By Tallon Smith

On the South Coast, where the waves roll in on to pristine beaches, lies the town of Narooma. Home to around 3,000 people, the town lies on the traditional lands of the Yuin people, near to the island of Baranguba (Montague Island) with its historic lighthouse. The local rugby league side, the Narooma Devils, were founded in 1929 and play in Group 16 at Bill Smyth Memorial Oval in the centre of town.

The Devils are a proud and historic club, winners of nine First Grade premierships and the junior club of former Knight Chris Houston and current Sharks back rower Teig Wilton. However, like many clubs across regional New South Wales, the Devils have struggled off the field in recent years, with the changing landscape of country rugby league partly to blame for the slow demise of the club. 

Club President Jaimie Wright says that whilst the club is still in a relatively good place at the moment, their lack of a Reserve Grade or League Tag side is the greatest threat to the side’s viability going forward.

“It’s quite good,” he said of the club itself.

“[But] we’re always struggling with numbers.

“There’s still a long way to go [this season].”

“We need to win the next three in a row to make the five,” he said at the time of the interview, with the club remarkably finishing 5th mathematically despite losing one of the games, as we covered earlier this week.

Wright also spoke of the club’s impending loss of some older players, who may retire and leave the side short of players next season, much like the crisis that unfolded for fellow Group 16 side Bega this year.

“There’s probably 4 or 5 that I’m expecting will retire so we might struggle,” he said.

“It all depends on who we get as coach.”

However, Wright was genuinely concerned by the realistic prospect that the Devils may not be around in 2024.

“In the back of my mind I’m worried if we can keep going next year,” he said.

“We have 16s and 18s coming through.

“[But] most weeks they only have 11 or 12 players.”

The President himself may be also stepping down next year after many years of service as both a player and official with the club.

“I’m thinking to myself, I might be out next year,” Wright said.

Narooma has become somewhat of a battleground in recent years, with the AFL pumping large amounts of time and money into the Sapphire Coast region to build up the Narooma Lions AFL Club to be the largest Aussie Rules club in the area.

However, when asked if the player shortage was in part caused by the Senior Devils losing players to the Lions, Wright gave a clear answer, but he did highlight the potential for juniors to cross over to the traditionally Victorian game.

“No, not at all,” he said.

“[We] might, through the Juniors, you might lose a few.

“Around that age of 12-13 they make their mind up [which game they will play].

“I guess it affects us at a Junior level and then filters through to Seniors.”

Wright also gave a frank assessment of the state of Group 16, which despite having ten clubs listed as Group members, has lost Moruya this season in First Grade, and features just five teams in Under 18s and seven teams in Reserve Grade and League Tag respectively.

Add to that the loss of Candelo-Bemboka in recent years, and the struggles of two of the bigger towns in Bega and Cooma with player shortages, and you can see why the Devils President is so concerned for the future of rugby league in the area.

“Yeah, no I think it’s struggling,” Wright said.

“I thought we were good at the start of the year.

“But when you see bigger towns like Bega, Moruya and Batemans Bay struggling it’s worrying.

“Bega has always been pretty lucky because they have good juniors.

“People have this false sense of security around their teams.”

However, despite all of the negatives surrounding the struggles of the club, Wright did speak of some positives which have held the club in good stead for the moment.

“Positives are we’ve got good numbers at training,” he said.

“The team’s pretty positive [as well].

“They’re still a chance of winning the competition.

“The 18s are still going and they’re keen.

“The big positive is that we’re still going, and I hope we keep going next year.”

Another blessing in disguise for the club (but most certainly not rugby league overall) was the decision by Moruya to pull out of First Grade and Reserve Grade, which saw many players join the Devils for the remainder of the season to boost playing numbers for the club.

“We were probably lucky in the end that Moruya folded,” he said.

“We picked up 2 or 3 blokes from Moruya.”

When asked about the prospect of fielding just a Reserve Grade side in 2024 should the club not be at a competitive standard for First Grade, Wright entertained the idea briefly, but affirmed his support for fielding a First Grade side whenever possible for a number of reasons.

“I don’t know, it’s a hard decision,” he said.

“If we folded First Grade, we’d lose sponsors.

“You can’t have a heap of first grade players in reserves.

“If they’re 19 years old that’s different.

Wright said the precedent for such matters was set by the decision to make Bega continue to play First Grade this year.

“They stopped Bega from doing it and made them see the year out [in First Grade],” he said.

“If you’re really struggling I don’t have a problem with you entering Reserve Grade [only] at the beginning of the year.

“It’s a big difference [between First and Reserve Grade], massive.”

When asked about the unfolding crisis surrounding unsustainable and ever-increasing player payments and the lack of loyalty from players to clubs, Wright showed his clear disapproval of the way things are headed.

“It’s very stressful with money,” he said.

“It’s got too much [player payments].

“You don’t get local players playing for nothing anymore, they all want [at least] $200.

“We probably spent the most this year that we ever have.”

Although the Devils have some challenges ahead, through the volunteer work of Wright and his fellow committee members, the club has survived some of the most difficult years of its existence.

However, like every club, the Devils are in need of volunteers. Volunteers like you. There are no clubs without volunteers, so, if you care about country rugby league, become a volunteer for your local club today!

Cover Photo: The Narooma Devils’ 2023 First Grade team (Supplied: Jaimie Wright)