Dubbo Rhinos president Ian Burns will push for a competition-wide Indigenous round in Central West Rugby Union next year after being left extremely proud of his own club's efforts on the weekend.
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The Rhinos held their Indigenous round on Saturday, with a smoking ceremony and traditional dancers at Apex Oval prior to the New Holland Agriculture Cup first grade match against CSU.
It wasn't the first time the Rhinos have held an Indigenous round but the weekend was the biggest and most in-depth the club has held and more than 40 players of Indigenous decent were in action across the three grades.
Much of the credit went to Max Hill, who has become involved with the club this season as his sons Kieran and Kaiden play for the Rhinos, and his Building Kinnections company logo was on the jersey.
"I think we've gone from just getting a special jersey made to really making something of it," Burns said.
"We found out where out players were from and we had Uncle Ralph (Naden) and his dancers there and there was a smoking ceremony in the rooms of both teams before they ran on.
"It was pretty special. It was the first time I'd seen that."
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The heritage of the Indigenous players at the club was on show next to their names on the matchday program on Saturday in another mark of respect and acknowledgement.
Seeing the reaction of players, club members, and supporters at Apex Oval has left Burns wanting more.
He's likely to contact Central West Rugby Union chief executive Matt Tink when the 2021 season is completed to push for an Indigenous round across all competitions in the region next year.
"I think we can do it better again and I think Central West as a sporting group needs to consider having an Indigenous round each year," he said.
"Each club can do what they can to recognise our Indigenous past."
While the first grade result didn't go in the Rhinos' favour - the hosts gave up a 16-point half-time lead in a 32-21 loss - there has been plenty of progress on the field this season.
The promising performances of the first and second grade sides, as well as the colts team, has created a positive buzz around the club and days like Saturday only boost that.
"We always put rugby first, the community second, and the club after that," Burns said.
"We're all about growing rugby however we can as a small club but we're all part of our community so it's very high up on our priority list."
The colts have a bye this coming weekend while the senior sides head to Narromine.
"Our colts have been a big part of it and a number of times they've stepped up and played grade as well," Burns said.
"Second grade has got great depth and last week there was about 25 second-graders at training and I can't remember the last time I saw those numbers at training.
"Hopefully all three grades will play semis so it's been a great turnaround."
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Each club can do what they can to recognise our Indigenous past.
- Ian Burns