Country Carnival 2016

The 2016 NSWPRL Country Carnival was held in the historic NSW central tablelands town of ORANGE on 15-17 March. Scotty Swain (Country North), Ben Rigley (Hunter/Hawkesbury) and Mick Ricketts (Country South), led their respective squads.
In game 1, Hunter Hawkesbury Kangaroos and Country South Boars, observed one minutes silence at the commencement of the game, in honour of the late Sergeant Geoffrey Richardson. Both teams showed enthusiasm, but County South skipped away to a half time lead of 18 points to nil. Hunter/Hawkesbury hit back in the second half amassing 16 points, but the reigning champs Country South reeled them in and ran out 36-16 winners.
Game 2 saw a rejuvenated Country North Cowboys team account for their Hawkesbury/Hunter brothers. This win set up game 3 as the final. The Cowboys were keen to go one better and had bolstered their team with a few new hard heads, Tom Magaan and classy centre Ori Weir. However, country south presented a classy team including former Australian schoolboy Luke Jay and barnstorming prop Brayden Sharrock.
The Boars skipped away with early points and led the Cowboys by 18 points to 4 at halftime. The Cowboys managed a converted try in the second half, but county answered them with two of their own and ran out winners by 30 points to 10. Classy Country Souths lock and 2015 Bob Aldridge award winner Nathan Simpson was voted man of the match and won the Peter Nissen shield.