Bears adding key pair to begin rebuild
OAKEY is looking to make inroads in the TRL Premiership with a pair of handy signings.
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RUGBY LEAGUE: Oakey is hoping a back to basics approach can turn their fortunes around heading into the 2020 TRL Premiership season.
A disappointing last season saw them drop from finals hopefuls to wooden spooners, however new coach Brendan Dolan wants to help the club rebuild into the right direction.
“We’ve been back into the swing of things since the first week of January,” he said.
“There’s been a focus on conditioning work and we’ve had good numbers for this time of year.
“The likes of Josh Stanton and Steve Rodgers are a part of that leadership group and have really led the way at training so far.
“We’ve lost a few to other clubs and will be looking for a few more players to fill the voids, and we’ve been looking at consolidating a lot of the squad we had last year.
“Coming into the first round we were among the top five or six sides, but for one reason or another things fell away.
“We had a promising start but we really underachieved a lot with a handy squad. It’s about taking that squad, finetuning a few things and hopefully playing more of an attacking brand of footy.”
Two of the club’s new additions come in the form of half Tyson Mitchell and outside back Aaron Hooper.
Mitchell played a large portion of last season in the halves for Gatton after linking from Highfields the year prior, while Hooper has been a try-scoring machine for a number of years now.
Dolan said they would be valuable additions to the side, along with a number of key returning faces from last season.
“They come into the side and they’ll play a good role,” he said.
“Alwyn Long played at fullback until he got injured and he’s been impressive so far. Young hooker Brayden Schilf had his first year in A-grade and he’ll have a lot of improvement, as will Hector Hilberto.
“Our club is about opportunity. We give players the chance to play some grade footy.”
The Bears will begin their pre-season trial schedule with a trip to Caloundra on February 15, while they are still in talks with bringing a visiting club out to Oakey on March 7.
The Bears face a tough opening to the season with a trip to taking on grand finalists Warwick on March 22, before their first home game against Pittsworth.
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