CLAUDE Gordon is no stranger to being a Googar, but when he laces up his boots this Saturday things will be different to when he previously represented the Indigenous rugby league side.
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This year instead of being an Orana Googar he's a Wiradjuri Googar and instead of playing a nines format competition or in the NSW Koori Knockout, the talented playmaker will line up in the inaugural Tribal League.
To be run over three weekends, the National Indigenous Rugby League Administration's new competition features six men's and four women's teams who will battle it out for a share of a $100,000 prize pool.
"My team is usually the Googars, but this year we've combined with Benny Gunn's side and the Peachey boys' side the Nanima Common Connection, we've all sort of come together and we've got a decent side here," Gordon said.
"It's good, I'm keen and it's a good group of lads from all over the place really. It's good to get together with them and have a bit of a run."
Gordon brings plenty of experience to the talented 30-man Wiradjuri Googars squad. He's played in Group 10 for the Bathurst Panthers, Oberon Tigers, Orange CYMS and Cowra Magpies, while he's represented Dubbo CYMS, Dubbo Westside, Macquarie and Narromine in Group 11.
Gordon played four games for Dubbo CYMS in this season's Presidents Cup - two as halfback and two at five-eighth - so is keen to get more time on the field in a year which saw so much football cancelled due to COVID-19.
He knows it's something league supporters will enjoy too, with Saturday's opening round of the Tribal League to be played at Dubbo before games at Gosford and Campbelltown.
"It's been a pretty rough year with all COVID happening and the Koori Knockout got canned, so it will give all our people something to get behind because they are missing that footy fix too," he said.
"It's great that it's spread out as well over three weeks, it means a lot of communities can come out and watch the football as well."
While Gordon has played plenty of league games in Dubbo, for many of his fellow Googars it is a rare opportunity.
Derick Peachey is one of them who is eager to impress and thinks the Googars will benefit from playing their first two matches at Apex Oval.
"To come home, especially for me to come from Sydney in the Sutherland Shire, to come home and actually play for your people, I feel like it's a great honour and a great achievement," he said.
"It will be a good impact, especially for all the young boys in the side playing in Dubbo where all your mob is really. When you get all that support you don't get such nerves and I think it will help make a better impact for our team starting in Dubbo."
We want to come here and win, we're not coming here to just be a competitive side, we think we can win it.
- Derick Peachey
The other big lure for Peachey in forming part of the Googars squad is playing alongside members of his family - Tyrone Peachey, Lachlan Peachey and Wade Peachey are all set to represent Wiradjuri as well.
"Other than the Koori Knockout, no we never get to play together unless we're living in the same area at the time. We all just come together at knockout time and show what we've got," he said.
It will be a local derby of sorts in the Googars' first match on Saturday as they meet Wellington Castlereagh All Blacks. It should be a hotly contested affair and both Peachey and Gordon don't hide their desire to win both that game and the whole competition.
"To play for your mob who have been there and done that before you, it's now your opportunity to show off what you can do and what your family has passed down to you," Peachey said.
"We want to come here and win, we're not coming here to just be a competitive side, we think we can win it. That's why we've come together."
