Cover Photo: Tahlia Crane Photography
Tallon Smith
The Cootamundra Bulldogs are hoping a focus on developing local talent will pay dividends for the club in 2026 as it looks to the future under returned first grade coach Luke Berkrey.
The Bulldogs took out the Group 9 Weissel Cup premiership last season, after only re-joining the competition on a full-time basis at the beginning of the year.
Cootamundra first grade coach Luke Berkrey said that several of the players in the victorious under 18s team have already made their first grade debuts, and expects them to feature heavily throughout the 2026 campaign.
“There’s obviously a really good crop of them kids that got a little bit of a taste of first grade last year,” he said.
“Kids like Jai Willoughby, Ollie Hall, Ned Murray, Harry Boxsell, they’ve really surprised me in the pre-season about how good they’re going.
“One to point out is Ollie Hall, he’s ducked away to Penrith for a little bit and seen what it’s like up there, he’s going to be in for a really big season.
“There’s no real pressure on them, they’re only young, I understand they’re going to have ups and downs throughout the year, especially at that age, so it’s my job to manage them and make sure they’re ready to be playing each week.”
The Bulldogs’ youth focus this season comes after a difficult off-season recruiting-wise for Group 9 clubs.
So far, the only new name to join Cootamundra for the 2026 campaign is Berkrey himself, with the coach returning to his home town after stints with Gundagai and Yass.
The local junior said that he is happy to be back at Les Boyd Oval this season, and has enjoyed working with the club’s emerging stars throughout the pre-season.
“I’m absolutely loving the role, as soon as I had signed and sorted it all out, I knew it was exactly where I wanted to be,” he said.
“I obviously grew up in Coota all my life until I was 16, [then] moved away for a bit, and I’ve been back in Coota for a while.
“We’ve got a really good crop of young kids, and I feel like I’m able to pass a bit of knowledge on to them.”
One area of strength for Cootamundra last season was the club’s forward pack, with signings Nikola Sovatabua and Tai Vaavale leading from the front in the team’s return campaign.
These strong performances saw both of them rewarded with Group 9 selection for the Kelly Cup clash against Group 20 last month.
Berkrey said the selections were merited, and believed the experience of playing in the representative arena would only serve to elevate their standard of play coming into the 2026 season.
“I think Tai and Niks were well deserved to be playing in that side, they’re two of the better forwards running around in the comp at the moment I reckon,” he said.
“They’re big powerful boys, and I know that our crew get a lot of confidence from them going away and playing that rep footy.
“It’s only good for them, and they come back as better players, so I was very grateful that Blake picked them, and [I’m] really looking forward to seeing where them boys can get to in their second year in Coota now they’re settled into the town.”
Looking to the season ahead, with such a talented young core of players emerging into grade football, many will be watching closely to see how the Bulldogs fare in their second year back in the competition.
In terms of what goals the club has for the upcoming campaign, Berkrey said he is more focused on continuous development than fixed targets.
“[We have] no sort of long term goal of where we want to get to or amount of wins or anything like that, the only thing that we speak about is trying to know that we’re better, our next session is our best session, and the season will pan itself out,” he said.
“I don’t like trying to bracket where we might finish or how many wins we’ll have, that sort of stuff can sort itself out.
“If we’re training well and preparing ourselves well, then we’ll just see where that ends up.”
Cootamundra’s season will begin with a first-up trip to Temora on April 18.
