Old rivals to clash again as Eugowra hosts 2022 KMS Masters of the Mandagery

Now living and working in Orange, the ex-Eugowra Golden Eagles captain-coach was born and bred on the banks of the Mandagery Creek and growing up, aside from donning the famous black and gold, there was only ever one goal.

"We didn't play for money, the thing we played for was to get our photo on the wall in the pub," Norris recalls. He's done so successfully twice - in 1985 and 2001.

"There's some people that were unsuccessful and others are up there a half-a dozen times. I just remember watching as a kid and thinking 'I just want my photo on the wall'."

This weekend he'll get another chance to check out those photos on the wall at the Central Hotel.

Norris will line-up for Eugowra in the KMS Masters of the Mandagery. The masters competition has gone from strength-to-strength in the last few years and come Saturday at the Ian Walsh field there will be 10 teams in action.

Alongside hosts Eugowra, there will be old boys from Manildra, Narromine, Cargo, Trundle, Canowindra, Tuggeranong, ACT Valley, Condobolin and Ivanhoe reliving the glory days.

And for Norris, those days are some of his fondest.

"Eugowra is bred on harness racing and rugby league; that's it. You're involved in either one," he said.

"Eugowra is on the banks of the Mandagery, and, when we used to run out on to the field, the town loved us so much even the trees bowed to us ... it's an amazing feeling.

"Anyone who's played for those clubs, you become part of the culture - and it's especially the case when you win a grand final."

Norris was lucky enough to do just that in 1985, a young gun in the middle of one of the Golden Eagles' glory periods.

In fact, the club's runs at premierships tend to align generationally - there was the 1960s where Norris' old man helped the club rise to the top and win five Group 11 titles.

Then that run in the '80s where, in Group 11's second division, Eugowra qualified both first and second grades into grand finals in every year bar two.

Then, that run in the 2000s, which kicked off in 2001 with Norris at the helm.

After returning from Sydney to live in Eugowra and run the Central Hotel, Norris, alongside his brother, helped bring the Golden Eagles back from the rugby league wilderness.

The club had folded, but after garnering enough support to reform, the club jagged the signature of Mark Bevan to coach in 2000.

Bevan played 21 NRL games between the Panthers and Western Suburbs in the 1980s, and arrived at Eugowra as a great white hope and left as, as Norris puts it, part of the club's culture - a premiership winner, and a key player in that win, at that.

Norris takes up the story.

"In 2001 Bevan stepped down from coaching and I took on the role. Bevo stayed and played, and we still had a few really good players. But we were essentially a really young side; Bobby Wykamp, Andrew Barnes, Slavin ... a very young side," he remembers looking back at that Woodbridge Cup season just over two decades ago.

"We ended up fifth after the competition and like anything, momentum is one of those great things. We got on a roll and got through to the grand final and we were fortunate enough ... I think the final score was 27-26. Mark Bevan kicked the field goal that won us the game."

The Golden Eagles knocked off Koorawatha in that decider. A seriously handy side, the Jets had the likes of Wilfred Williams in their line-up. Anyone associated with rugby league in the western division in the 1990s would know the impact of Williams on a footy side.

And in 2001 Norris' Eugowra outfit felt that impact's full force. The difference between the two sides in one of their clashes in the regular season? 66-6, to Wilfred's mighty Jets.

"We were absolutely flogged. It was really sweat to get them in the grand final," he said.

And probably even sweater to relive with a few of the other Golden Eagles' old boys this weekend.

Because, for Norris, the game has always been about more than what happens on the field. The friendships, the rivals, the history, it's all developed and then fostered with what happens off the field.

And that's why he can't wait for this weekend.

"I wasn't a great footballer, by no means, but I never left second division because the social atmosphere was the best part about it. You go out, play Condo, Trangie, Manildra, Molong, you'd go back to the pub and enjoy it. Every club thought the same. You'd go out there and bash each other but then always go back to the pub. You became really good friends. Some of the best people I've met have been through football. That Group 11 second division, and then the Woodbridge Cup, is a fantastic competition," he said.

"Those little towns, Eugowra, Manildra, Molong ... they're so proud of their football teams.

"And they're great rivals. The rivalry we had with the Rhinos, I'm so much looking forward to that game against Manildra. I loved playing against the Rhinos. They were so passionate, so much like us. We had the Wykamps and the Joneses and they had the Gibsons. They're probably the same, they're probably keen to play against us."

And no doubt keen to catch-up off the field just as much.

The KMS Masters of the Mandagery kick-off at 12pm on Saturday at Ian Walsh Field. Gates open at 11.30am.

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