By Tallon Smith

The Moree Boars are the talk of the rugby league community in the North West after again starting the season a perfect five from five heading into the competition’s general bye last weekend.

As action came to a halt for the Tigers v Knights NRL game in the region, the Boars lead the First Grade ladder on 10 points, followed by Boggabri, Kootingal, Werris Creek and North Tamworth all on eight, Dungowan in 6th place on 6, Wee Waa in 7th on 2, and Gunnedah and Narrabri on 0.

The Boars have won their opening five encounters by a combined 248-58, for a points differential of +190, with their last two starts being a 72-12 win over Narrabri and a 60-0 shutout of Wee Waa.

Club President Todd Mitchell said that the side is in a great position after the opening month of action, with a sense of enthusiasm and hunger spreading around Boughton Oval as the club looks to end a 20-year premiership drought.

“It’s been good, all the players have trained this week and have trained well,” he said.

“I think last week we had a game against Wee Waa where they didn’t have a Reserve Grade, and we wanted to rest a few of our First Graders, but they didn’t want to rest. 

“Most of them wanted to keep playing, which in the past, blokes enjoy a weekend off, but they [didn’t] want that weekend off, they wanted to just keep pushing.”

Mitchell said that the club is not getting carried away with their incredible start to the year, with the club having been in this strong position before, only to fall away at the end.

“There’s been a good vibe around the club, [but] everybody’s sort of staying low-key because we were in the same position last year, we were five from five and [to start the] year, [and then in the] back end of last year, I think we only won two of our last five games,” he said.

“We sort of fell away a bit for various reasons, but this year I think the vibe is a lot different and everyone’s really trained really hard through the off season and our turnout [at] training has been fantastic.

“Everyone’s fighting for their positions, our Reserve Grade is five from five as well and that puts pressure on First Grade.”

Whilst the club has won the past two Reserve Grade premierships, the club’s top grade team endured a tough finish to last season, starting the year a perfect 11 from 11 before losing two of their last three regular season games and their first final to eventually go down in the Grand Final to North Tamworth.

Speaking on the impact of the demons of last year, Mitchell said that whilst they aren’t often spoken of, they are certainly fuelling the club’s incredible efforts so far this season, as they aim to become the first team since 2013 other than North Tamworth to win a title.

“It definitely hurt losing that Grand Final last year, we sort of got midway through the second round and everybody was talking that we were unbeaten and talking [about] Clayton Cups and [having] the Grand Finals held in Moree, and I think we might have got distracted by that a bit,” he said.

“I think we’ve sort of got a bit ahead of ourselves in some ways and we deservedly got to the Grand Final, but it really hurt.”

“It hurt everybody in the club, not just players but coaches [as well] and whilst we don’t talk about it a lot, I’m pretty sure deep down there’s a burn there to go one better this year for sure.”

The club’s next game is an away trip to Kootingal this Saturday to face the Roosters, followed by a home game against Werris Creek.

Meanwhile, in a disappointing development for the region, the Wests Tigers have announced this will be the club’s last game in Tamworth, with the side looking to establish a new stadium strategy across their two home grounds in Sydney from next season.

Local State MP Kevin Anderson told NRL.com that it is important that the NRL continues to send games out to the region to inspire local talent for years to come, no matter which teams decide to make the trip to the North West.

“It doesn’t matter [which club], it’s just about maintaining that presence of first-grade NRL in regional NSW and in particular Tamworth that’s so important, and we’re looking forward to discussions for 2025,” he said.

The owners of Scully Park, Wests Entertainment Group, said that they will continue to look for a new club to partner with them for an annual fixture, with Souths, Cronulla and Newcastle amongst those specifically mentioned.