Hunter Harley back at the helm

Four new coaches have been named to take the Narrabri Rugby Club’s teams forward in the 2020 Central North Rugby Union season.

Returning to the top job is Hunter Harley who will coach the club’s first grade side in the coming campaign.

Harley last coached the Blue Boars in the 2015 season when the club claimed its most recent top grade premiership.

He replaces Dylan Duncan who left his post following a successful three-year stint as the Blue Boars’ first grade coach, the last of which saw the team go down 31-25 against Pirates in the preliminary final to fall agonisingly short of a grand final spot after finishing second on the ladder.

The women’s sevens side also had a vacancy to fill after Dean Hancock stepped down as coach following the team’s first two seasons as a part of the club.

Hancock left a positive mark on both the team and the club after helping build up the Narrabri women’s side to become a force in the CNRU comp.

Replacing Hancock is former Blue Boars first grade player Will Guest.

In second grade, Mitch Creighton has stepped up to the coaching position which was left vacant by 2018 premiership-winnning coach Craig Summers.

Creighton will be a player-coach for the team in 2020.

All four of the senior club’s teams are in good hands going into 2020.

Incoming first grade coach Harley is no stranger to the Blue Boars, having played many games for the club as well as coaching the first grade team for three successful seasons from 2013 to 2015.

In the 2013 and 2014 seasons he co-coached the side with Tom Cullen before he took on the role of the sole coach in 2015.

During that time Harley took the team to three grand finals.

In 2013 the Blue Boars played in their first decider since 2009.

They took on Moree in Moree but went down 41-15.

The following two years saw the club contest two of its most memorable seasons in recent history.

In both 2014 and 2015 the side won back-to-back minor and major
premiership doubles, including a 25-19 home grand final win against Pirates in 2014 and a 30-20 win on grand final day in Moree in 2015.

Harley told The Courier that the club had what it took to get back to the top of the CNRU competition in season 2020.

He commended the work done by Duncan during the past three seasons and said that with a few new additions in the form of returning players, the Blue Boars were a serious premiership contender.

“We’ve got the crux there to win a premiership,” Harley said.

“My biggest goal next year is to win a premiership.

“If we aren’t going in there trying to do that we are wasting our time.

“Took (Dylan Duncan) has done a great job getting these fellas to where the are and I think that there is enough talent there, and youth, that with a bit of experience blended in, once these fellas learn how to win the big games they can win quite a few.

“The indications I’ve had so far are that all of the current squad will be returning and I have some former players coming back.

“I wouldn’t call it recruiting because they are all local born and bred, but they’re former Blue Boars that have indicated that they will be at training when we start on the first of February.

“Todd Farrer is one of those guys. He is coming back as a forwards coach and assistant coach and will be a playing coach.

“We also have Matt Schwager committing fully, he hasn’t committed fully to a year for three years so he’s a big one.

“Mitch Kelly is going to come back and Tim O’Brien is going to see how the body goes.

“That’s a big one Tim coming back, he’s probably the best forward I’ve seen in country rugby. He’ll see how pre-season goes and then decide.”

Harley said that the introduction of a new coach and several returning players would not impact what the current group has been working towards for the past few seasons.

“We aren’t coming back and bringing 15 old blokes from five-10 years back, that’s not sustainable,” Harley said.

“The young fellas this year have done a great job, they were only a few minutes away from potentially being in the grand final and playing for a premiership this year.

“They built a big part of their game on their attacking ability, they seemed to like to run the footy from anywhere.

“I’m certainly not going to go in and inhibit that, but I think we will definitely need a structure, particularly in our two thirds of the field.

“I’m going to try and bring a lot of structure to these fellas’ game especially in our own 40.

“Other than that I don’t care what they do, I love the way they throw the ball around.

“I’m also excited about the structure we’ll have off the field and how we can develop these young players.

“We have Warwick Moppett coming back into the fold and he’ll be the set piece coach for the whole club, he’s great, he is a wealth of knowledge who just loves footy.

“We will be coming in with a fresh approach, we won’t be just bringing in all our old ways of doing things.

“It’s exciting times I think.”

Harley said that after having time away from the game he “got the itch” to return to coaching earlier this year.

“I had a bit of time away from footy and then probably more towards the semis this year I started watching all the games on the live stream,” he said.

“I got the itch a bit.

“But I’ve always followed the Blue Boars, I’m pretty passionate about the club.

“I’d missed footy and the club so I’m looking forward to getting into it.”

Harley said that pre-season would start on February 1, the first Saturday in February, and that the club would train on Saturdays for about five weeks.

He said that anyone keen to play rugby was welcome to attend.