Snow setting a high standard ahead of the 2024 season

Narrabri Rugby League Football Club is determined to get back to being a force in Group 4 Rugby League this year and the club’s new first grade coach has his sights set on finals footy.

Glenn ‘Snow’ Collins recently became the Blues’ coach after Josh Trindall stepped aside, and he is confident of building a team that is capable of mixing it with the best.

A former Blues player himself with about 230 first grade appearances, Collins knows exactly what it takes to wear the jersey with pride and represent the local community, especially given he captained the side for about seven seasons during his playing days.

He saw enough talent and hunger in the club’s first grade team last year despite the fact they only scored one win and ended up with the wooden spoon, and he is confident that those young players can get the job done in 2024.

He is also hoping to add a few new faces in the form of returning players and he expects to have his squad for the 2024 campaign completed in the coming weeks.

But regardless of who runs out for the Blues in the top grade this year, Collins said the club would be aiming high and playing with pride.

“I thought it was a fantastic job what they did last year, especially when you consider they got beat heavily in the first round,” he declared.

“I thought they would have got beat bigger in the second round, but they didn’t, and that’s what I liked most about it.

“Josh (former coach Josh Trindall) did a great job holding them together. For what he had, and that being the numbers and the cattle and the fact they were a young side, he kept them together right until the end.

“A lot of other sides and clubs would have walked away and given up, but they held strong. I know that the boys do like Josh and have a lot of respect for him.

“Going forward, I don’t like losing but I can handle improvement.

“It’s a three-year plan we’re looking at now, but I think with the year under their belt last year that we can finish in the top four this year, and I’d be really disappointed if we don’t. I know that is a big call coming off the wooden spoon, but we want to go a lot better than last year and keep being a team the town is proud of.”

The new coach said that numbers and effort at pre-season had been positive and he declared the next few weeks were about gelling together.

Collins said pulling on the Narrabri Blues jersey himself in the 90s and the 2000s was a privilege. He has many positive memories, most notably the bonds he formed with teammates.

“When I was a younger fella, I played with guys like John Rumsby, Wally Bentley, Matt Smith and Brian Brown, guys like that who had five or so years on me,” he said.

“The way they took me in and took me under their wing when I was just a kid and they didn’t need to, that’s why I’m so passionate about Narrabri.”

The man they call Snow was a halfback and hooker in his early playing days before he transitioned into the front row. He was only 15-years-old and in Year 9 at school when he debuted for the Blues in reserve grade back in 1993. He and his teammates lost the grand final against Gunnedah at the end of that season, and the rest of his playing days in Narrabri were spent in the first grade team.

He also played Northern Division, captained NIAS and played for the Australian under-19 country academy squad alongside the likes of Preston Campbell and Dean Widders.

He last played for the Blues in 2010 and has been a coach since, mostly with junior league and also during a stint with the Blues’ reserve grade team.