After an "incredible journey that spanned from Japan to the bush to the beach" this year, Central West under-12 head coach Rob Nixon said his troops have their sights set on winning titles in 2020 and beyond, and the young Bulls look in pretty good shape to do just that.
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Central West finished their competitive season in the best fashion possible by winning last week's inaugural Southern States Championship at Canberra, a title win which came several months after they kicked off 2019 with an undefeated, landmark trip to Japan for the Kids' World Cup.
The Baby Bulls finished third at the NSW Country Junior Rugby Union Championships and 13th at the Positive Rugby Foundation NSW State Championship in between those two successes, and will now play one more friendly game against Warringah to cap off the year.
It's been a pretty amazing season and we've got our sights set high for next year.
- Central West coach Rob Nixon
"It's been a pretty amazing season and we've got our sights set high for next year. We want to win country and finish in the top four at state, then defend that southern states title," Nixon said.
"I think all the traction we gained came from the trip to Japan. In terms of rugby it did make things a bit difficult in terms of preparation for country, which was next, but what it did do was build a great bond between the kids.
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"As coaches that's what we're trying to do throughout a season and it's a lot easier for a team to be successful if they gel together well, so to kick-off the season with that kind of high, it set us up really well.
"Finishing third at country was a good result and even though we came 13th at state we felt like we were in the top six there, I say that because in our pool we drew the top two sides and were really competitive, then they went down and won the southern states.
"It was the perfect way to finish a pretty incredible journey that spanned from Japan to the bush to the beach, because none of these kids had played rugby on a full field before, they were straight out of Wallas and didn't know their positions."
Central West didn't just win the Southern States Championship either, they romped home, and didn't concede a point throughout until the dying stages of the tournament.
"The biggest improvement we saw through the year was how their confidence increased throughout the tournaments, and that was evidenced in the way they went forward to win the southern states," Nixon said.
"We went incredibly well down there and now we've got one final match at Warringah against the Rats. It's just a friendly game, the idea from that is to obviously formulate a kind of bush-to-beach match to hopefully use it as a trial against these guys before the season (in years to come).
"Most of the group will still be available and raring to go next year I think. There'll probably be a few kids that go off to private schools, being that age now, but we're looking forward to next season."
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
