FOUR seasons, first grade captaincy, a finals campaign and plenty of friendships and fond memories along the way.

They all come to an end tomorrow for CSU skipper Hugh Medway, who will wrap up his association with the club in the most appropriate fashion – a Central West Rugby Union derby against Bathurst Bulldogs at University Oval.

The paramedics student will lead the team onto the field without a lot to play for in real terms given that their finals ambitions are long gone.

But leaving on the right note will provide himself and a handful of other departing players with a lot of motivation.

Club captain Tom Keft, Evan Binney, Tom Hudson, Pat Murphy and Nick Rutherford will all join Medway as end of season departures for the students.

“It will be hard to leave the club, I’ve been here for four years now and made so many friends, blokes who I will know and stay friends with for many years to come,” Medway said.

“It would have been nice to be in the top five, but honestly as a footballer I’ve never focussed too much on finals, I’ve not been a part of many particularly successful teams. I’ve had a massive amount of fun all the way through.

“That’s what matters to me. Even this season, it’s been a struggle but I’ve had a heap of fun.

“I think the club is in good hands, there are a lot of guys this year that got really good experience under their belts, players like Josh Gemmell, Lachie Brown and James Tooth.”

Anyone who has watched the number 8 play can’t help but have respect for the guts and blatant disregard for his own body with which Medway plays.

When you look at the size of some of the other players across the Central West in his position, it says plenty about his character that he can compete with them. 

Medway is proof that hardness around the ball and on-field smarts can match even the biggest opponent.

He has been rewarded for that attitude and toughness with regular selection for the Central West Blue Bulls, which included starting at the back of the scrum in their Country Championships title winning side this year.

“Getting selected to start for the Blue Bulls and winning the comp with them was certainly an individual highlight of my time out here,” he said.

“Captaining the first grade side this season is the other one on a personal level.

“Probably in terms of the team and my favourite memories, going on a 6-0 run to start the season a couple of years back was sensational. That group was so focussed and committed to training and we made the finals before bowing out.”

Before they run off University Oval for the final time, Medway and his fellow ‘retirees’ have one last job to do. That is to try and defeat Bulldogs in a match that always carries plenty of fire.

Unfortunately for the captain, he has only been able to taste victory once, a 12-10 win in June of 2012. Though the students have always lifted against Bulldogs, they have still generally been outplayed.

“Hopefully we can out-enthuse them in the first 10 minutes, but we know they are going to be ready for that too, so we’re going to need to play smarter football and handle their big forwards,” Medway said.

“If we do things right we won’t cave and won’t let ourselves be bullied out of it.

“We have definitely developed from the start of the season and better used the defensive structure we’ve put in place and with another season we’d develop further.

“But, as always, we have a lot of players moving on and the cycle starts again.”

CSU host Bulldogs at University Oval from 3.15pm tomorrow.

CSU: 1 Evan Binney, 2 Gota Wykamp, 3 Michael Coates, 4 Dom Alexander, 5 Sam Robertson, 6 Tom Greenaway, 7 Michael Thompson, 8 Hugh Medway (c), 9 Josh Gemmell, 10 Nick Rutherford, 11 James Tooth, 12 Blake Ridges, 13 Tom Keft, 14 Tom Pegler, 15 Tennyson Vance.