Budding young rugby league players had the opportunity to develop their skills at an NRL coaching clinic in Moree on Wednesday.
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About 60 Moree Junior Rugby League players aged from six to 14 years attended the coaching clinic, run by North West NSW NRL game development officer Peter Stevens at Boughton Oval.
This was the first coaching clinic North West NSW NRL has run in Moree for a number of years.
Each year NRL visits a different town in the region to run the three-hour school holiday clinic, and also do regular school clinics.
“We had one in Narrabri last year,” Stevens said.
“We change it around a bit to give everyone a go.”
Stevens said the coaching clinic is a come-and-try opportunity, not just for junior league players, but for those interested in taking up the sport.
“We offer a few skills and focus on the core structure of rugby league,” he said.
“We concentrate on playing the ball, passing, and a little bit of tackling.
“They might do things they haven’t done before, as well as reinforce what their coaches are trying to do back at club level.
“If they get one thing out of the day, it’s worth it.”
Moree Junior Rugby League president Paul Raveneau said the day was a huge success, with a great turn-out of kids.
“They learnt passing and tackling and everything they need to know about playing rugby,” he said.
“I think they got a lot out of it today.
“After watching it, I noticed their skill level went up a lot in just a few hours.
“Hopefully they can carry it on throughout their rugby league career.”
Raveneau said it was also encouraging to see about 10 girls participate in the day.
“It was a great day – the kids enjoyed it and they all got a hat, bag, football and drink bottle to take away,” he said.
Moree Junior Rugby League Club has some exciting plans in place to build player development this year.
The club is hoping to get a high performance unit off the ground in Moree to encourage juniors, particularly those aged 15 to 17, to focus on rugby league as a way of keeping active and out of trouble.