Bellingen Valley-Dorrigo Magpies and Orara Valley Axemen outline plans to join Hastings League

Two Mid-North Coast rugby league clubs have outlined plans to return to action in 2025 in a shake-up of local senior footy. Find out where things stand.

The Bellingen Valley Dorrigo Magpies are hopeful of returning to senior football in 2025.

The Bellingen Valley-Dorrigo Magpies and Orara Valley Axemen are hopeful of returning to senior football in 2025 after outlining plans to join the Hastings League competition.

Having last played in the local Group 2 division in 2023 and 2022, respectively, the clubs have applied to join the community-based league in what would be a shake-up of local rugby league on the Mid-North Coast.

“We’ve ticked all of the boxes required to enter the league and we’re confident that we’ll be able to continue,” said Orara Valley president Stevan Cetinich. “We’re well through the preparation to be able to achieve that. We’ve got players and we’re just waiting to push the ‘Go’ button.”

The Orara Valley Axemen have also applied to join the Hastings League. Picture Frank Redward

Meanwhile at Bellingen, Magpies president George White is excited by the prospect of having senior football played in the town again after a hiatus in 2024.

“It’s good for the community,” he said. “We needed a senior club in some form because our juniors come through, get to 16s, and because we don’t have an 18s they go off to join other clubs and we run the risk of losing them forever – or for a very long time.”

While the clubs are confident they have met the criteria to join the competition, their applications still need to be approved by the existing Hastings League clubs and, if successful, then NSW Rugby League’s Mid-North Coast group at its AGM on February 10 before any ratification can take place.

THE PROPOSAL

If approved, Bellingen and Orara’s move into the Hastings League would reshape the nature of local rugby league in the region.

While previously competing in Group 2, the Magpies and Axemen have opted to resume playing senior footy via the Hastings League, which is a community-based competition traditionally consisting of teams from small towns stretching from Harrington in the south, through inland areas like Comboyne and Long Flat and as far as north as South West Rocks.

Regarded as more of a social, second-division competition, the Hastings League sees clubs field just one senior men’s team. This is in contrast to the demands of Group 2, which requires clubs to enter teams in first grade, under-18s and then at least one of either reserve grade or women’s tackle to compete in the division.

The entry of Bellingen and Orara into the Hastings League would create a far greater geographical spread, while the return of the Smithtown-based Lower Macleay Magpies would bring the number of clubs in the competition to 11.

While still waiting on a final approval, the league has developed a proposal to divide the team into two pools. Orara, Bellingen, Bowraville, Lower Macleay and South West Rocks would be in the northern pool and the Wauchope-based Beechwood Shamrocks, Long Flat, Lake Cathie, Laurieton, Comboyne and Kendall Blues would make up the southern group.

Clubs would play against teams in their own pool twice and then face off with the other sides once, with the league even raising the possibility of finding neutral venues to cut down travel time for some of the longer road trips.

Another key aspect would see Bellingen align with Group 2 club Sawtell and Orara team up with the Coffs Harbour Comets in a feeder club relationship.

“Some of the senior grades are a bit hesitant because they think we’ll be poaching players,” said Hastings League president Geoff Connor. “But at the end of the day, all our clubs that come in, like Bellingen and Orara, have got to have a senior club – that’s one of our rules.

“So Bellingen is going to align itself with Sawtell and Orara with Coffs Harbour. Both of those senior clubs have been really supportive and have voted to help them out.

“And if they have a relationship between the two, it only helps. If they’ve got too many players or some coming back from injury they can send them out to Bellingen to get a game, and if they need them at the back end of the year they can call for them. And vice-versa: if Bellingen have too many and Sawtell are short they can give them some players.”

OBSTACLES

While there is plenty of goodwill from Bellingen and Orara, the Hastings League and NSWRL to make it all work, there are nevertheless some obstacles that will need to be overcome in order to make it a reality.

Despite the proposed two-pool system, the main issue is travel.

“Harrington is having a rest at the moment but if they were in that’s virtually Taree to Coffs Harbour, so that’s a big area,” said Connor. “And we’ve got Comboyne as well, which is up on the plateau. So Comboyne is nearly an hour from Wauchope and then you’ve got to go from Wauchope to Coffs Harbour basically, so you’re looking at two and a half/three hours.

“So it’s not going to be completely straightforward, there’ll be some different points to be covered. We’re trying to get around that with some double-headers and to make the draw as workable as possible, maybe even split the comp and that kind of stuff.

