Future bright for CSU club as Mud Dogs men prepare for return to field

Tallon Smith

The Goulburn Murray Premiership men’s competition will remain at seven clubs in 2026 after Albury’s CSU Mud Dogs announced they intend to return to the field for the upcoming campaign.

The return of the CSU after a year in recess offsets the loss of the Wolfpack (formerly Benalla Wolfpack) on the men’s side of the draw, after that club entered recess for 2026.

Mud Dogs committee member and women’s coach Bill Bentley said that the club’s efforts in re-establishing a team will benefit not only the CSU club but the whole Goulburn Murray competition.

“We have been working pretty hard over the off-season to get a men’s team back in,” he said.

“It’s looking like we should be having a women’s and a men’s team as well, which will be good not only for us but I think for the competition as well to get another team back in there.”

CSU Mud Dogs men’s player, women’s coach and committee member Bill Bentley

The club’s return to the competition has been far from straightforward, with many of its players spending the past season with other teams in the region and needing to be lured back to the Mud Dogs.

This, in turn, has created potential player shortfalls at those clubs that need to be filled, given the limited rugby league talent pool in the Australian rules-dominated region.

Bentley admitted that while it is great to see the club return to being the fourth active rugby league club in Albury-Wodonga, the growing number of teams in the area remains a challenge.

“Club-wise I think it will be great for us to have a men’s team, we’ve been around for 12 years, and for the most part of that time we’ve had a men’s team, so it will be good for us as a club to have both teams going again,” he said.

“As far as the competition goes, or the area, it is hard having so many teams, and I think that’s probably why we ended up having to fold [our men’s side], because there have been so many teams introduced in the area.

“Obviously Thunder has been there for a while, but we’ve got those other three teams [CSU Mud Dogs, Border Bears and Wodonga Wombats] all competing for players, so we’ve had to work pretty hard in the off-season to try and get some of those players back and just build enough of a base to get back in the competition.

“It is a challenge.”

The club has continued to field a successful women’s team during the absence of its men’s side

Another concerning theme in the region over this off-season, like many previously, has been uncertainty around which teams will compete in the 2026 premiership, with other clubs facing issues with recruitment and numbers in addition to the demise of Wolfpack.

When asked if the unpredictable nature of the competition’s line-up of teams each season makes it harder to attract players and plan for the upcoming campaign, Bentley said while it is far from ideal, it is part of the challenge of playing rugby league in a non-traditional region for the sport.

“I think it does make it harder, it would be good going in knowing that we’ve got seven or eight teams in the competition, but with the nature of it being a bit of a step below Group Nine, for the last six or seven years there have been teams coming and going, and it’s still been relatively successful,” he said.

“We never completely know all the teams that are going to be present in that competition year-to-year, but at this stage it is what it is.

“We’ve just got to keep trying our best as a club and as a comp I suppose to keep getting the word out there.”

The men’s team will be coached by Izaea Christie and Beau Smith.