OLD Bar Clams' premiership-winning five-eighth-cum-fullback, Mark Drury, will strive for higher rugby union honours this year by transferring to the strong Newcastle club, Hamilton.
Although combining rugby and rugby league last winter, Drury was an important contributor to the Clams' triumph over the Forster-Tuncurry Dolphins in the two clubs' fourth successive grand final of the Lower Mid North Coast premiership.
The Clams will be coached this winter by their important gain from last year, big No 8 Chris Marchant, who will succeed one of the best coaches in NSW Country rugby, their 2009 and 2011 premiership-winning mentor, Darren Drury.
MNC officials have drawn up a plan for the zone's representative team, the Axemen, to return to the NSW Country Championships next year with outstanding players to be identified from an internal triangular series involving the three regions of the zone.
Players from Forster-Tuncurry, Old Bar, Manning River, Wallamba, Gloucester, Harrington and Myall Lakes clubs will be selected to form a Lower MNC representative squad for the tournament to be played over two weekends this winter.
Port Macquarie's Port Pirates and Hastings Valley as well as Kempsey and South West Rocks will provide players for the Central MNC while players from Coffs Harbour, Southern Cross University and Bowraville will form the Upper MNC squad.
The zone's new executive officer, Bob Wilson, said selection panels, and coaching and team management positions would be filled this year, stating: "No fully representative zone games will be played this winter. The board considered we would be better off planning for next year."
In this season's enlarged Lower MNC competition, the Forster-Tuncurry Dolphins and Manning River Ratz, last year's preliminary finalists, will meet in the first round at Taree Rugby Park on April 14 while the newly admitted club from the Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest area, the Myall Lakes Mudcrabs, will be at home to the Gloucester Cockies.
The Harrington Hurricanes will host the Wallamba Bulls at Harrington.
The Old Bar Clams, probably the best team in the four-year history of the LMNC area with a big pack and enterprising backs, have the bye in the seven-club competition which will be played over two rounds.
The Dolphins will again stage their annual Super 10s at Tuncurry on March 3 with Gloucester club hosting a gala day on March 31 when all seven LMNC clubs are expected to participate.
The Dolphins began training this week with club president, Damien Daczko, welcoming Great Lakes Concrete as the club's new major sponsor. New players, young and old, are needed and should attend training at Dolphin Park in North Tuncurry each Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm.
Gloucester's energetic Stuart Paynter, has taken the reins as president with a new committee. With a number of senior players retiring, the coaching role has been accepted by goal-kicking front rower Mick Wooster and former centre Darren Yates.
Gloucester's constructive pivot, Tom Middlebrook, a team-mate of Mark Drury in the MNC under 19 representative side, has switched from Eastern Suburbs to Warringah club after a disappointing initial season in Sydney where his talents were never fully recognised. As usual, the exciting Crescent Heads Sevens tournament will launch the new season on Saturday week with 22 men's teams and 10 women's teams competing for $13,000 in prizemoney, the successful men's premier team to receive $5000 and winning women's team $2000.
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