WILL Bathurst Bulldogs return to the Blowes Clothing Cup colts competition in 2021?
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It's a question club president Phil Newton hopes to answer with a yes, but he knows Bathurst Bulldogs' participation will very much hinge on the status of the Independent Sporting Association (ISA) school rugby competitions.
Bulldogs last played in the colts premiership in season 2019, winning 14 games straight before going down to Dubbo Kangaroos in a grand final thriller.
But ahead of last season, the decision was made to change the age classification from colts to under 18s.
It had previously been an under 20s competition, but the change meant Bulldogs did not have the player numbers to field an outfit of under 18s.
A vast majority of players that age in Bathurst had committed to playing for school teams, so in 2020 Bulldogs had to withdraw from colts.
It's a situation which impacts Bathurst's junior teams as well, as it makes hard to fill teams beyond the under 13s age division.
"When we do get those kids from Stannies and Scots All Saints' involved with juniors then we're highly competitive. A couple of years ago Shane Cantrill coached our 13s ... we had the Stannies kids come back and they won the comp," Newton said.
"When the kids go to Stannies or Scots All Saints' we lose them pretty for a three-four year period, but that's fine, they're still playing. Then if they don't go away to uni, they come back and play for us, which is great.
"But it does hurt us being under 18s. We played in the colts grand final the year before against Dubbo and got beaten and it was under 20s at that stage, so most of them could have played another year of colts, but then all of a sudden they had to move into grade."
What could see Bulldogs make a return to the colts is if, due to COVID-19, the ISA season is cancelled. That would mean those intending to play school rugby would become available to the Bathurst club.
The ISA competition was cancelled last season, but at that point it was too late for Bulldogs to register in colts.
"We're definitely looking at it all the time," Newton said.
"To the credit of the juniors, they're getting close to getting a 14s for this year. If we could get that right through, 12s, 14s, 16s, 18s then get them moving through to third grade, second grade that would be magnificent.
"Last year would have been the perfect year to do it because of ISA getting cancelled, but we were unaware of that at the start.
"So if we could get an under 18s side that would be great. If ISA doesn't go ahead, then we should have an under 18s side."
Newton said Bulldogs are exploring other recruiting options for under 18s players, but admits it is not an easy process.
"We'd love to get it, we've sort of got to tap into Kelso High, Bathurst High, you've got to tap into kids who haven't played rugby before," he said.
"Taking young men from league or soccer or whatever, it's a hard one."
