By Tallon Smith

The Castlereagh League will expand to ten clubs in 2024 after the Coolah Roos were officially accepted back into the competition for next season.

Led by brothers Chanse and Casey Burgess, the Roos’ return comes at a time where the Castlereagh League has expanded back to a four-grade competition with the introduction of Reserves for the first time since the Group 14 days, and features a reigning Clayton Cup winning side in Gulgong.

Heading into their return to the paddock, First Grade coach Chanse said that it will be a big moment for the town and for the game in the area.

“I think it will be unreal, the community’s already got behind us heaps and we’ve got heaps of sponsorship coming in and everyone wants to get involved,” he said.

“All the local blokes are keen to play, we’ve already been getting 20 to training, so it just shows how keen they are and how much they’ve missed it.”

Although things are looking good at the current time, Burgess does harbour some fears as to what the future holds for the small-town teams that make up the Castlereagh competition.

“It’s tough, I think the senior league, we’ll still go alright, but it’s a bit harder now, because there’s really not much junior league getting around, our junior league’s fallen in a bit of a heap at the moment,” he said.

“We’re still fortunate enough to have enough blokes to get a senior league team, but it is sort of hard to look forward when there isn’t much coming through at the minute.

“I’d like to hope that picks up a lot to be honest.”

In speaking to Battlers For Bush Footy, Burgess said that the move into coaching has had its challenges compared to his previous role as a player at Dubbo CYMS, but he is relishing the opportunity.

“With Dubbo, I’d just turn up and do my job, just train hard and play hard, it [was] easy like that,” he said.

“There’s definitely a lot more involved when you’re coaching, rounding the boys up and making sure everyone’s there.

“Everything will have its challenges, [we’re] very fortunate with the team we’ve come back with, [but] there’s obviously a lot more working stuff out with all the committee side of things and the coaching side of things.

“But it is very good, I do enjoy the coaching side of it and all the boys have been very good, no complaints from all the training we’ve been doing, I’ve been giving them a bit of a hiding, but no one’s ever whinging, they’re all there for the right reasons, they all want to win as well.”

As for who he thinks will be contenders in 2024, Burgess said he couldn’t go past 2022 Premiers and last year’s runners-up Cobar.

“I still think that Cobar will be the team to beat, I think Cobar are always very strong and it’d be crazy to think how strong they would be if they didn’t have to travel 500 kilometres every second week to be honest,” he said.

“I know a few boys out at Gulgong, I think they’ve lost a few good players.

“I think they’ll still be a good team, but I don’t think they will be the team they were last year, and I think Cobar will still be right in it.”

As for the club’s ambitions for 2024, Burgess, who just last year faced off against his brother in the Peter McDonald Premiership decider between Dubbo and Mudgee, is hungry for more success and believes that the club can achieve it.

“The boys have been training hard, like I said we’ve got all good local juniors, and all the local boys, we don’t want to, no one wants to come second, we’re here to win, we want to win, and the boys have been training hard to win,” he said.

“I think that is what we want to do, we want to win the comp.”

The Roos’ opening fixture sees them face the Binnaway Bombshells on April 27 at their home ground of Bowen Oval.

The remaining first round fixtures in the Castlereagh League see Cobar host Narromine, Gilgandra face Dunedoo, Baradine tackle Gulgong, and Coonamble at Coonabarabran.

(Cover Photo: Emma Ratatagia/Coolah Roos Facebook)