Central Coast Rugby League: Northern Lakes Warriors and Budgewoi Bulldogs to join division in 2024

Fresh from news that a Hunter big gun is making the move south, two more clubs have joined the Central Coast Rugby League division in 2024.

The Central Coast Rugby League will welcome a couple of familiar faces this season, with the Northern Lakes Warriors and Budgewoi Bulldogs joining the senior division in 2024.

On the back of news that the Dora Creek Swampies will move from the Newcastle and Hunter Rugby League association to the Central Coast, it has also been confirmed that both the Warriors and Bulldogs will follow their path and enter sides in the CCRL open grade competition this year.

Playing in the Central Coast senior division until 2019, Northern Lakes have taken part in NHRL competitions over the past four seasons, most recently playing in B grade in 2023.

And while Budgewoi fielded a team in the CCRL women’s tackle competition last season, the men’s side has been a regular in the NHRL since the senior arm of the club was established seven years ago, playing in the C grade southern conference in 2023.

With the Warriors’ and Bulldogs’ juniors playing in the Central Coast junior competition, the decision creates greater alignment between the clubs and their up-and-coming players.

The Northern Lakes Warriors senior men’s team will return to the CCRL in 2024. Picture: supplied

“It’s wonderful to see them back and to all be in the same comp as their juniors and provide pathways going forward,” said Scott Openshaw, seniors chairperson on the Rugby League Central Coast board. “They’re great clubs and it’s wonderful to have them back.”

Their inclusion has created the potential for a bumper open grade competition in 2024, with 13 clubs expressing interest in entering teams in the competition.

After four years playing in the Hunter, Northern Lakes are thrilled to be back on the Central Coast.

“We’re really excited to be back,” said Troy Jackson, the team’s assistant coach and sponsorship co-ordinator. “We just want to play local footy. This is where all of our juniors are and all the players who have represented the club have played their whole junior footy, so we wanted to come back and represent the club on the Central Coast.”

In addition to a general urge to return to the Central Coast division, Jackson said part of the motivation to make the move was to create stronger links with the Warriors’ juniors.

“We’re trying to get our juniors to come through and create those pathways so that players stay with our club instead of moving on to the bigger and more financially stable clubs,” he said, noting that the decision has been well received by players and supporters.

“They’re super excited that we’re back on the Coast now. It’s not as far to travel and to actually get to see our local juniors back in the Central Coast comp representing the seniors is great.”

The Woy Woy Roosters took out last year’s open grade grand final after a thrilling 8-6 victory over St Edwards. Picture: Alex Pichaloff

And while they will just enter one team in the opens this season, Jackson said the club has plans to expand and grow over the coming seasons.

“We’re not going to ask any of our players to play in a competition where they’re not up to that standard yet. But our aim in the next two or three years is to generate enough players to come back and to have a really strong club again where we can represent in all grades.”

As for things on the field, the Warriors have made it clear that they’re not coming back just to make up the numbers.

“We plan on being as competitive as we can,” said Jackson. “We’re not coming back just to play fun footy, our objective is to win as many games as possible and we always set our goal to play finals footy.

“We did that in the lower Hunter comp last year and were successful, and our plan this year is to play finals footy again in the open grade competition on the Coast.”

And while the Warriors are delighted to be back, there’s a somewhat different vibe at Budgewoi, who’ve been forced into a move back to the Coast after changes at the NHRL.

“They changed the constitution in Newcastle, which didn’t allow clubs from outer areas to play in that competition, so we actually had to come back,” said Budgewoi president Richard Tangye. “We would have been happy to stay in Newcastle but we’ve actually had to come back and apply to play on the Central Coast.”

The news comes after the Dora Creek Swampies successfully joined the Central Coast division. Picture: supplied

And while the Bulldogs will be playing teams closer to home, Tangye says there have been quite a few complications in making the switch.

“It’s actually been a fairly difficult journey because we’ve gone from a club playing in a competition where no one gets paid into a semi-professional competition on the Central Coast where guys get paid to play football. And it’s been very hard with player retention when they see that someone playing the same grade is getting money to play. That’s probably been one of the biggest hurdles.”

In addition, the shift from playing predominantly Saturday afternoons in the Hunter to Sundays on the Coast is another complicating factor for the Bulldogs.

“Now some days we’re going to have to play 10am on a Sunday morning. So there’s a big difference and it’s been a hard road to convince the guys to stay,” said Tangye.

“We lost a few players to big clubs, they’ve been offered money to go and play. But most of the players have stayed. We’ve also been lucky and picked up a few players along the way, so our numbers are looking good.”

The Budgewoi Bulldogs will line up in the Central Coast division in 2024. Picture: supplied

But despite the challenges in adapting to the new division, the club is excited about the new experience.

“We’re actually looking forward to it,” said Tangye. “The competition that we’ve been playing in – the southern conference – is a fairly good standard of rugby league and it’s going to be interesting to see how we come back and fit into third grade on the Central Coast.”

And just like with Northern Lakes, the move has provided a chance for Budgewoi to further strengthen links with its junior club, with the seniors set to move their homes games back to Halekulani Oval after playing out of Buff Point last season.

“We’re looking forward to moving back with the juniors. And that’s the reason we created the club seven years ago: we just wanted a pathway for the Budgewoi boys so they didn’t have to go to any other clubs,” said Tangye.

“We have still had that contact there with the juniors but we’re really looking forward to having that presence again on the Coast and letting the juniors come and be part of it.”

And to put the cherry on top, the club will have former Bulldogs Brado McAndrew and Matty Ashford taking the reins as coaches for the season.

“We’ve got a group of ex-Budgewoi juniors coaching this year, so we’ve done what we’ve set out to do,” said Tangye.