BEERWAH Bulldogs President Stephen ‘Ref’ Hammil says players are in top shape and attitude ahead of the 2023 season opening following a strong pre-season and a positive family-focused atmosphere across the hinterland club.
Adding to the high spirits, former club junior and NRL star Reed Mahoney has just been appointed co-captain at the Canterbury Bulldogs. Reed is returning to the Bulldogs after leaving the Eels last year following his grand final appearance.
Ref said he was pleased to see a big rise in new registrations across the club with incoming players slotting seamlessly into established teams.
He said the board’s main goal was to create and maintain a vibrant and growing club that welcomes all comers.
“We want kids to be happy,” he said.
“We want to make the grand final obviously, everyone wants to win that, but the goal for the club is let’s get these kids skills developed to where they should be.”
“Our first sign on day was great, personally on the day I noticed maybe 80-90 new junior players come on board and we have about 120 seniors registered including quite a few new players.”
Ref said the a focus on developing a family atmosphere was helping lift the club ahead of the season opener.
“The feel in the club is great at the moment, it feels really good, I’ve never seen the club so happy, all the boys are turning up to training all smiles, they’re all here and ready to go,” he said.
“…If we can get more families back into rugby league and enjoying it and have that family atmosphere it’ll be perfect, I’ll be really happy.”
Ref said with the arrival of many new senior players and the re-signings of club favourites such as the Kidd brothers and Blake Hill, the senior sides will be very competitive this year.
“The experience re-signings and new signings will have, will really unlock the potential of our senior sides,” he said.
“We also have other new signings from Noosa and Brisbane, and even three players from the Falcons coming to play for Beerwah this year.”
Reed said he was thrilled by his appointment alongside Matt Burton.
“I’ve never really been involved in a leadership group before,” he said.
“It took me a while to sort of feel comfortable in that, but I just based everything around my actions and training hard.”
