Abbey Field was in fine form.
It was a spectacle of Rugby League in Junee on the weekend with plenty of games and plenty of people at Laurie Daley Oval. Diesels President David Holt told the Independent, “We had Junee Junior Rugby League come and try day, which was about 60 or 80 kids who showed up there. Then we trialled our reserve grade against Yenda. On the scoreboard we didn’t fair up real well, but the boys played really good. They had a fair majority of their first graders in there, which helped Yenda play a great game as well.”
“Then the Gulgong League Tag sidetook on our girls. Our girls came up with a pretty sound victory there with a 46-0 scoreline.
“Abbey Field, she’s a powerhouse, right across the park they played well as a team and being such a hot day there was a lot of rotation. They seemed to be able to go anywhere at any given time. They’re a very young side, there’s not much age there, but gee, they have got some talent and they showed that on the weekend.”
“Abbey is a speedster. She’s usually fullback or thereabouts.”
The Diesels then rolled out a first gradestyle squad against Gulgong for the Jordan McGregor Shield and put in a comprehensive defensive and attacking effort.
“The First Grade score was about 42-6.”
“We had a pretty sound victory. But again, Gulgong played very well. They’re no slouches. They’ve picked up a Clayton’s cup before and a few premierships in that Castlereagh League over the last few years.
“It was a good hit out. Our blokes had very good structure, especially with a few new heads in the side, a few new players, things are looking very positive going into the season.”
Junee will line up against old foes the Coota Bulldogs who are coming off a win against Wyong in their first trial of 2025.
“We’ve got Coota next week. We are going to Club on Club trial against Coota at Coota and that will be a pretty fair test of where we are at.”
There’s the rivalry of being a close neighbouring town and there’s the ties of Terry Douglas who unfortunately passed away last year, he was a Cootamundra boy and because of work he moved to Junee and became a Diesel, so the two clubs have a pretty close association there with him.”
The squad will also wel-ome back Chase Bernard and Ben Shea several rounds in to the comp. The duo are currently in the finals in the Coup de France with Bernard scoring a try in their close win over Carcassonne 34-30.
“We are looking forward to Ben and Chase turning up after their stint in the French league and hopefully going into the season we can pick up two or three victories prior to them arriving as it will make going into the backend of the season a lot easier.”
“Toby Dasey is returning from a thumb injury but is hoping to be right for the first game.”
The Diesels are gearing up for a strong year and their centenary in 2026.
“We will have our Centenary, 1926 was the year they formed and it’s 40 years since we won our last premiership.”
“That was in 1986 when Laurie Daley was there. I was 16 years old. I didn’t play with him as he was a year above me but I remember him at school.
“He was a great athlete as well. When we were kids we would play primary school cricket, foot-ball, all that sort of stuff and we went to Junee North and he was up at Saint Joseph’s and everyone would be scared of facing him at bowling that’s for sure. He was pretty much good at everything. Cricket, basketball, it didn’t matter what he put his hand to Athletic wise. He was just a talented sportsman.”
No doubt Daley will return for the centenary and golden tonsils himself, Ray Warren.
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