Mudgee to host first country rugby league nines tournament

THE Auckland Nines might attract the glitz, glamour and NRL stars but if you want a real country footy experience the Mudgee Nines are right up your alley.

NRL - Round 11 Parramatta Eels vs Gold Coast Titans at Mudgee Stadium .Titan's Kevin Gordonscores a try

They boast the best ground in Country Rugby League, now the Mudgee Dragons will host bush footy’s equivalent to the NRL Auckland Nines.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Dragons have received approval from the CRL for Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium to hold country league’s inaugural Nines tournament.

The Nines will be held over two days on February 27- 28 and organisers have opened the door for teams across the country to enter a side and compete for $9,500 in prizemoney.

Mudgee committee member Craig Lang said he was inspired to create a Nines concept after attending the annual NRL event in Auckland for his son’s buck’s party last February.

“We thought it was a great idea and we’ve got to capitalise on it,” Lang said.

“We’ve got this great ground, but is not fully utilised and we just wanted to get something started and try and build on it.

“The whole idea of having it over two days is to attract people to Mudgee that wouldn’t normally come here.

“We want to run it on that real party atmosphere of the Auckland Nines, so bring your family and you can go do the wineries if they want to.

“We just want to help put Mudgee on the map.

“We had problems getting early season trials last year, so we thought the Nines were a different way to go about it.

“You only need to put nines players on, give them a full game and run them into a bit of aerobic fitness.”

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The Country Rugby League have sanctioned Mudgee’s Nines tournament, which will ensure all participating teams are covered by insurance.

The event has also picked up a sponsor in Peabody Energy, who operate the Wilpinjong open-cut mine located 40 kilometres north east of Mudgee.

At present, nine teams have registered for the 16-team tournament and event organisers are hoping for more interest to spark up in the New Year.

On top of fielding men’s all-age teams, Lang said officials were also open to Under 18s players taking part.

He is also hopeful of a number of former NRL stars playing in the Nines to help promote the event and inspire the next generation of aspiring footballers.

The Glen Willows Sporting Complex hosted the City-Country match in 2012.

“The first team to nominate was from the bloke who has an online group called, ‘bush footy yarns’,” Lang said.

“He said he’d try and pull some former NRL players together.

“It would be great if some ex-players entered a team — it would be good for the kids.

“We want to run with 16 teams and we’ll just use the Auckland Nines draw and their rules, so we don’t have to change too much.

“Our secretary has sent out all the details to the neighbouring Groups and we’ve got it out on Facebook trying to get it out to anyone that will come.

“We’ve got some mates playing in pub sides down in Sydney and Newcastle who might be keen to play as well.”

Lang would also like to see a women’s side play in the Mudgee Nines.

“If there are any ladies who are keen to play we’d love to have them,” he beamed.

“We couldn’t believe the skills and the hits the Jillaroos and Kiwi girls put on at the Nines last year, it was awesome.

“We just want to get the event up and running.

“If we can get it out there, I’m sure there will be no problems to get sides here in future years if they have a good time.”

Originally published as Mudgee to host first country rugby league nines tournament