The Gosford Kariong Rugby League Club has been buoyed by last-minute news that their Open Grade team has been accepted into the 2017 season’s third tier competition.
The Storm’s senior squad has been in training for months now, despite not knowing whether or not it would be accommodated within the draw.
Belated notification arrived just two and a half weeks prior to the kick off, following an eleventh-hour opening provided by the withdrawal of last season’s premiers, Berkeley Vale, from the 2017 competition.
Tireless work from Storm captain, Max Russell, has managed to help negotiate a path through into this year’s draw for a Gosford Kariong side, hell bent on righting the wrongs of winter 2016.
A ramshackle arrangement was forged between Gosford and Terrigal in the 2016 season which saw the hybrid outfit finish a miserable year both winless and at the tail of the field.
In the stormy months that followed the end of the 2016 season, the Central Coast Rugby League slammed the door on Gosford’s involvement; informing the Storm that there would be no place at the Open Grade table for the Narara-based club in 2017.
“This ruthless approach taken by the game’s governing body provided a continuation of the league’s post-2011 policy, which has seen a blanket aversion shown toward any of the smaller clubs who dare to aspire to rise through the senior ranks”, Club spokesperson, Andrew Stark, said.
The late withdrawal of the Panthers from this season’s draw however has earned Gosford a reprieve; the Storm men being allowed back into the competition to effectively even up the number of teams and therefore avoid the need for a weekly bye.
Gosford Kariong’s opening game of the season will kick off against the Toukley Hawks at Berkeley Vale Oval on Saturday, April 2, and the Storm are determined to prove that their worth stretches beyond just making up the numbers.
Recent wet weather forced the Storm to cancel their scheduled opening round of junior trial games, which were due to have been played against the Berowra Wallabies.
An Open Grade trial was also scheduled to have been played against The Entrance, however this was also washed out as grounds right across the Coast fell victim to large pools of surface water and the dreaded ‘Oval Closed’ sign.
Media release,
Mar 21, 2017
Andrew Stark, Gosford-Kariong Storm Rugby League FC