The introduction of the pre-season nines competition has been well received by Group Nine clubs.
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The compulsory event for both men and women's leaguetag was one of the first initiatives installed by the new Group Nine board.
Southcity couldn't come home with the major prize, falling 18-14 in a gripping final against, but stand-in captain Nick Skinner was pleased with their performances and the day itself.
"I thought it was a great effort, some of the young blokes really stood up, and it was a good, positive day for the club," Skinner said.
"There are players out, but that wasn't spoken about, everyone turned up and played well."
Jordan Little was a standout.
He was named the best throughout the pool stage and backed it up with two first half tries to hand the Bulls.
Skinner is a fan of the event.
"I like it and I think it is good that it is compulsory for all the clubs to play in it," he said.
"It is a good way to kick start the year."
He believes the nines format works
"It's the first time I've played nines and I enjoyed it," Skinner said.
"I think the shorter halves are not to bad and if you are playing a 13-a-side, longer game all day blokes are busted so it's pretty good."
Brothers coach Peter Little believes the new event is a great way to foster the club's youth.
However he did admit the gaps, including almost 31/2 hours between their final pool game and the semi-final against Tumut was hard to overcome.
"It was a great day but the biggest problem was the two-hour break," Little said.
"It is tiring and it is hard to get going away and I think our boys were a bit flat."
Overall Little believes it is a great concept and is confident that timing can be fixed to make it even better.
Tumut co-coach Adam Peace admitted it took the Blues time to get into the day.
"It was good," Pearce said.
"It's a big day and five games is one day is pretty hard on the body, but it was a bit of fun and we enjoyed it.
"We kept talking about throwing games early so we didn't have to play the last games but then the competitive side kinda took over."
Group Nine president Peter McDermott was thrilled with the feedback he'd received.
"I spoke to a lot of teams on the day, and some of them had never played nines before and weren't too fussed on it, but after their first games thought it was alright," McDermott said.
"It seemed to go, it's been positive and I haven't had a negative response yet."
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