WERRIS Creek begins a new Group 4 Second Division season with Saturday’s home game against the Manilla Tigers with a former Bear bolstering the Magpie pack.
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Tim Fenwick, who led the Bears to a Group 4 Second Division premiership with a man of the match grand final display at Scully Park last year, has succumbed to the persistent and consistent charms of Magpie coach Ron Dellar to play a season with the Creek.
“I’ve been chasing him for four years,” Dellar said at the recent Group 4 Knockout.
“I finally got him.”
The Creek has had no trials and played just one game in the recent Group 4 Second Division Knockout, losing 22-10 to eventual winners Barraba in the first round.
It was a creditable performance, Dellar said. “We’ll go all right,” he said after that KO loss.
“We had a couple out today. Tim will be good for us. Our defence was pretty good too, we just gifted Barraba three tries today.”
Dellar, the stalwart coach for more than two decades has a good squad in training.
While he’s lost assistant coach and former Newcastle Knight Mat Parsons former NSW Country and Cronulla Shark, Lindsay Bowne, has been assisting Dellar.
Bowne likes what he sees.
He’s been running some of the training sessions while he’s not in Scone overseeing the curating of the race track.
A greenkeeper by trade Bowne, who is the greenkeeper at the Quirindi Bowling Club as well as helping out at the Quirindi Jockey Club, has been employed to have the Scone track in peak condition for next month’s huge cup carnival. He’s also helping out Dellar and looking forward to a good season with the Magpies.
“The boys have been training well,” he said of some good pre-season runs.
“But we might be behind in match practice. We were below par for the KO game against Barraba and had few out sa well. We’ve just got to get some miles in their legs.”
He said one positive is the fact their first two games are at home, starting with this Saturday’s Manilla visit.
“It’s going to be interesting,” he said.
“They’ve also improved with Chris Vidler as captain-coach.”
In other Group 4 Second Division games Bendemeer and Dungowan Cowboys play at Rugby Park, Tamworth tomorrow evening while Walcha Kangaroos host the Boggabri Kangaroos at Walcha’s Captain Cook Park on
Saturday.