Day family signed by Gunnedah Bulldogs
Lawrence, Martin and Robert Day have been signed by Australian rugby league side Gunnedah Bulldogs. - Credit: Archant
Three St Albans Centurions players have swapped the British spring for a season with the Gunnedah Bulldogs Rugby League Club in Australia.
Brothers Martin and Robert Day, and cousin Lawrence Day all hail from St Albans Centurions Rugby League Club. They were recruited by Bulldogs’ coaching director and former St Albans coach, Shane Rampling, who spent a number of years in development and coaching roles at the Cents.
The family trio didn’t have long to wait before their first training session as the boys took the field for a light run out with the club on Thursday night, the same day they arrived.
Martin, the eldest of the three at 26 years of age, was looking forward to getting stuck into the local league.
“It’s pretty hard to get straight off the plane, after all those flights,” Martin said on Friday, just hours after touching down in Australia.
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“But it shows good commitment for the boys about why we’re here. I think a lot of the them took their hats off to us for going out and doing that straight away.”
For brother Robert – a tall, fast outside back, the competition couldn’t come soon enough either.
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“I’m looking forward to a good strong season, getting behind a good bunch of lads and getting stuck in” Robert said.
This is Robert’s first time to Australia and already the big land down under has made an impact.
“I’m just trying to take it all in at the moment, it’s quite a big change of pace from where I’m from,” he said.
“It’s the towns and the space... everything is completely different, it’s really interesting.”
Lawrence also couldn’t wait to lace up the boots for Gunnedah.
“I just want to get out there and play,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how different it is from the UK... the different styles. I’ve been told by some of the Aussies that the hits are going to be harder and it’s a much faster paced type of football than in the UK, but we will see, rugby league is a hard game wherever you play it”.
The trio are hoping to get a run out with their new team when the Bulldogs play their first match of the season in the Wests Knockout Carnival in Tamworth against the Wee Waa Panthers on Saturday night.