“Nothing can be done until such time that it’s been accepted. We can’t even do a draw because we don’t know if we’re going to have 11 teams or 10 or even nine.”

The Magpies and Axemen have been placed in the northern pool of a proposed two-pool system.

Indeed, while both Bellingen and Orara are very confident they will meet the criteria to join the competition, Connor said the tentative plans could collapse if even one team pulls out.

“We have put a proposal out and that included Pool A and Pool B. But if one of the clubs up there don’t make it we’ll have to go straight back to the drawing board because that would only give us four teams up north and six down south,” he said.

“It’s really up in the air at the moment. I know everyone’s keen and I’ve seen certain reports on social media and various media outlets but they’re all talking through their hat because it won’t be ratified one way or another until at least February 10 when the (NSWRL) North Coast AGM is on.”

RETURN TO FOOTY

The approval of Bellingen and Orara Valley would mark the return to senior footy for the clubs after an eventful couple of years.

Having last played in the 2022 grand final, when NRL and England legend Sam Burgess was at the helm as coach, Orara suffered from a significant exodus at the end of that season and has spent the last two years in recess.

Meanwhile Bellingen also sat out last season, with Group 2’s firm insistence on clubs fielding teams in at least three grades ultimately sinking the Magpies.

“That pretty much pushed us out of the whole thing,” said White.

The Axemen last played senior football in the 2022 grand final, when international Sam Burgess was the coach.

With both clubs looking down the barrel of sitting out the 2024 season, they even investigated the idea of teaming up under plans to form a Combined Valleys outfit in the Group 2 competition.

And while they got close to formalising a deal, it ultimately fell apart before the start of the season.

“The logistics of it was impossible,” said Bellingen president White. “Seven home games, where do we play them? How do we work out training, who’s going to play for what? It was just too much.”

A GOOD FIT

Although the clubs won’t be returning to top-level senior footy in Group 2, they are thrilled by the prospect of getting back on the park.

“This could be a godsend for us, to go to the Hastings comp,” said White. “In Group 2 there’s not enough cattle to go round and it seems match payments dominate who goes where.”

He added: “I’ve been out and about talking to prospective sponsors and everyone I’ve spoken to seems to be on board. It’s more a community competition, the training’s not as intense, the games aren’t as intense. The whole comp is designed to be basically of a reggies standard, which is good for players to get some game time before possibly stepping up.

“Another thing is that it is the main event for the day. Ex-players who’ve hung up the boots might want to come back, and it’s also a development comp for our young blokes and gives them something to aspire to.”

Penrith superstar Dylan Edwards is a Bellingen-Dorrigo junior. Picture: NRL Photos

And while Orara weren’t initially keen on joining the Hastings League, Cetinich said the club has come around to the idea.

“We actually dismissed that idea at the time because we wanted to be playing first grade Group football,” he said.

“But towards the end of last year Bellingen were on the front foot compared to us with joining the Hastings League and that just piqued a bit of interest within our broader committee. We then spoke to our coach Steve Sanders about starting things up again and thought, ‘Let’s have a crack because the alternative is not having any rugby league played out at the Orara Valley.’”

Now the Axemen are all in and looking forward to getting the green light to hit the field again.

“We’re all actually pretty happy with the concept of the Hastings League. Our plans are to stick with it. We need to build some normal stability within the club and the playing ranks as well. We want to make sure we play consistent football each year, so we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves too much in that regard.

Orara Valley wants to provide a pathway for its junior players to remain at the club.

“But I like the concept of the Hastings League; most of the players are playing for the love of football, they’re not chasing match payments and things like that. It’s more of a community thing – you go and play against a club and then go back to their pub and have a beer and a feed. I think that brings back what football should be about more so than chasing dollars and things like that.”

Indeed, if their application are approved, the clubs will be able to ensure that senior footy maintains a presence in the respective towns and provides a pathway for the juniors coming through the system.

“We (Bellingen/Dorrigo) can pump out some good young footballers and it’d be good to give them the opportunity to come through the system here,” said White.

Cetinich agreed: “We’ve got a bunch of (junior) sides and there are still heaps of kids out in the Valley coming through. You still want them to have senior football representation.”

He added: “There’s a lot of support for rugby league to be played out in the Valley. We get good home crowds, it’s a good ground to be at, so we’re looking forward to that.”