THERE were plenty of activities for the crowd to enjoy at the recent Upper Hunter Show.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Among all the rides, arts and crafts and the Young Farmer Challenge was a polocrosse battle between rivals NSW and Queensland.
Both teams had to contend with extremely hot conditions on the first day of the show. Players had to look after their horses and pace themselves to get through the games.
Despite close contests in all of the games, Queensland managed to complete a clean sweep.
The ride-on team for NSW included Kylie Horrell, Alysha Pearsall, Abby Wilson and Abby Wilson for the ladies, with Kierin Chapman, Banjo Payton and Joe Wamsley for the men. The two interchange players were Emily Brodigan and Jock Grills.
Players for Queensland were Emily Gentry, Jordan McGrath and Grace Young for the ladies and Sam Muller, Ben Cuzens and Brad Spreadborough.
Interchange players were Sarah Gilbert and Chris Cooper.
Queensland led early in the first game, with Emily Gentry throwing three goals during the chukka and not allowing NSW to score a goal.
Kierin Chapman, the number one for NSW, scored three goals in the second chukka while the number three, Joe Wamsley, only allowed Brad Spreadborough to score two goals.
Queensland came away with a 14-11 win.
The second game on the Friday afternoon saw Brodigan coming into the NSW team as number two, with Pearsall moving to the number three position for the girls.
Queensland kept Gentry as the number one and Gilbert came on in the number two position and Young retained the number three position.
The change for the NSW girls paid off, with Horrell scoring three goals throughout the chukka.
Queensland was kept scoreless by the strong defence of the NSW number three player, Pearsall.
NSW stayed in touch throughout the game and was in front by one goal midway into the game.
Gentry, the Queensland number one, unleashed a four-goal spree in the fifth.
The strong defence of Gilbert kept NSW scoreless.
The final whistle saw the score at 16-13 for Queensland, handing them the 2015 series win.
The final game on Saturday saw some good polocrosse, with players mindful of the penalty goals given in the previous two games on Friday.
Queensland played with plenty of freedom and had seven goals by the fourth.
The NSW coach had changed 16- year-old Wamsley to the number one position.
There are only six minutes in a chukka and the teenager, with great skill and determination , scored seven goals to equal the scores at 14-all when the whistle blew for full-time.
With the match in the balance, the girls rode on and both sides had their chances, but 16-year-old Gentry scored the winning goal for Queensland.
The champion horse and rider combination for Queensland was Bachelor ridden by Cooper.
NSW’s Wamsley won the award for his state on board Efficient.
The horse awards went to Queensland’s Muller for best number one, Cooper for best number two, while NSW’s Wamsley stopped another clean sweep by taking out the number three position.