It’s the first time the zone has brought all the rep sides together on one day, and saw the players presented with their baggy reds from long-time zone mentor John Kilborn.

Cook then addressed the players, and parents, and laid out what is expected of them, before they split into their respective teams for a couple of hours of training.

The former first-class cricketer and recently-announced NSW Country coach is in his first summer in the role after taking over from Rod Bryant.

Speaking to The Leader just a few weeks into the job, he spoke about being professional in their expectations, and particularly their training standards.

That was reiterated on Sunday, Cook explaining that in selecting the sides they didn’t just look at the scoreboard, they looked at the whole picture.

He singled out under 18s captain Coby Cornish to demonstrate that point, telling the story of how at one of the trials, after finishing his 2km run trial he got straight back out there to help one of the under 14s complete his.

“That to me you can’t buy that,” he said.

“That was just a player who wanted to help a player he didn’t even know.”

“That’s why he is captain.”

Wanting to really challenge and push the players, Cook told them they are going to be trained like they are the age above, so for the under 18s they’ll be training like first-class cricketers.

Also the current National Indigenous XI coach, Cook’s coaching philosophy is very strong on the players driving their performance and preparation.

“My style of coaching is very different to Rod’s, which isn’t a bad thing,” he said.

“Some of these players have been involved in these programs since they were 13.

“Sometimes things get a bit stale,” he said.

One of the things he did during the academy program over winter was bring a few different guest speakers in such as Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, NSW Country keeper and Tamworth skipper Tom Groth, and Andrew Harriott to talk about their experiences and pathways.

“The kids get a bit of an idea that you can make it from here,” Cook said.

And you don’t have to be a Josh Hazlewood, who Cook remarked is “exceptional”.

He gave Harriott as an example. A comparative late bloomer, the wicket-keeper batsmen is playing in the Futures League for ACT, is captain of the Northern Suburbs first grade side and was last season plucked from relative obscurity to play for the Renegades in the Big Bash.

Stories like that he said, send a message that Country players are looked at.

From what he has seen so far, Cook is happy with how the Central North sides are shaping up.

“It will be interesting to see. One of the disadvantages of our zone is it is so big. We draw players from Maitland up to Inverell,” he said.

That being said through the academy they do get to know each other.

One thing he did emphasise was starting their carnivals well. Central North are notoriously slow starters. 

Last season the Colts and under 16s both lost their opening games, while the under 14s tied theirs.

Cook attributed that to preparation and put the onus on the players to do their own training over the Christmas period.

“You lose day one you’re pretty much out of the carnival,” he said.

“We want to hit the ground running from day one.”

As well as a few tweaks to the program there are also a few fresh faces in the coaching ranks with West Tamworth skipper Dave Mudaliar (under 18s), South Tamworth quick Tom O’Neill (under 14s) and Andy Craig (under 16s) all coming on board. Groth is also helping Craig out with the under 13s, who play North Coast in Inverell on Sunday.

The under 18s will be the next side after them to hit the pitch with their Country Championships being played in Tamworth from December 18-22. 

TEAMS

UNDER 18S: Coby Cornish (c), Will Fort, Jacob Page, Brendan Crouch, Jack Stafford, Jai Tasker, Jackson Gwynne, Callum Gabriel, Toby Whale, Isaac Barry, Paddy Montgomery, Brock Morley, Mitchell Pinch. Coaches: Dave Mudaliar and Craig Trindall.

UNDER 16S: Issac Barry (c), Adam McGuirk, Lachlan Ballard, Matt Lynch, Beau Parnell, Henry Sindel, Jesse Budden, Conrad George, Jack Sylvester, Josh Attard, Jack Montgomery, Nick Page, Kaleb McIlveen. Coaches: Jeff Cook, Andy Craig and Kel Walls. 

UNDER 14S: Lachlan Page (C), Baylee Borrow, Sam Johnson, Callum Henry, Tommy Dixon, Jack Hamilton, Max Farmer, Jed Collins, Matt Holmes, Kilian Apen, Landon Price, Jake House, Ryan Simpson. Coaches: Barry Smith, Tom O'Neill