Tallon Smith

The Riverina Bulls junior representative teams have begun ramping up preparations leading into the new season with a slate of trial matches against the Melbourne Storm Academy sides at Greenfield Park in Albury on Saturday.

While the scoresheet read three victories for Melbourne at the end of the day, the on-field action saw some big positives for the Bulls squads in the lead up to their respective competitions.

The Under 17s match between the Riverina Lisa Fiaola Cup side and the Storm Girls Development squad was a see-sawing encounter, with both sides showing moments of brilliance despite the heat before a try on the final play of the game gave the Melbourne side a last gasp 20-14 win.

Next up, in the Under 16s showdown, the Riverina Andrew Johns Cup team faced the Storm’s Development side, with both sides trading tries in a physical match full of strong defensive efforts, before the Melbourne side opened up a two-score lead late to record a 22-14 win.

Finally in the last match of the day, the Riverina’s Laurie Daley Cup side (Under 18’s) took on the Storm Harold Matthews Cup team, with Melbourne recording a 22-10 victory to sweep the day’s results, but not without a fight in all grades.

Riverina Manager Sam Bramich said that while the score lines didn’t go the way of the Bulls on the day, the sides’ performances and crowd turnout was indicative of a resurgence for the representative program.

“Saturday was a great day, obviously it was quite hot, but there was still a great turnout from the Albury crowd,” he said.

“Overall, I’m just really proud of how Riverina represented themselves against strong opposition in Melbourne Storm, the scores were quite tight and I’m quite proud of how they conducted themselves on the day and the way they played. 

One feature of all three Riverina sides’ performances on the day was grit and determination in both attack and defence, with Bramich telling Battlers For Bush Footy that a key feature of the squads’ pre-seasons being immersion in the history and culture of the Bulls representative program 

“We’re definitely trying to instill that in the team,” he said.

“Our coaches have put a lot of effort into going over the histories of Riverina with the groups. 

“We’ve also increased our training load thanks to parent buy-in as well and the players themselves. 

“We’ve been getting our players regularly to a Wednesday night session, travelling and meeting in Wagga and then also travelling on a Saturday and Sunday to train as well, and I think that paid off in our results.”

Bramich said that there was a lengthy period of preparation for the teams ahead of the upcoming rep season, which will run for just over a month before a potential finals berth.

“I think, so we started pre-season in November on the back of selection trials, and we play three trial games for each of the teams in preparation for the competition,” he said.

“It’s a five round competition, so for kids that age it can be a bit draining and quite a lot of travel and commitment, and they’re tough games back to back to back.

“Then on the back of that, there’s a final series as well.”

When it comes to the Riverina teams’ collective goal for the upcoming campaign, it is both clear and achievable.

“I think this year, obviously our results haven’t been great in previous years, so we’d like to see us just be more competitive,” he said.

“Previously, we haven’t made finals in the last five years in any of the grades, so I think just making finals would be a great achievement for any of our sides.

“This is the first year that our Under 17s girls have been given the chance to play a full season. 

“Usually they just get the one or two games and very limited training, but [this year] they’ve been given the same opportunities to the boys, training from November regularly on the same days as the boys. 

“They’ve really grown in that short amount of time, and I’ve got a feeling they’ll be one of our better teams just based on the results they’ve shown so far.”

Next up for the Bulls’ Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley Cup squads is a trip to Cowra this weekend to face the Western Rams in another trial, while the Lisa Fiaola Cup side will enjoy a weekend off.