Mudgee Touch taps off its representative season this weekend with two teams heading to the NSW Touch Country Championships on the Central Coast.
The Mudcrabs’ mixed open and women’s 30s will be flying the flag for Mudgee, with both squads keen for the season to get underway.
Their preparations have been clouded by uncertainty with COVID-19 restrictions putting the major NSW Touch tournament in doubt.
But the event has been given the green light with COVID-safe policies in place and a challenging draw for the Mudgee Mudcrabs, who will mostly play back-to-back games in an effort to limit the numbers of people at the Central Coast Regional Sporting Complex at any one time.
After finishing as runners-up to Wallsend in 2019, the mixed opens will be looking to go one better this time around.
They face Newcastle, followed immediately by their rivals Wallsend on Saturday morning, with a match against Macksville in the afternoon.
Sunday’s draw has three games in a row against Peninsula, Wollongong and Berkeley Vale.
With Australian touch representative Justin “Sossa” Gossage leading the team through a solid training regime for the past ten weeks, they are confident they are in with a real chance of bringing the Country Championships title home to Mudgee for the first time in the club’s history.
“We’ve been training and preparing well,” Gossage said.
“We’re looking to win it and put us in a good position for State Cup, if it goes ahead in December.
“The new format of playing games over consecutive timeslots is going to be tough especially if it is hot, but we’ve been working hard on our fitness as much as our gameplay.”
The team has a powerful pair in the captaincy role, with the experience of Liz Channon combined with new recruit Jared Robinson, a former men’s open Mudcrab and a Group 10 representative.
With most of last year’s women’s 30s players returning for the 20/21 season and experienced touch footballers like Kerry Reynolds and Peta Newsome leading the way, the ladies are looking to surpass last year’s results.
Knocked off in the final by a Maitland intercept try in an extra-time drop-off at the 2019 Country Championships and finishing in fifth place at State Cup, coach Roy Prasad said the side is much-improved and ready to take on the tournament.
“I’m very confident. We will do well if we can put everything together, ” Australian Touch representative player Prasad said.
“It’s hard being from a small country town and not having played trial games like clubs from bigger centres, but we will be aiming to make finals and go at least one better than last year.”
Training hard since the middle of winter, Prasad said the Mudcrab ladies would find the back-to back games tough, but would do well if they played to their strengths.
“Our structure is really good. What we really have to do is maintain it under pressure,” he said.
The women will face Newcastle 1, Newcastle 2 and Central Coast in quick succession on Saturday, before back-to-back games against Wallsend and Macksville on Sunday.
Courtesy of the Mudgee Guardian
