A grand final rematch between Gundagai and Southcity is the highlight of Group Nine’s new pre-season nines event.
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The grand finalists of the last three years will clash at the Cootamundra event on March 16.
It’s an early chance for the Bulls to get one back on the Tigers after failing to make it three titles in a row in September.
Still smarting from the grand final loss, Southcity coach Kyle McCarthy is looking forward to the rematch.
“It should be good and it’s a nice, fast brand of football which should suit us,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy will miss the day due to a wedding however he’s a supporter of the event, especially with the nines format.
“It’s good to have something set in stone,” he said.
“I’m a smaller sort of player so the faster game is always good for us.
“We had a lot of our blokes play in the Kapooka nines at the end of last year, and were successful in that, so it suits our team and our way of playing.
“We’ve got a lot of speed, a lot of strike and our forwards are pretty mobile so we’re pretty happy with it.
“It’s short and sweet, you can roll through the interchanges so there shouldn’t be too much stress on the body.
“You could nearly take two teams and just roll one team on and one team off.”
Southcity has also been drawn to play Kangaroos.
As has become a pattern, the Bulls start their preparation for the season with the West Wyalong Knockout on February 22 and 23.
They will then line up in the nines but McCarthy is yet to decide if they will have another trial leading into the first round of the season.
Southcity tackles Temora at Nixon Park on April 7 and won’t play in a full grand final rematch until a round eight clash at Anzac Park.
Each club will play three nines games across the day with the four sides with the best records qualifying for the semi-finals.
Cootamundra and Temora kicks things off at 9am.
Both Les Boyd Oval and Nicholson Park will be utilised for the event.
Men’s and women’s games have been split across the two grades.
All finals will be at Les Boyd Oval.
The women’s semis start at 3.45pm with the men’s at 4.35pm.
The women’s final is at 5.25pm with the men’s to follow at 6pm.
The new event is compulsory for all clubs to participate in.
Canberra Raiders are on board as the major sponsors with $5000 up for grabs in the men’s while Group Nine was still finalising the prize pool for the leaguetag.
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