With the 2026 finals about to begin, the Singleton Greyhounds have secured the Bengalla Hunter Valley Group 21 Rugby League minor premiership, building on their First Grade grand final win in 2025.
Former Bulldogs NRL player Kerrod Holland coached Singleton in 2025, guiding its First Grade side to a 28–22 grand final victory over the Greta Branxton Colts.
Peter Holland, Group 21 Board Member, said the coaching Kerrod did last year carried through to this year’s team.
“Kerrod left last year on such a high with the club and a lot of processes were put in place that they’ve obviously learnt from and kept that momentum going and become a powerhouse in just about every grade.
“It’s been a good season; some teams have had a rough time. Greta for instance has been struggling to field a side each week; they’ve had a stressful time. But they are looking to the future, already naming coaches for next year.
“We’ve had a competition this year where there’s one point between first and second for the Minor Premiership. Singleton with their ripper season and Scone has shown why they’ve always been such a powerhouse,” Peter said.
“It’s been a great second season of the women’s tackle competition this year as well. Merriwa started their season as reigning premiers and were undefeated for a long time into the season.
“Muswellbrook and Aberdeen have done well too. It’s been a really great competition, and we must remember it’s only the second year the women have played the whole season and not just a six-week competition at the end of the season.
“We had three Group 21 clubs join the Hunter/Newcastle competition for the Under-18s for a combined competition for 2026. The Group 21 sides have been too powerful for Newcastle, Aberdeen has done extremely well finishing minor premiers, while all our sides were far in front of the Newcastle teams.”
Peter said this year the games have had great support in attendance from locals and businesses have gotten right behind the game as well.
“Overall, the games I’ve been to and watched the community is still getting behind their local teams which is great to see. We often hear that bush footy is dying and things are a struggle, yes numbers could be better, and it can be a struggle, but overall attendance has been great this year.
“Bengalla are major sponsors of Group 21, and they’ve been on board for a number of years with a while to go and without them these competitions don’t happen. Without the backing of big companies like Bengalla bush footy wouldn’t survive.”
Bengalla Community Relations Specialist Fiona Harten wished all the teams good luck and congratulations on a great 2026 season.
“Bengalla has had a long-term partnership with Group 21, commencing in 2018, and we are thrilled to see the strength of the clubs in the group and look forward to continuing this partnership over many years.
“Congratulations to the Board for their leadership and another successful year of rugby league,” Fiona said.
The 2026 season wraps up with the Grand Final day in Scone on Sunday, September 6 with plenty of Bengalla employees getting ready to pull on the footy boots for the last games of the season.
