The Temora Dragons will travel to Cootamundra next Sunday where they will meet a desperate Bulldogs outfit who have lost their two competition games and slipped out of the top and currently sit in sixth place. Temora will need to be wary of the Bulldogs at Les Boyd Oval as they inflicted a surprise 32-24 loss on the Dragons back in round one and have been consistently in the top five until their recent losses. With the season now past the halfway mark the Dragons' season can only be described as "hot and cold", and if they are to take part in the final’s playoffs later in the year, they will have to show some consistency. The games they have lost have been winnable except possibly the Gundagai Tigers who were simply too good on the day at Nixon Park in round seven. Temora has a number of their backline players in the top bracket of try scorers namely Hamish Starr with 12, Lachie Cole 6 and Brandon Nima and Brodie Foster with 5 each and have showed in a number of games they can score points from anywhere on the ground as they showed in their three tries at Tumut last weekend. But for some reason, as a team they switch off, and go back to "one out" football playing too much through the forwards. While the experts tell us that defence wins games the Dragons have proved different this season, and one wonders why they would want to change from the success they have had in attack. With coach Jordan Burley unlikely to go away from his winning team from their last outing, despite how ugly it looked at times, the starting line-up against Cootamundra should be Hamish Starr, Brodie Foster, Brandon Nima, Will McDermott, Jimmy Stewart, Lachie Cole, Jake McGovern in the backs while the forwards should be Hayden Philip, Bailey Wallace, Tyler Madden, Billy Reardon, Brodie Mirtchin and Grant Hughes with the interchange coming from David White, Zac Starr, Sam Burley, Riley Craw and Josh McCrone. With Cootamundra not fielding a Women's Tackle team there will be only four games played at Les Boyd Oval on Sunday. Despite their unexpected loss to Tumut last Saturday the Dragons League Tag team should be too strong for the fourth placed Bulldogs who they defeated 16-8 at Nixon Park in round one. After a disappointing result at Tumut, Temora's Weissel Cup team will be looking to make amends against a Cootamundra team they defeated 32-16 back in the opening round while the Reserve Grade should continue on their winning way as the Bulldogs have only had two wins in this grade in 2026. Temora Dragons v Cootamundra Bulldogs Minor Grade Teams Reserve Grade – 1:05pm Drew Robinson, Brock Thorpe, Nick Bett, Khaileb Cameron-Pani, Tom Moroney, Cody Lynch, Jared McKinnon, Riley Craw, Yoan Vere, Adam New, Ryan Cain, Tom New, Sam Carlin, Darcy Kelly, Josh Gillard, Riley Neville, Chase Sciascia, Tyrone Bushell, Charles Slinger. Weissel Cup Bailey Purcell, Matt Knox, Clayton Callaghan, Connor Hawksworth, Oscar Bent, Colby Thorpe, Cooper Gersbach, Jacob Durham, Bryce Smetana, Alex Levett, Oscar Amery, Mitchell Harper, Harrison Yates, Ned Townsend, Lenny Lancaster, Matt Manning, Jimmie Harper, Darcy Murphy, Louie Mortimer, Josh Haisell, Jake Rayner, Zac Botha. League Tag Molly McCrone, Maisey McCrone, Alecia Haisell, Milly Murphy, Bella McDermott, Emily Perrot, Cate Granleese, Matilda Reardon, Lillie Block, Mia Block, McKenna Ward, Rommy Wilesmith, Lizzie Cooper.
