South Sydney look set to grace the playing field of Solar Mad Stadium later this month in a trial game which will see them take on the best Group 20 has to offer.
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The trial game which was originally set to feature the Riverina Bulls side will take place in Griffith on February 20.
The game, which will be hosted by Darlington Point Coleambally, has been in the works since around Christmas and will act as a relaunch point for Group 20 after the competition was put into recess last season due to the pandemic.
It was a chance too good to refuse for DPC Roosters president Tony Leadbitter especially given the close connection between the clubs with long-serving former president Steve Hogan being good friends with Souths coach Wayne Bennett while Josh Veivers is the nephew of Bennett.
"Souths got onto us just before Christmas, and since we were the last guys to win Group 20 they asked if we would be interested in pulling a team together," he said.
"A couple of our guys have left the country, a couple have retired, and a couple are injured so to make it work we needed to get all the other Group 20 clubs involved and try to involve everyone and make it sort of like a relaunch for Group 20.
"All the clubs have been really good and jumped on board so it will be like a Group 20 invitational team."
It won't just be a trail game played on that night with another two games on the cards including a memorial game for Roger Penrith who spent time with the Roosters as well as the Black and Whites.
"It will be the Group 20 Barbarians v Group 20 Indigenous All-Stars as a tribute for him," he said.
"Each club has provided half a dozen names of which our coach (Ben Jeffery) will pick what he needs, and those players will play in the main game with the leftovers to fall into the Indigenous versus Barbarians game.
"There will also be an open girls tackle game involving Group 20 and Group 17 (ProTen Cup) girls.
"There has been a bit of interest in pushing girls tackle, so we are trying to get a game going right at the start for the girls."
While there was a bit of concern around the fixture after the Northern Beaches outbreak around Christmas time, Leadbitter said those issues were put to bed.
"They stood off it a bit when the Northern Beaches incident happened, and we were worried COVID might take off again," he said.
"Then we had a Zoom meeting with the South guys, and they said we are coming.
"They asked us to pull something together because we really want to come to Griffith. They couldn't have been any more helpful."
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Liam Warren
As someone with an underlying passion about sport it is a privilege to report on the sporting landscape around the MIA
As someone with an underlying passion about sport it is a privilege to report on the sporting landscape around the MIA
