By Tallon Smith

The Guyra Super Spuds have written one of rugby league’s true fairytales after comfortably securing the 2023 Group 19 Minor Premiership, just one year after not even fielding a side in the competition.

After entering recess in their centenary season in 2022, the Spuds returned with a vengeance in 2023, winning 12 of 14 games to secure the league leadership and a date with the defending premiers, the Narwan Eels, at home in the Major Semi Final.

Guyra Super Spuds President Grant Robertson said that taking home the honour was “a bit of a surprise” given that the club was facing uncertain times as little as four months ago.

“We started the year just trying to get a team together,” he said.

“It was a struggle.

“We just aimed to make the semis, but we did better than expected.”

Robertson said that the community has thrown their support behind the side as they look to push deep into the finals.

“The town has got behind us,” he said.

“Once we started winning earlier in the year, that certainly grabbed people’s attention.

“The town will always support us, but it’s easier when you’re winning.”

Speaking on the state of Group 19, Robertson said that having ten teams in a single grade competition has driven higher community engagement than in previous years.

“The reason that this year has been so good is that so many towns have been represented,” he said.

“It means you get to go to a lot more places”

“It’s been good to see Bingara have a side and Warialda have a side, as well as Tingha and Glen Innes.”

“That’s always been the strength of this area and also of bush footy that you’ve got that core of support from so many towns.”

To open their finals campaign, Guyra will host Narwan in the Major Semi Final on Sunday, whilst a day earlier the Inverell Hawks host Moree Boomerangs in the Minor Semi.

Ladies League Tag Finals action sees the Bingara Bullets face the Glen Innes Magpies in the Minor Semi, while the Tingha Tigers will play off with the Warialda Wombats for the first Grand Final spot in Sunday’s Major Semi Final.

Group 19 Plate competition

Meanwhile, after the absence of a Reserve Grade competition in Group 19 in recent years, an inventive multi-tiered approach has revived the idea of a Second Grade competition for the finals.

As mentioned above, instead of forcing mergers between clubs to have a compact competition with both First and Reserve Grade, Group 19 has taken the approach of spreading out their player base across its ten clubs, allowing smaller towns to compete in a single open age grade.

The concept, known as the Group 19 Plate, will see a Reserve Grade Premier crowned in both the Men’s and Ladies’ League Tag competitions, with the teams placed from fifth to eighth on the respective A Grade tables forming the second tier finals competition.

This means that the Group will see five grades of finals action in 2023, after only having three contested across the regular season, with A Grade, A Grade League Tag and Under 18s now being supplemented by the Reserve Grade Men’s and Ladies’ competitions.

In the men’s Plate competition, Bingara will host Glen Innes in the Major Semi for a spot in the ‘Reserve Grade’ Grand Final, while Tingha have a bye into the Preliminary Final after the withdrawal of Uralla-Walcha.

In the Women’s Plate, Guyra face Narwan in the Minor Semi, whilst Inverell play Walcha-Uralla in the Major Semi.

Cover Photo: Wes Kelly takes on a Glen Innes opponent earlier this year (Supplied: Guyra Super Spuds)