekend of the school holidays with a bye.

SUNDAY ROUND 2 SUMMARY
Our Under 17s had the bye this week but our other four Sunday sides traveled to Cec Blinkhorn Oval to take on Colyton/Mt Druitt. In what was another glorious Sunday for rugby league, the boys took out all four grades for a clean sweep.

Juniors: In an exciting game, the U16s won on the bell, beating Colyton 18-16 for their first win of the season. Tom Moore took out the man of the match.

Seniors: Our C-Grade side continue to impress, smashing Colyton 44-6 with Jack Waterhouse taking out man of the match honours. The A-Reserve match finished early due to an opposition player unfortunately breaking his jaw but they were winning convincingly with 42-0 on the scoreboard when the game was called. To round off the day, A-Grade mercied Colyton 64-4 however Barry Walker indicated there was still plenty of room for improvement in 2013.

Well done to all our senior teams on an impressive weekend of rugby league. Next weekend sees our junior sides play Minchinbury while our senior sides travel to Meurants Lane to take on St Pats. Good luck to all five teams.

I'm keeping it short and sweet for the Round 2 Round Up, mainly because it's about to hit midnight ;) Until next week, go you mighty Emus!!!

Yours in Sport,
Megan Townes
E M U  P L A I N S  J R L F C
Club Secretary