It’s going to be a big change next year coming back into Group Nine, but the Cootamundra Bulldogs are well prepared to make the jump after locking in trial dates for all grades in March as their squads begin to take shape.
After announcing their return to the competition last month, the Bulldogs quickly moved to lock down coach David Buttriss for another 12 months, and have begun signing First Grade players.
Bulldogs President Stephen Howse revealed the dates of the upcoming trial matches to the Times, with the first being a lengthy road trip to face some of their sister clubs under a new sponsorship deal.
“We have locked in two trials, we are definitely going to Wyong in mid March,” he said.
“Wyong Rugby League who are our major sponsor now with the Cootamundra Country Club have four rugby league sides in Woolgoolga, Goulburn, Wyong and Cootamundra.
“I think it will be a mixture of their Firsts and Seconds and we will just take a squad of whatever.
“Brock Molan who is fully invested in the club this year has come up with the idea. There’s a presentation on that night, kind of a season launch for their four clubs and they have a sit down with an MC and interview each club’s coaches and committee.”
In what will be an entree to the Bulldogs’ return for local supporters, Howse said that the club will also reciprocate last year’s trial by hosting Junee at Les Boyd Oval after travelling to Laurie Daley Oval last year.
“We went to Junee last year and played 16s, 18s, Tag and Reserve Grade, and it looks like we are going to bring Junee over as a full compliment – First Grade, Reserves, Tag, Women’s Tackle and Under 18s boys,” he said.
“It looks like our trials are locked in and we are happy with that.”
Without a doubt, the topic of the off-season so far in Group 9 has been the moving of the Under 16s to the juniors and the establishment of an Under 18 Girls Tackle competition next season.
When asked about the viability of an Under 18s Girls Tackle side in Cootamundra, Howse said there has been little interest, and while the club hasn’t been pushing the idea, he said there remains a tiny chance should interest suddenly appear.
“It’s not on our radar at the moment Under 18s girls tackle,” he said.
“We can put it out there and if I get an overwhelming response we will probably explore it, but not at the moment.”
As for the Under 16s Boys now falling under the junior umbrella, Howse said it has been in the pipeline for years, and is ultimately a decision from the powers that be that he has little control over.
“I’m along the lines that they have been trying to do it for years,” he said.
“Going back ten years or more we bought in the juniors and we even went to the stage where we bought jumpers for the Under 16s that year when I was president then and then they changed it at the last moment and that Under 16s side went on and won the competition in Group Nine.
“I think what they are doing by dropping the 16s out, they are just making a spot for the Under 18s women’s tackle.
“I think NSW Rugby League is really pushing the women’s rugby league, which is fair enough, but I think if you had Under 16s and you had Under 18s women’s tackle and Under 18s boys, it’s a massive program for any club on any given day.
“I’m an early riser being a train driver but I don’t think people want to be playing footy at 7 o’clock in the morning, it’s a massive day.
“You’ve got to create a little bit of room sometimes and I don’t think they are sacrificing the 16s, but it’s higher up the food chain than me anyway.”
Moving to pre-season training, Howse said that First Grade coach Buttriss is aiming to get the entire club gathered for a few all-grade sessions before the festive season.
“Pre-season will start in December and it will be the whole club,” Howse said.
“DB wants to train, which is not usually the case, but he has pencilled in four sessions before Christmas, but he wants to be all inclusive, so he wants the girls to train with the men and the juniors all on the one night, which hasn’t been done before and it’s just to build a camaraderie and spirit, a bit of bonding I suppose you could call it.
“I think it’s a good idea, often the girls don’t start pre-season until quite late.”
Despite the naysayers and armchair critics being quick to offer their thoughts on how the Cootamundra outfit will go in the competition, Howse said everything is looking positive at this stage, and the focus is on more than just short-term results.
“Everything is looking good at this stage, except the 18s girls; that’s five if you had [it], Women’s Tackle, that is six and if you had the Under 16s that’s seven,” he said.
“This is the thing, we will have a big squad of 18s, we’ve had a massive interest in the Women’s Tackle, we’ve got a lot of players that didn’t play last year because we couldn’t fulfil sides, we’ve always had good numbers in 16s and Tag, so we’re more or less going back to Group Nine to keep us all together.
“At the moment we are not worried about results.
“Don’t get me wrong we are working on it, I don’t want to sacrifice our players. We had a meeting on the weekend which was very positive regarding this very conversation and people will just have to wait and see. People will just have to wait and see, everyone’s got their opinion.”
-Tallon Smith