There was a time this year when Brad Pickering considered a return to the Peter McDonald Premiership and Dubbo CYMS.
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The former Fishies playmaker was training with the squad early in the year during his return to play from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and had hoped to don the green and white in 2024.
Once Dubbo CYMS lost Claude Gordon to injury early in the season, it only made sense Pickering would rejoin the club.
But the move to CYMS wasn't to be and instead, Pickering returned to Narromine.
"I did a couple of training sessions but wasn't feeling it there," he said.
"I went back out to Narromine just to play Saturdays and wanted things a bit more casual really."
Several calls and messages from Narromine Jets halfback Doug Potter convinced Pickering to dust the boots off this season and now, he's back on the park.
It's been 12 months since the Narromine gun last played a match and he admitted it had taken some time to get things back on track.
"I'm heavy in the legs and a bit unfit," he said.
"It's good to be back out there playing but."
Experienced and versatile, Pickering has slotted straight into the halves and was the star on Saturday as the Jets defeated Coonabarabran.
After losing Potter to injury early, Narromine turned to Pickering to lead them around and he did just that, slotting a field goal in the dying minutes to clinch a 29-28 victory.
"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing," Pickering said of his field goal.
Darby Gordon scored two tries for the Jets and was one player Pickering has been extremely impressed by since returning from injury.
"It was good, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot early," he said of the win.
"We got out to a 12-0 lead then let them back into it. We had a couple of injuries, our halfback Doug Potter went down about five minutes into the game.
"He got injured last week and then played on this week."
Meanwhile, Cobar recorded a strong 42-1 victory over Coonamble to stay in touch with Coolah in first position on the ladder.
Roosters gun Loma Atuau scored a double as Cobar recorded a comfortable win.
Coolah was pushed against Gilgandra but held on to win 28-11.
Dunedoo's league tag side held on for a thrilling 30-28 victory while Baradine, Coolah and Narromine also recorded wins.