Thirds and colts' move from the Blowes Clothing Cup to the New Holland Agriculture Cup has created plenty of buzz in Central West Rugby Union circles and it's injected renewed enthusiasm into two teams deprived of valuable match time in 2019.

Reid said there's a whole new atmosphere among those two squads thanks to the change up, which ensures the teams will receive week in and week out fixtures.

"With the new competition structure we've appointed two head coaches, with Phil Newton head of New Holland Cup, so there's some strong rugby credentials running each squad, and there's a really good support base underneath," he said.

Keep up to date with the latest sports news by clicking here.

"We'll train with a squad mentality, making it easier for people to transition between grades.

"We'd like the stars of those New Holland sides to try and keep aspirations of playing Blowes Clothing Cup, and we'd fully support them in that.

"The nucleus of our 2019 colts team will end up forming the bulk of our New Holland first grade team. We also need a few more of our old boys to step up and take a leading role in those grades."

McRobert taking over from Dean Oxley in first and second grade marks an end of a short but outstanding stint for the outgoing premiership-winning mentor.

Reid's hopeful there's more good times to come for the first grade men.

"Matt's an old boy like Dean, who understands the pride, passion and the history of our club. He coached me in 2003 and he's got a longstanding history with the club.

"He has similarities to Dean in that he's a hard taskmaster, well-organised and disciplined. He's writing plans for the season but he'll put his own stamp on it, different to Dean."

Pre-season for Bulldogs officially starts on the Tuesday after Australia Day but Reid said many club members have been putting it fitness work already over the off-season break with the club's gym facilities.