Footy’s big bush whack: Junee Diesels facing toughest fight in 16 year history

The heartland of rugby league is on its knees, body hit by encroaching codes and a dire shortage of players and cash.

The heartland of rugby league is on its knees, with country folk who live for their footy now watching the game crumble under the weight of Covid’s legacy, encroaching codes and a dire shortage of players and cash.

Junee Diesels, the club that produced league icon Laurie Daley, is facing the toughest fight in its 96-year history after the club was kicked out of first grade for failing to field a team for the first two rounds this year.

The Diesels have become the face of a battle that’s happening right across country NSW, with Bellingen Magpies, Camden Haven Eagles, Cooma Stallions, Guyra Super Spuds, Glen Innes Magpies and Casino Cougars among the bush footy clubs unable to field first grade sides in 2022.

Former NSW State of Origin captain Laurie Daley (3rd R top row) as a schoolboy at Junee High School in a 1983 photo.

1984 photo of Laurie Daley at Junee High School.

Daley is desperate to save his old club

NSW Blues legend Daley is desperate to avoid his old club collapsing permanently.

“All different country towns have their challenges of trying to get their people to play sport and given Junee is such a strong rugby league town we don’t want to see them fold and never have one again,” Daley said.

“So that’s the challenge for everyone is to try and make it happen and get them back up and running next year. As a rugby league unit we need to all pitch in and rally around, whether it’s the NRL, NSWRL or locals at their club.”

Junee Diesels senior players Will McDermott, Seb Mc, Ratu Saurara, James Strickland, Jack McCarthy. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

VISA ROADBLOCK

The Diesels were blindsided when eight Fijian recruits who were meant to arrive in Junee before Christmas failed to arrive in the country. The club had looked to overseas workers who were going to work at the abattoirs as their last-ditch attempt to field a first grade side.

“If they had arrived in March, I think more local players could have seen the potential for a side,” Diesels president David Holt said.

“I believe there’s something like four thousand workers to be processed coming out of Fiji on these visas and unfortunately the eight that we want must have just been pushed down the list.”

Former Junee boys Michael McCormack

and Ray Warren.

Junee isn’t alone in looking overseas to fill bush footy teams, with neighbouring towns Temora and Cootamundra building their rugby union and league sides with international recruits.

Federal member for Riverina Michael McCormack, who grew up in Junee, has cherished memories of playing junior football for the Diesels in the late 1970s.

He said that while overseas recruits have become a lifeline for many bush clubs, local players had to form the nucleus of first grade sides.

“You’ve got to be able to field locals and enough players that are born and bred locally and living in the area, to ensure survival of the club,” McCormack said.

LIFE AFTER COVID

Junee is home to several large employers, including the Junee Correctional Centre, Junee Lamb abattoirs and the Australian Rail Track ­Corporation.

Holt said while the businesses were crucial to the town, several core local players and supporters could no longer commit to a season at the club because of the work-sport balance.

“Back in the day shops would shut at lunchtime on Saturday through to Monday and everyone was free all day to come down and watch the footy,” Holt said.

“But now we’ve got so much shift work happening over the weekend.”

Holt said the pandemic has also cruelled the return of the winter sport season.

Former Bulldogs player Adam Perry

Club veteran and Diesels under 16s coach Simon Van Zanten said it had been a “very emotional week”.

The 43-year-old correctional officer has seen the development of Diesel products into star NRL players.

“We won our Under-18s premiership in 1995 with (former Bulldogs player) Adam Perry and I also played first grade when (former Canberra Raiders player) Michael Dobson made his first grade debut for the club,” Van Zanten said.

“This year I’m thinking I might have to strap on the boots again after six years to help out with reserve grade.”

THE CODE WAR

The age-old rivalry between league and Aussie rules continues to run strong in the Riverina and the women’s AFL competition is creating big challenges for NSWRL.

Women’s AFL is the fastest growing competition in the Riverina with a 118 per cent expansion in the sport since 2019. Seven new clubs have formed in the last three years.

“The AFL clubs are really big in the Riverina and I’ve seen plenty of girls move to different clubs to play AFL in the summer and netball in the winter,” Diesels senior league tag player Abbie Duck said.

THE NSWRL PLAN

Group 9, traditionally a country rugby league powerhouse, has already farewelled the Tumbarumba Greens, Cootamundra Bulldogs and Harden Murrumburrah Hawks in recent years due to a lack of playing depth.

In 2020, NSWRL rolled out the One State plan in an attempt to save bush footy clubs. But many locals are still concerned the sport is in danger of fading into obscurity in the country.

Holt said “a lot of smaller towns are staring down the same barrel”. “I know there are a few clubs struggling in the younger senior age groups, Gundagai couldn’t field an under-16s team.”

NSWRL Community Rugby League manager Peter Clarke said the organisation is looking at how groups around the state should be restructured so more clubs can be competitive.

Junee NSW Local Under 8s Rugby League Boys: (from left) Lachlan Oliver, Cameron Ballard, Archer Brady, Edward Muller and William White. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

THE NEXT GENERATION

Junee will retain its four lower grades – under 16s, 18s, league tag and reserve grade – this year, which the club said is vital to retain junior players within the club.

NSWRL figures show the Diesels have lost 20 boys and 10 girls from last year.

“The juniors are our rock. Our major driving force is to provide a pathway for the juniors that are here so they can see a future in the town playing rugby league,” Holt said.

“That’s why we are still trying to get as many of our seniors to training so the young ones can see them.”