Narrabri Rugby League Football Club’s 2026 pre-season got underway this week, and the Blues’ first grade coach Hayden Bell was thrilled with the numbers and the effort across the first two sessions.
The club did not field any teams in Group 4 Rugby League’s 2025 campaign but will make a highly-anticipated return this year.
Both the players and the coaching staff are well aware that an abundance of hard work will need to be put in between now and round one, and Bell said he saw that immediately at both sessions this week.
“Our pre-season has started, and the way it has started has been overwhelming, really,” he told The Courier.
“The support from the players, this early on in 38 and 39 degree weather in January, has been really good.
“We got 29 people at our first session and our second one was 34. Numbers-wise, that’s unreal for a club coming back into the competition and this early on in summer.
“I wasn’t expecting those types of numbers, that’s for sure.
“The morale was unreal. Everyone really got around each other and put in 110 per cent.
“We’ve had discussions with the players. They know what’s at stake. We set our standards at that first session around what we want to achieve and the club’s future.
“We’re now going to do some testing over the first few weeks to see where everyone’s at to guide our coaching for the next few weeks of the pre-season.”
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