Narrabri and District Junior Rugby League’s 2023 season will begin this Saturday when Cooma Oval hosts round one of the North West Group 4 Junior Rugby League season and a trials week for the mini mod (under-5-12) players.

NDJRL will field three internationals sides this year. They include an under-13s team, that will be coached by Adam Rooney and Tim Rickard, an under-14s team, that will be coached by Lee Browning, and an under-15s team, that will be coached by Tom Mason.

They will all play on home soil on Saturday when the 13s take on Farrer Gold and the 14s and 15s play against Gunnedah.

Kick off times for those games will be made available on NDJRL’s Facebook page when they become available.

A draw for each age group can be found on the MyLeague app and the Play Rugby League website.

The venues for each round are accurate online, however, the times are all to be advised depending on referee availability.

The mini mods season will officially get underway with round one on Saturday, May 4, but NDJRL will announce the teams and coaches this Saturday at Cooma Oval.

There have been several changes made to the framework of junior rugby league in 2023.

Under-5/6s teams will play league tag this year, and the under-7/8 teams will be put through a tackle ready program before they can participate in full contact games.

NDJRL will run through that this Saturday, and teams will also be formed with coaches and managers to be announced.

All players are asked to be at the canteen by 9am.

As it stands, there will be 10 Narrabri teams in the mini mods this year – two in under-5/6s, three in under-7/8s, two in under-9/10s and three in under-11/12s, and there will also be Wee Waa teams in each grade.

NDJRL has a larger committee than usual this year with several new faces joining.

Drew Eather is the club’s president, Ben Manchee is senior vice-president, Clint Thurston and Sean Kelly are junior vice-presidents, Mel Manchee is treasurer, Kristie Kelly is secretary and Christy Browning is registrar and publicity officer.

The committee have encouraged parents and carers to help out as much as possible in 2023.

Games will all be live scored this year and teams are permitted to have more than one manager.

The committee will assist those who take on volunteer roles to ensure that the coming season is a another great success.

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