ORANGE Hawks pair Cody Robbins and Deryne McKenzie will be among the throng of players competing in the 45th annual New South Wales Aboriginal Knockout in Dubbo on Friday.
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Organisers are expecting 132 teams to take part in the knockout, which was last year won by the Walgett Aboriginal Connection, a side boasting a stack of NRL talent including Walgett born George Rose and Dragons forward Joel Thompson as well as Orange CYMS pair Matt and Trent Rose.
The two blues pair, who will line-up for the Bathurst Black Trackers alongside fellow Orange players Jacob Sutherland and Sam Hill, will be hoping to help their side better their third-round appearances at the last two editions of the tournament.
The squad has been together for the last five years and have even entered sides in this year’s under 15s and 17s competitions, which will be staged along with the seniors and women’s tournaments in Dubbo starting on Saturday.
Last year they ran into a Newcastle Yowies side stacked with ex-NRL players including the likes of former Test centre Timana Tahu.
And an indication of the overall strength of the competition is the fact that the Yowies didn’t even make the grand final.
It is a tough ask to go deep into a knockout event when there is that sort of quality on the paddock, but club president Ian Kennedy is quietly confident that with another year under their belt, his side can match or better their previous performances.
“We’re looking pretty good this time around, we’ve got a team full of local fellas plus a few from Mudgee and Orange,” he said.
“We’ve been knocked out in round three for the last two years but being able to hold our own against a side like the Yowies shows we’ve got some quality.
“The Murri Carnival is on in Queensland at the same time this year so that means a lot of players from Queensland who normally play in both tournaments won’t be here.
“In one respect it is a bit disappointing that a lot of great players won’t be there but it is probably a lot better for the competition itself and opens it up a little bit.”
In total, up to 50,000 people will descend on two regional communities, with the Queensland Murri Carnival in its fourth year and Dubbo’s staging the massive NSW Aboriginal Knockout over the course of the long weekend.
