Tallon Smith

The West Wyalong Mallee Men have made a major stride forward heading into the 2026 Group 20 season after securing the services of Luke Clarke as the club’s first grade coach.

A former coach of Orange Hawks and Eugowra, as well as a player at both Parkes and Forbes, Clarke will bring his comprehensive rugby league resume to the Mallee Men, to lead the club through its continuing rebuild after a tough season in 2025.

Speaking exclusively to Battlers For Bush Footy, Clarke said that it was a good surprise to be offered the role at the 114-year old club, with his goals for the upcoming season clear.

“It was a bit of an unexpected surprise and an opportunity that came up,” he said.

“I’ve heard some good things about the boys, and I think if we work hard and hook in, [making the] semi finals is the goal.

“After that what happens happens, but that’s definitely the goal to make it to the semis.”

With an extensive background in coaching, including at junior representative level, Clarke will approach the role with plenty of experience in multiple different arenas within country rugby league.

As for what his pre-season will consist of, the incoming mentor said a foundation of good old fashioned hard work will set the tone for building structures and a game plan later on as the West Wyalong Knockout and round 1 approach.

“Early on we will definitely be hitting the ground with a lot of fitness,” he said.

“I’ll obviously incorporate some of my ideas with some of their past plays and some of their structure they work with, we’ll definitely put some of my little touches on top.

“I’m looking forward to working with the boys and learning from them.”

After a difficult campaign in 2025, where the club finished bottom of the ladder in Group 20, the signing of Clarke is key to the Mallee Men’s ambitions to return to success next season.

West Wyalong President Matt Goodwin said that the signing has renewed interest and created excitement among the club’s local players heading into the pre-season.

“I spoke to our senior players as soon as I had Luke’s signature, [and] everybody’s excited going forward for 2026,” he said.

“He comes with plenty of experience, he was captain-coach of Orange Hawks, he also captain-coached Eugowra for three years, so we’re excited to have him on board.”

Another potential benefit of the signing is the reduced responsibility on previous coach Braiden Jones, who had performed the role for the past two seasons.

Goodwin said that with the ability to focus more on his own performances, he hopes that the talented Jones can return to the form that saw him win the Ray Thorpe Medal as the competition’s player of the year in 2022.

“The captain-coach from last year, Braiden Jones, is going to play, he’ll play as a player, but we just needed someone externally this time,” he said.

“Braiden did a great job for two years under some tough circumstances.”

Meanwhile, the Mallee Men will kick off their season by hosting the annual West Wyalong Knockout on the 27th and 28th of February at Ron Crowe Oval.

That happens to be the same day that Riverina will host Monaro in round one of the 2026 Country Championships at Laurie Daley Oval in Junee.

While the clash is not ideal, Goodwin said that he expects that clubs will only be missing a few players each, and that the expected timing of both events should mean that those at the representative games can still make it to West Wyalong in time for the Knockout finals.

“There’s going to be a few players missing from some teams, but I know when I played there was a whole spread of players from all different teams [in representative sides], so there might be one or two from [each] club,” he said.

“The juniors start [the representative matches], there’s a whole day of it, so by the time seniors are finished, it’ll be another half an hour or more and we’ll start Saturday games, so people can come from Junee and still arrive in time.”