Candelo-Bemboka president Jake McDonald is excited to launch the Panthers’ rugby league season.
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He said the Panthers would look to launch a strong junior season with a coaching and registration day on February 14.
Depending on entries, the club will be hoping to form teams from the under sevens right through to under 16s.
“We’ll see what happens but we’re pretty confident to get a good response in the junior grades," McDonald said.
“We’d also love to hear from anyone interested in coaching if they want to put their hand up.”
The day will also serve as a bit of a meet and greet for parents to catch up with players and committee members to answer any questions and discuss the coming season.
The club will also host a sausage sizzle with the day to run from 11.30am at the Candelo football ground.
“The plan is to have a lot of the senior team along and some of the guys will be running coaching drills and that sort of thing,” he said.
The club has also launched into some pre-season training for its reserve and league-tag rosters.
“It’s all looking good, we’ve had a few sessions and numbers have been surprisingly high,” McDonald said.
“Everything has been running well and we’ll have the same alliance with the Merimbula-Pambula Bulldogs that we did last year.”
The Panthers won the reserve grade premiership in their return season and had a strong season to reach the finals last year, but went down to the Sharks in the grand final.
Meanwhile, the league-tag Pink Panthers women’s roster shocked many doubters in its debut season, scoring three wins against some strong opposition.
“The Pink Panthers will be officially launching their training from Friday at Colombo Park,” McDonald said.
The women will be training in conjunction with the men, with both sessions to run from 6pm at the Bemboka ground.
“We’ll be having a bit of a get together at the Bemboka Hotel afterwards and anyone interested is welcome to join us on the night.”
At this point, both the senior squads will be largely the same, but McDonald said the Panthers are welcoming a few new players.
Anyone interested in joining the club is also welcome to head along to training.
The registration day will run at the Candelo Football Ground from 11.30am on February 14.
The Group 16 season will launch on March 12 with the Indigenous v All Stars rep clash to be played in Moruya.
The local Nines tournament will be held the following week at a venue yet to be announced.