Anticipation growing for Crushers on eve of first season

BENDIGO Crushers Rugby League Club president Mikey Dynon says the team is literally counting down the days until its first game in the NRL Victoria Storm Metro Premiership competition.

The club’s first official clash on Saturday 2 May, comes 21 months after a small group of Bendigo rugby league enthusiasts met for the first time about starting a club.

Having jumped through plenty of hoops over the last 12 months to get to the starting line, Dynon said the Crushers were primed to get started.

“There were a few things we needed to tick off,” he said.

“NRL Victoria moved the goal posts a little bit as to how many players we needed in our squad.

“First they said 20 and then they said 25, but we managed to get there.

“We’re looking pretty good – we’ve been training Tuesdays and Thursdays and I think everyone is just excited to have the first game on the horizon.

“It’s been nearly two years since we first got together and had a meeting about getting a club together; it’s been a lot of hard work in the meantime.

“But we are so passionate about Bendigo having a rugby league club.

“We’d love to see Ballarat have a club one day, just so we can have that natural rivalry between the two cities, and even some clubs in Gippsland.

 

“That would mean more NRL resources for Victoria.”

The Crushers will play their inaugural season in the competition’s third grade.

While they will carry the Bendigo name, Dynon said the club considered itself as more of a Central Victorian team, with players from Maryborough, Seymour and a few other towns among their ranks.

The Crushers will be led on the field by John Whittle, the club’s inaugural coach and captain.

Whittle gained an instant place in club history by being the first Crushers player to score a try in an exhibition match against Sunbury late last year.

“He’s a North Queensland boy, originally from Cairns, and has been doing a really great job running the pre-season,” Dynon said.

“He’s very good at running drills and getting the best out of our players.

“He’ll probably play five-eighth for us.”

The Crushers rounded out their preparation with a three-way trial involving Hume Eagles and North West Wolves at Craigieburn, with the three teams all playing a half against each other.

Unfortunately, a planned practice match against Sunbury United Tigers earlier in the month had to be cancelled.

Dynon said given their tag as the competition’s newcomer and limited exposure to opposing teams during the pre-season, it was difficult to predict how the Crushers would fare in their first season on the pitch.

“We won’t know until we play the first few rounds,” he said.

“From what we understand about the third grade, there can be a lot of changes with teams going very quickly from being good to down the ladder and vice-versa.

“We won’t know until we get on the park, but I expect us to be competitive.”

The Crushers’ exposure to competition play has been limited so far to a few exhibition matches last year and their participation in the NRL Victoria Harmony Cup nine-a-side tournament last November. More sport from page 27.