A fitter, younger Stroud Raiders are ready to resume old rivalries this month with the Dungog Warriors and Clarence Town Cobras.
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The Raiders, with Michael Skelly returning as coach, start their trial season with a home match against the revived Clarence Town on March 18.
The following week they host Dungog in the annual Charity Shield, with the season proper starting the following week.
Stroud assistant coach and former Dungog Warrior player Dean Hancock said the club was hopeful that they would be graded in the same competition as traditional rivals Dungog, Clarence Town and Gloucester.
“They are the games fans want to come along and watch. The crowds are huge whenever we play Dungog and Clarence Town,” Hancock said.
“We will certainly be pushing in our grading submission for us to be in the same competition as our main local rivals.
“If one of the teams proves too strong you can always promote them, but these rivalries are what community football are built on and lead to a healthy competition and healthy finances for the clubs.”
Stroud still suffered the after effects of the 2015 floods, last season but Hancock said coach Skelly had placed a real emphasis on greater fitness this season.
“We have been training extremely hard so that we have a team that can grind games out and come out on top of the end,” Hancock said.
Former Newcastle Rugby League player Skelly is in his second season as coach and this year will have a younger squad.
“We had a few young blokes who debuted last year and will be better for the experience. We are expecting Seamus Townsend, Luke Worth and Harry Reid to step up again this year.
“We also have a couple of 18 year olds in Drew Tassel and David Lyle, who played their junior footy with Dungog, joining the team after a couple of years out while they started work.”
The club will also be strengthened by the arrival of forward Daniel Forbes, from Raymond Terrace, who joins his cousin Jake Melmeth at the club.
“Daniel is deaf so Jake and he will use sign language to communicate when he doesn’t pick something up. He is a big young bloke who is just 21 and has a fair bit of talent,” Hancock said.
Hancock said the team was looking forward to their trial games after a hard summer on the track.
“We are a lot younger team than we have been, but after a few fade outs last season Michael has really worked on our fitness,” he said.
“It will be good to see how we shape up on the field.”
