Western Rams under 16s coach Kurt Hancock believes COVID-19 has disrupted his current group's development

A slow-starting Rams side was just off the mark in the Andrew Johns Cup fixture at Tony Luchetti Sportsground on Sunday, losing 26-18.

For Hancock's squad, a lot of them are experiencing what is like to represent Western for the first time after a disrupted past three years.

Several COVID-19 lockdowns and disruptions have Hancock believing his players have developed as quickly as those before them but insisted it is no fault of their own.

"If you really think about it with this age group, they would've missed most of their under 14s footy because of COVID," he said.

"Last year they got the season in but it was affected by COVID at the start. At the moment it's about trying to speed up their development which is a bit of a challenge.

"They haven't played a lot of footy like the other teams have before they came here, hopefully, today (Sunday) they got a taste of what that is.

"This isn't schoolboy football, this isn't club or group footy, I think they got a real taste of how this is a step beyond that."

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Featuring several Dubbo players, the Western under 16s got better as the match progressed but the failure to complete their sets early in the game proved to be their downfall.

Noah Sutcliffe showed signs of being a livewire out of dummy half, having a hand in the last two tries the side scored.

While Western was outplayed on Sunday in the under 16s match, the under 18s side was impressive, defeating Macarthur 32-14.

Even after his side's loss, Hancock believes it won't be too long until country-based teams are consistently matching it with some of the best sides in the state.

"Each year you can see these teams closing the gap with the Sydney clubs, especially in and around the Harold Matthews stuff," he said.

"That quality of footy is getting better each year, I still believe that we have a really good football side here. We go around again next week and we will see how we go."

Western under 16s and 18s will be in action once again this Sunday when they face Riverina Bulls at West Wyalong.

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