The cream of emerging players from southern area Country Rugby League in the 15s and 16s from Groups 6, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 20 and Illawarra will all be vying for a Country title.

The boys will also have an opportunity to take a positive step in their budding careers. An under-16s Southern side will be selected to trial against a Northern outfit for a Country guernsey and talent scouts will also be on hand looking to unearth a future NRL star.

Action gets under way from 10am Saturday with hosts Group 11 meeting their south coast rivals Group 16 in the first under-16s clash at 10am; while Group 11 15s play Group 14 at noon.

Neil Millgate, the Dubbo association president and junior coach, said Group 11 under-16s are a good side.

“As under-15s last year they upset carnival favourites Illawarra but lost their way against Group 6 and just didn’t have enough legs left. They poured so much energy into the game against Illawarra they were spent. But I think our coach, Cameron Greenhalgh, will have learnt a lot from that and will have them primed to go the extra step this time.”

Forbes-based Greenhalgh has had most of these boys since under-13s and hopefully he can get the best out of them.

They were too good for Group 10 in a recent trial and have looked sharp in the gruelling training runs.

“One of the our strengths is that they work with each other and we also have a number of club mates, so that helps in these rep games,” Millgate said.

Interestingly there are two sets of twins in the side - Jesse and Mitchell Ott - who will play in the centres and on the wing; while the Fields boys from Warren - Craig and Tom - play their club football with South Dubbo and are in the back row of the scrum.

Millgate suggested the Group 11 under-15s were an ‘unpredictable’ side that could be very good on the day.

“It will be interesting to see how they go the 15s. They didn’t play well for coach Mark Hartwig (Forbes) in the trial so will have to do better to make an impact at this level on the weekend,” Millgate said.

Three of the key players will be outstanding prop Jake Hall - the nephew of former Dubbo Westside, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Australian prop, Les Davidson - and his back row partners Connor Brebner (Grenfell) and Jayden Merritt (South Dubbo).

n Group 11 under-16s:

1 William Day (South Dubbo), 2 Jarrod Nicholson (Forbes), 3 Josh Trayhum (Canowindra), 4 Jesse Ott (St John’s), 5 Mitchell Ott (St John’s), 7 Nicholas Greenhalgh (Forbes), 8 Chris Judd (Red Bend), 9 Hayden Bolam (Forbes), 10 Craig Field (South Dubbo), 11 Thomas Field (South Dubbo), 12 Alex Wilson (Canowindra), 13 Joe Stageman (South Dubbo). Interchange: 14 Ken Knight Jnr (South Dubbo), 15 Rodney Boney (Dubbo PCYC), 16 Ben Maguire (Red Bend), 17 Hewett Haycock (St John’s). Coach: Cameron Greenhalgh (Forbes). Manager: Sue Egan. Trainers: Collin Dwyer, Shane Bolam, Vicki Everingham.

n Group 11 under-15s:

1 Gabe Chapman (St John’s), 2 Daniel Harveyson (Grenfell), 3 Alex Davis (Condobolin), 4 Jacob Scott (St John’s), 5 Hayden Sambrook (Souths), 7 Lewis Goodsell (Condobolin), 8 Jake Hall (St John’s), 9 Cody Bruce (Eastridge), 10 Joseph Todd (Souths), 11 Phillip Combridge (Souths), 12 Connor Brebner (Grenfell), 13 Jayden Merritt (Souths). Interchange: 14 Benjamin Conroy (St John’s), 15 Steven Cole (St John’s), 16 Jordan Howarth (Red Bend), 18 Will Dukes (Forbes). Coach: Mark Hartwig (Forbes). Manager: Lisa Combridge. Trainers: Paul Brandon, Scott Burns, Jeff Charlton.

n Country Championship draws, teams: page 58