Rugby League Townsville and District round 4 highlights: Jason Broome cleans up for Herbert River Crushers
Herbert River secured its third win of the season as Jason Broome starred on the left wing. Catch up on all the biggest highlights from round 4 of RLTD’s A-grade and women’s competitions.
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The Herbert River Crushers secured their third win of the season on Sunday to remain undefeated in 2025, beating Centrals 34-12 at the Townsville Sports reserve.
Herbert River’s rampaging winger Jason Broome cleaned up with four tries as the Crushers took control, combining perfectly with left centre Jesse Pascoe – who also crossed for a late four-pointer.
Coach Todd Cockburn said Broome was forming a fearsome combination with his centre on the left edge as Herbert River delivered its best win of the season so far.
“He’s come back to us this year after a couple of years away. He got an opportunity on the wing there – we probably lack a bit of depth there – and he’s then lucky enough to partner up with Jesse Pascoe on the left side and they’ve created a bit of chemistry and they’re creating some opportunities,” Cockburn said.
“We actually played quite well (on Sunday). The first two games we won we were quite ill-disciplined and sloppy, but yesterday in the first half we played how I want us to play and we had a good lead at halftime.
“We just wanted to take advantage of our opportunities and keep defensive pressure on.”
Despite sitting in second place with three wins from three games, Cockburn said a blockbuster Ladies’ Day fixture against Souths in Ingham on Sunday would give a clearer picture of where the team stands this year.
“The next three games are probably going to give us a real check of where we’re at,” he said.
“I’m happy with the start of the year, but obviously we play Souths and Brothers over the next couple of weeks, and they’re definitely the yard stick for this competition.
“We’ve got a toned down Ladies’ Day this Saturday at home, so hopefully there’s a decent crowd there and it’s a top of the table clash at the moment, which we’ll try and embrace and definitely give ourselves the best chance to stick it to these fellas.”
Souths and Charters Towers also remained undefeated with big wins at home over tough opponents.
Charters Towers narrowly beat Western Lions 20-16 thanks to a double from Harry McQueen while the Bulls dominated Brothers 50-18 at Neil Stewart Park.
The Western Lionesses secured an emphatic 40-0 win against Charters Towers in the women’s competition as Angela Solomon scored twice while playing lock.
NORTHS GET OFF THE MARK WITH BIG WIN
Sunday, May 11
The North Thuringowa Devils claimed their first win of 2025 with a dominant 40-4 triumph over the Burdekin Roosters on Saturday at Peggy Banfield Park.
Norths scored seven tries to one as winger Deva Zaro and centre Kane Jackson each crossed for a double.
It was a hardfought opening to the game with no score as Burdekin’s young halves Hayden Munro and Jye Olsen kept Norths pinned in their own half with a strong kicking game.
But Jackson finally broke open the Burdekin defence down the right edge and found his halfback Jordan Davies in support to get Norths on the board.
An Ethan Edwards cut-out pass minutes later put Zaro into space to score his first try of the afternoon and the Devils were able to assert their dominance from that moment on.
Roosters speedster Jesse Yallop finally gave the visitors something to cheer about when he won the race to a Joel Mason chip to score in the second half, but it was too late to inspire a comeback.
Burdekin River – a women’s team formed with players from the Burdekin and Herbert River – found more joy against the Devils, claiming a 26-16 win to hand Norths its first defeat of the season.
Fresh from starring for Townsville in the Foley Shield, halfback Martina Monday opened the scoring with a darting run from dummy half, catching the defence out on the short side and crashing over to give Burdekin River an early lead.
The ladies, wearing the Orange colours of the Crushers, scored three tries by halftime and ran on with it after the break to lead 26-0 before Norths fought back with three late tries via Macey Fegan, Georgia Wall and Piper Godfrey.
Originally published as Rugby League Townsville and District round 4 highlights: Jason Broome cleans up for Herbert River Crushers
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