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Berkrey Getting Magpies in to Shape

Luke Berkrey pictured left playing for Gundagai against Tumut.

One of Coota and Gundagai’s best footballing prospects over the last generation will be steering the Yass Magpies around Walker Park in 2025, with the 32 year old looking to return from a horror leg injury and drag the Magpies off the bottom of the table where they have unfortunately been around for the last three seasons.

The Canberra competition isn’t for the faint hearted and it won’t worry Luke Berkrey who was a Cootamundra Bulldog before spending time with two NRL clubs, in the Canberra Raiders and the Melbourne Storm before returning to Fisher Park in Coota and the home of one of the country’s best internationals in Les Boyd. Berkrey took the professionalism he learnt in the NRL systems and put it to good use coaching the Bulldogs as a 21/22 year old before moving on to Gundagai and then the coast.

He said, “I played for Cootamundra up until I was 16 and then I moved over to Canberra for a little while and did some stuff with the Raiders for five years. “I returned from there and went down to Melbourne for a year. I was about 21 when I moved back home to Coota and took up a coaching role, but it made me pretty hungry to keep going and do more of it. “A couple of years later I found my way over to Gundagai as I built a home over there and was there for seven years. We had a lot of luck in those seven years, winning four premierships. I enjoyed playing there and met a lot of good people.

“With the Raiders and Melbourne, probably the training habits is one thing that you pick up and way you need to be trained. When you are in and around those systems you pick up on lots of little things that you can pass on to the blokes that are playing out there.

 

“I had an injury that kept me out for most of 2024. I tore my hamstring off the bone and had a little crack in my pelvis and it put me back about two years really trying to get it right.

 

“I’m going to pull the boots back on this year and rove between lock and in the forwards. I think I’ll start up front as we have some really good players in our forward pack.

Berkrey is built like a brick shithouse and can catch and throw a very good pass alongside a handy offload, which will come to fruition for opposition teams early on in the comp.

He said, “We kicked off pre-season training in mid November and we train as a whole Club. We’ve even had kids from the Under 16s come over as well and there’s been some sessions where we’ve had up to sixty players.

 

“We’ve had Under 16s, women’s, reserve grade and 19s at this stage. It’s been good to see some of the different faces. It’s turned into a Club coach role at this stage, but I knew that going in. It would probably be my role throughout the pre-season and some of the Tuesday’s throughout the year. It’s been enjoyable. It’s been a different challenge, but it’s been good. Fitness was one of the things when I first went over there to Yass that we would have that basic fitness behind us, if you are not fit you are not going to go far.

“There’s certainly been some challenging sessions, but in the end it is going to help us. The first trial will be 8th March against NSW Police at Yass and the second trial will be 22nd March at Bateman’s Bay.

“With our signings we have got Jacob Lucas who has just moved to Yass. He played for Young last year in the premiership winning side. He’s a very good player.

“We have the two Sing boys from Young as well and a few other signings we will release closer to comp start.

“I love getting players that come from a successful team as they know what teamwork looks like. The ladies tackle side has been leading the way over the last few years at Yass

“The girls are certainly leading the way for the club at the moment. They’ve had a strong side for a couple of years and won a couple of premierships.

“My job here with the Maggies is to get off the bottom of the ladder and keep going up it. To develop the juniors and put the club in a good place, build on those before me.”

 

International Mal Meninga will be heading to the Soldier’s Club for a fundraiser on 28th March. The Soldier’s Club is hosting the ticketed event. More information will be coming out soon, but for tickets contact the Magpies Club. For training, sessions are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6.30pm.

 

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