King has been appointed Central North’s senior representative program coordinator, a new role which has been created to bring a focus back to representative football within the zone.

“The role involves getting players inspired and back into playing for Central North and representative footy,” King, who is also the zone’s junior vice president this year, said.

“There’s no shortage of talent in the zone. We’ve got to tap into it and make sure guys are willing to go forward.”

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Over the past few years, Central North has struggled to attract coaches and players to the rep side, with the Kookaburras failing to field a senior team at last year’s Country Championships.

With the announcement that Tamworth is set to host the Country Championships for the next three years, the zone is hopeful that having a home championships will entice more players to step up to representative level.

“We want to ramp up it up over the next three years,” King said.

“We’re looking to select a team to include younger and older players and get that consistency happening with a rep side, so the younger ones can continue on.”

King said his first priority is to get a rep squad together in the coming months, before a final Kookaburras team is selected. He’s also on the hunt for a coach.

Players will be invited to join the Central North representative squad based on their performances last year.