By Tallon Smith

The Cootamundra Bulldogs have made a major move in securing football for their rising stars by linking their Under 16s and Under 18s with the Gundagai Tigers club for the 2024 season.

The deal, which involves Cootamundra’s youth sides playing at ANZAC Park prior to the Tigers’ senior teams follows Gundagai’s painstaking decision to pull out of the two grades for the 2024 season and Cootamundra’s search for another club to partner with after travelling with Temora last season.

Cootamundra President Stephen Howse said the deal is a major stepping stone on the Bulldogs’ long-term path to sustainably return to Group 9.

“We certainly are [happy], and this has always been a part of our plan, we’ve gone along steadily and not rushed things,” he said.

“I’ve seen it happen, clubs rush back after they’ve had a bit of a hiatus.

“We’ve been quite comfortable playing where we have been and it’s just good that we’ve got strong juniors at the moment, junior league’s flying at the moment and the numbers look really positive at the moment for next year, so as far as we’re concerned, it’s really exciting for us as a club to have 16s [and] 18s as well as our League Tag and First Grade.”

The Cootamundra President said that Tigers players will be welcome and encouraged to play for the team, which will have a distinct Gundagai flavour despite being run solely under the Cootamundra banner.

“At the moment, Under 18s have got 18 [players] and the 16s last I heard had 13 confirmed and that’s without even relying on [Gundagai],” Howse said.

“We’re hoping Gundagai will bolster us, because everyone knows there’s injuries and everything to happen, and I really think you need at least a 20-man squad in both to be successful.

“So we’re really hoping that we can pick up a few of the boys from Gundagai, especially in the 16s [where] they’ve got a very strong outfit, but they’re just a bit light on numbers at the moment.”

In light of the Under 16s and 18s competitions struggling in recent years, with some of the bigger towns in the competition, most notably Albury, having to withdraw from both underage grades in recent seasons, Howse said the deal between the two clubs is evidence of the proactive approach needed to overcome the challenges of modern country football.

“There are kids locally who are sitting on the fence, and probably the same at Gundagai, I’ve had a few messages from parents from Gundagai already, which is good, and I think Marty Hay has been fairly proactive in encouraging them to play and help us out,” he said.

“It’s probably in his best interest to have good quality and strong sides playing 16s [and] 18s in Gundagai, [it] brings a crowd and keeps them there.

“I think it will be a win-win situation.”

As for the likelihood that the 16s and 18s will be able to play at least one home game at Les Boyd Oval in Cootamundra, either as part of a full Gundagai Group 9 matchday being moved, or as a curtain-raiser to the Bulldogs’ own open age sides in the George Tooke Shield, Howse said he remains hopeful.

“We haven’t really discussed it, there’s a few logistical problems with it to begin with probably,” he said.

“Lining up weekends, Saturday/Sunday, to be perfectly honest, we’d really like if we could line up our 16s [and] 18s to play on our gala days like Ladies’ Day and Old Boys’ Day, and we try and match them up with our juniors, so that’d be great if we could have say Under 6s all the way through to First Grade, because it’s been a long time since Coota’s been able to do that.

“But we’ll just have to discuss all that, we’ve got to look at the draws and try and match up.”

The Group 9 competition begins on April 13, with Gundagai and Cootamundra sides slated to face the Albury Thunder away to open their campaigns.

(Cover image: Cootamundra’s 2023 Under 16s team – Credit: Stephen Howse)