Jake Rumsby grew up watching the Narrabri Blues play the great game of rugby league at Collins Park and he holds his boyhood club close to his heart.
Jake, the youngest of Narrabri Rugby League Football Club great John Rumsby’s three sons, played his first junior league game aged just four-years-old and he instantly knew that one day he would run out for Narrabri’s first grade team in the Group 4 Rugby League competition.
In 2011 at age 18, Rumsby, a tall and physical front rower, made his Blues debut. He played a few games that season then a full year in 2012 before departing Narrabri to play a for the Canberra Raiders’ under-20s team in 2013.
Rumsby returned home in 2014 and has played for the Blues every year until he decided to have a year off in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the cancellation of the 2020 campaign, then put Rumsby’s return on hold.
But now he is back. In 2021, Rumsby will captain-coach the club’s first grade team as it goes in search of its first top-grade premiership since 1990.
The last time the club played in a first grade grand final was in 2017 when it went down 30-22 against North Tamworth.
John Rumsby was the coach that year, now Jake has been tasked with the challenge to go one better.
He is confident that he and the club will put together a roster that can end North Tamworth’s stranglehold of the competition, which has seen the defending champions win the past six grand finals and 10 of the past 15.
“Anything but a grand final will be disappointing,” Rumsby said.
“Celebrating 100 years of the Blues, we are trying to build it up to be a very successful year on and off the field.
“A home grand final is the end goal and I’d be disappointed if we didn’t end up winning it.
“A lot of boys from the 2017 grand final that we lost to North Tamworth are coming back next year.
“Norths are the team to beat again and Gunnedah will be a dark horse.
“But the side that I think we will have, looking at it on paper, we’ll be quite strong all across the paddock.”
Rumsby said that pre-season training would most likely begin in January but he encouraged anyone who was keen to play to start preparing.
“A few of us have started training individually, but official training most likely won’t start until after Christmas,” he said.
“We are going to be fit this year, that’s something I’ll be focusing on.
“Over the past few years we’ve been disappointing that way, we lead teams then fall off in the back end of halves.
“So I want us to be fit and we’ll be a very defensive side.”
The Blues’ newest coach said that the club was moving in the right direction.
“We are in talks with a sponsor that will offer a family-based atmosphere for our post-match functions and all of our other functions, which is something we are trying to build for our club too, the family-based way it used to be in its heyday,” Rumsby said.
“We have a very strong, hard-working committee too, it’s the biggest we’ve had for a long time they said.
“There’s a few young faces in there.”
Next season will see Rumsby coach for the first time, but he told The Courier that he would have an experienced coaching group to assist him and the side in 2021.
Group 4 Rugby League has its new 2021 season tentatively starting on the Anzac weekend next season and ending with grand finals in early September.
Rumsby said that he was excited about the season beginning, and added that the Blues were keen to get back on the paddock.
Meanwhile, Lachlan Thorn will coach the reserve grade side and Peter Doring will coach the under-18s in 2021. The ladies’ league tag coach is yet to be appointed.
Narrabri Rugby League Football Club will also enter 2021 with a new president as planning for the 100-year anniversary celebrations for the club continues. The club held its annual general meeting on Wednesday, November 4, where Peter Doring was appointed president of the club. Vice-presidents are Jason Pym and Lachlann Thorn, treasurer is Bec McMillan and secretary is Amanda Smith.
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