Senior Diehards players mentor the next generation of Dalby rugby league stars

The reigning TRL premiers are looking to secure their next generation of talent through their second Devils to Diehards Week with senior players mentoring the younger athletes to safeguard the future of the club.

The second annual Devils to Diehards Week is underway with senior members of the Dalby rugby club mentoring the junior players.

Created to strengthen the bond between the seniors and juniors and safeguard the future of the club, organisers have hailed the program a success.

A Grade manager Mark Harms said the program, which was now in its sophomore year, had positive outcomes for both the junior and senior teams.

Devils to Diehards Week

“It is about trying to build a relationship between the two clubs and try to inspire the young kids to look up to our senior grade and we are doing that by having our senior players come back and mentor the junior players throughout the week,” he said.

“That ranges from under-6s all the way through to under-17s and during the weekend those players will attend the games of the juniors help out during the day and give out man of the match awards.

“The juniors love it, last year it was a learning curve and it went really well but I think we have really built on it this year.

“We have more senior players and more awareness of what we are doing this year and we have made a family fun day on the Sunday with lots of activities for the juniors to do.”

Devils to Diehards Week

Mr Harms said the program was important to continue ensure the clubs’ continued success.

“It is really important to safeguard the future of the club we have got some really good juniors and coaches and we are just trying to take it to the next level and keep them in our town,” he said

“It is about keeping them in the club as kids get older the attendance drops off so we are trying to keep them enthusiastic about playing and getting them over to watch the senior players

“We want our juniors to look up to our seniors. We were premiers last year, we’ve done really well this year with a strong culture so we are just trying promote Dalby football.

“We aren't trying to take over the junior sides we just there to mentor and educate the players in different drills and there to help the coaches as well.”

The club currently has about 450 junior players.

Originally published as Senior Diehards players mentor the next generation of Dalby rugby league stars