Group 4: Charlie Parsons discusses Werris Creek's semi-final approach

The 20-year-old, playing in just his second season of Group 4 first grade footy, is bound for his first finals series with the Werris Creek Magpies.

But upon chatting to the young man, one would never guess that it was a week out of the ordinary.

His relaxed approach to football, and evidently life, no doubt comes naturally to Parsons. He, along with the rest of his Magpies teammates, have tried to take the pressure off themselves leading in to Sunday's minor semi-final against the Kootingal-Moonbi Roosters.

"It's been pretty cruisy [among the squad]," Parsons said.

"If you stress out too much, then things can go wrong. It's been pretty cruisy coming in, which is good."

The laidback mentality might be one Charlie has inherited from his father, former Newcastle Knights forward, Matt Parsons.

As he prepares for the first senior final of his career, Charlie said he and his father had not spoken too much about how to handle the atmosphere of finals football.

"I spoke to Dad, and their lead-up to their [successful 2001 NRL grand final tilt] was cruisy as well," Charlie said.

"He said 'There's no need to stress'."

Charlie's parents will be part of the large contingent of Werris Creek fans travelling to Kootingal this weekend.

The Magpies earned a place in the 2023 semis by virtue of a dramatic victory over the Narrabri Blues on Sunday, which snapped a five-game losing streak. But Parsons said the team had started to show signs of rediscovering their early-season form some weeks prior to round 14, and he is "really excited" to see how far they can go in finals.

"We started the year strong, we've just fallen off," he said.

"But the last two or three weeks, we've really taken some positives, and I think the way we've been training, it's starting to ramp up."

Though he last year articulated plans about eventually leaving to have a crack at the Newcastle competition, Parsons is "not quite sure" he still wants to do it as he has "really enjoyed" his time as an apprentice diesel mechanic at the Quirindi branch of Hutcheon and Pearce.

With 12 months of his apprenticeship left, the prop is also in no hurry to farewell the Magpies, where he has settled in as a key part of their forward pack.

"I wouldn't want any other forward pack in the group," Parsons said.

"I really enjoy playing with them ... Losing Cody [Tickle] was a big thing. He mightn't have been the most talented, but he was the hardest-working player we had. Losing him leaves a big hole, but there's been five or six blokes that have stepped right up to that role."

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