After a few winters out of the game, the former Central West AFL rep guru is back at the helm of the region’s open men’s outfit ahead of Saturday’s Matt Smith Memorial Shield clash at Bathurst and, with an unblemished record as head coach of the region’s best, he’s not coming back without a massive shot at another win.

One look at the list the Cowra-based mentor has chosen to go head-to-head with Northern Riverina this Saturday and it’s little wonder Gregory’s dusted off the clipboard.

Flooded with talent and goal-scoring threats, 13 Bushrangers and five Orange Tigers headline the strong 22-man Central West opens line-up, with power forwards Tim Hunter and Tim Barry, fresh off bags of five and eight goals respectively, both in Gregory’s forward line.

Bathurst Giants has four representatives in the side, with multiple-time flag winner Paul Jenkins named as skipper.

Gregory has spent the last three weeks sorting through nominations for the team and has been impressed with the level of talent in both Orange and Bathurst.

“The two uni towns attract a few players from southern areas and there’s a sprinkling of experience but a lot of youth in there as well,” he said.

“I used to coach Cowra some years ago, I’ve coached rep for a while and, to be honest, I had second thoughts about coming out of retirement to do this, but I love rep footy and I’m excited to be part of this.

“I think we can stretch them a bit. We’ve got nine midfielders we’ll rotate throughout the day and three talls, one of which will more than likely hold down fullback or a back pocket.

“But I think with the strong side we’ve named, we’ll run them off their legs in the second half.”

Gregory also highlighted his halfback line as a key area, and that’s where that “sprinkling of experience” lies in the form of Paul Long, Peter Grundy and Chris Rothnie.

“We’ll have a short session on Wednesday night. But most of the guys know each other already so I expect the team to gel pretty easily,” he added.

The men’s game is just one of a smorgasbord of Aussie rules on show at Bathurst on Saturday.

First bounce in the senior men’s game is at 2.30pm at George Park 2, which follows the under 17s game and senior women’s clash, from 11am and 12.45pm respectively on the same ground.

The women’s clash will be an all-Central West affair, with the region halved into the Northern Suns (Dubbo, Parkes, Orange) and the Southern Thunder (Bathurst Giants, Bathurst Bushrangers, Cowra Blues).

On George Park 1, the youth girls play from 10.30am, the under 12s from 11.45am and the under 14s from 1pm.

Central West AFL regional development coordinator Casey White was particularly eager to see the women’s game – a first for the region.

He said Northern Riverina clubs are merged with netball clubs in their respective towns, meaning there’s no women’s league to draw a rep team from in that area.

As such, he says the chance to give the Central West women a shot at some rep footy with the hybrid game – dubbed the Central West All Stars – is a real plus for the players.

“And it certainly gives the youth girls something to look up to as well, something to aspire towards,” White said.