By MARK RAYNER

Central West Rugby Union have announced their coaching line-up for 2009 with former Blue Bulls players Dean Oxley and Warren Petty being awarded the joint top job.

Both men have a long association with the Blue Bulls as players in the 1996 Caldwell Cup winning side as well as holding ARU Level 2 coaching accreditations.

Oxley said he was delighted to get such a prestigious coaching position.

"I was very pleased and quite honoured to be appointed. There was a lot of impressive applicants for the position, so to be honest I was quite surprised when I received the phone call to say I was successful," he said.

The St Stanislaus' College teacher said he was looking forward to the challenging step up from coaching schoolboys to open representative union and didn't feel he would be at a disadvantage with his inexperience.

"It's a move away from schoolboy coaching this year I was involved with the Bathurst Bulldogs as a schools development coach," Oxley said.

"I haven't the experience of coaching a first grade side but I've had 14 years of playing first grade and six years of playing for the Central West as well as playing for Country Rugby Union, so while I haven't had the coaching capacity, I have certainly had a playing experience there."

Petty also has plenty experience as a player and coach and Oxley said he was looking forward to working with him.

"He's also been involved with the Country Rugby Union and played first grade in Sydney. He's had many years of playing for the Central West and we played together in '96 to win the Caldwell Cup and I'd like to stand side-by-side with him and be involved with that from a coaching capacity," Oxley said.

"I'm very happy to be working with [Warren] 'Tom' Petty, we have had a lot of correspondence over the last few weeks since our application was successful and Tom brings a wealth of experience already, with his involvement with Central West as a selector."

Rounding out the coaching team for the Blue Bulls are strength and conditioning coach Glenn Corcoran and experienced manager Colin Kemp.

Oxley said one of his and Petty's goals for the team was to instill the old passion back into the squad and use it to attract the top players back to the Blue Bulls.

"I think the old passion for the Blue Bulls [is what I'd like to see]. That was instilled in me when I was a player over those six years and the pride of playing for your zone," he said.

"We were successful in winning the Country Week in 1996 against Illawarra down here in Bathurst and I'd certainly like assist with Tom in getting Central West back to those levels."

Next year the Country Championships will held in Dubbo on March 28 and 29 and Oxley said their goal was to come away with the Caldwell Cup.

"Certainly our goal is to win the Caldwell Cup and that might seem a bit high, we are ranked fourth," he said.

"I have seen footage from Newcastle's performance this year, they are the current champions, and I believe if we can convince the cream from the Central West President's Cup and Blowes Menswear Cup to come and play for Central West we will be very successful.

"I watched the grand final, Bathurst versus Dubbo and Dubbo in particular have won the comp three years in a row and have a wealth of experience and ability there. Given that Dubbo will be hosting the Country Week I believe that will be a massive drawcard to gain some of these high quality players from this area to play for the Central West Blue Bulls."

Returning to the helm of the Central West under 20s are Bathurst's Matt McRobert and Brian Roberson.

The pair were coaches this year when the team finished in second place at the Country Rugby Union Championships.

Dubbo's Phillip Randell will make his representative coaching debut when he takes control of the Central West under 18s and will have Kieran Smith and Abram Duffy as his assistants.