CHIDLOW Cougars faced off against the Mundaring Roos for the 2026 hills footy grand final.

The first five minutes saw both teams settling the nerves.

After an early goal each the Cougars slipped into gear.

Chidlow’s Steven Schorer collected the loose ball from a centre ball up, he kicked it forward to a leading Adam McKinlay to convert his first of eight goals for the game.

Roos player Clayton Thomas gave Mundaring their start with a goal.

Chidlow continued to push the ball forward, their onballers dominating the centre clearances.

Cougar Matt Mallaby’s precision delivery to McKinlay gave him the opportunity to kick another goal.

Another centre clearance deep into the Cougars forward line had Chidlow player Luke Elliott marking the ball just outside the goal square he subsequently handball over to McKinlay and he had another goal.

The scoring trend was momentarily broken when Mundaring’s Sam Butler kicked the ball forward to Thomas for him to kick his second goal.

By the first break Chidlow had opened up a 30-point lead.

The Roos battled hard after the break and managed to somewhat slow down the Cougars’ scoring rate.

Roos captain Dylan O’Loghlen along with teammates Jay Saverese and Anthony Bailey had their hands full with the spread of Cougars goal kicking options.

Cougars Kaden Bonsack, Jedd Simmons and Nathan Sutton all joined in the goal scoring.

Andrew Freeman managed the Roos’ only second quarter goal after a 50m penalty was awarded in their favour.

Even though the Cougars had been reduced to three goals for the quarter they had extended their lead to 45 points at half time.

Chidlow controlled most of the third quarter kicking five goals from 11 attempts.

Clayton Thomas managed the Roos’ only goal for the quarter after some strong work from teammate Kyle Tenardi further up the field.

Cougar Jake Forman teamed up with Lukaz Dymek, Finton Kirwan and Shay Pomfret to keep the ball moving forward.

Chidlow’s Tim Huntley was ably assisted by Brent Williams rebounding from half back.

Cougar Jedd Simmons marked the ball near the 50m arc, then he did the unexpected.

As the Mundaring player on the mark prepared himself for a kick over his head Simmons sold the perfect candy running around the mark putting himself well within goal scoring distance, capitalising on his bold move.

The Cougars had themselves in a commanding position heading into the last quarter in which they restricted the Roos to one behind, while kicking another six goals.

Mundaring battled hard all day but were overrun by a team determined on reversing last year’s grand final loss.

Cougars player Adam McKinlay was the worthy recipient of the Bob Gardiner medal which is awarded to the best and fairest player from the game.

The Cougars marked the end of the Hills Football Association 2026 season with a commanding victory of 21.15 (141) to their opponent’s 4.4 (28).