Coolamon captain looking forward to clash under lights against Bulldogs

Upgrades to the lighting facilities at Kindra Park make the fixture a possibility and the Southern NSW Women's League games that have been held under the lights have been a great success.

Clarke said he was excited for the feature game which will see the Hoppers and Bulldogs first grade clash commence at 5.30pm.

"Yeah definitely," Clarke said.

"It's obviously the first one for the men's team I suppose, so the guys will be really excited for the opportunity to have the first home game under lights.

"It's been something the club and the community in general have put a lot of work into to have the ability for us to have good enough lights to actually do this.

"It's really exciting and hopefully we have a good turnout to payback the effort that's gone into having those good lights in the first place."

The Hoppers and Bulldogs both have new-look sides this season and Clarke said he was looking forward to what should be an entertaining match-up between the two young teams.

"It's almost the opposite challenge of the weekend," he said.

"We kind of knew against Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong that we were almost playing an opposite brand of footy where they've got older guys, bigger bodies and tall players, so they can play a different brand to us.

"Whereas against Turvey, the challenge is almost who can execute the game plan and the style better because it will be pretty similar.

"It's a different challenge and we'll expect they'll challenge the way we play and the way we want to play like Ganmain did, but in a different way.

"It's certainly one that we know we're up for the challenge and I think if we can execute and do it for long enough then hopefully we can get our first win for the year, that is certainly our aim for the weekend."

The Hoppers went down in the local derby by 35 points, however the young side showed plenty of promise in their defeat to the Lions.

Clarke agreed there were a fair few positives the side could takeaway from their opening round loss to GGGM.

"Yeah definitely a lot of positives," he said.

"Both in the good things that we did and the fact we were able to challenge Ganmain, who are clearly going to be a really good team again this year and have added to the depth they already had.

"But also some confidence in the things that we didn't do well as they are all things that can be easily fixed.

"It's just a matter of working on them at training and continuing to get better at it, the things that you can't necessarily train like effort and intensity and a willingness to take on the challenge were the things that we did really well.

"Hopefully we can continue to do well and create our brand of footy with our attacking game play."

It's no secret there was a fair bit of change at the Hoppers over the off-season with over 20 senior players departing the club.

Clarke believed there isn't necessarily a different feel at the club compared to previous years, however he did feel there was certainly a lot of excitement currently at the Hoppers.

"There's definitely been a lot of change," he said.

"I think it's just given guys an opportunity that either haven't had an opportunity at Coolamon before or haven't had an opportunity in the RFL to play senior footy.

"Then also guys who have been playing senior footy for a while now like Cooper McKelvie, Aiden Macauley, Nick Buchanan and BJ Glyde to not just be really good players in a good team at Coolamon.

"But be the drivers and leaders in the team and I think the challenges and the opportunities that's created have meant the team is energetic and rejuvenated.

"It comes from the playing group, but it also comes from the environment that Gav (McMahon) was able to create for us over the off-season.

"He's putting the confidence in guys that maybe haven't necessarily had the opportunity or they're taking the next steps in their footy journey.

"It's certainly an exciting group to be around."

Clarke has also taken the next step in his footy journey this season after being appointed captain in addition to his role as an assistant coach.

The midfielder said it is a huge honour to lead the Hoppers in what is an important milestone year for the club.

"Coolamon footy club is 130 years old this year," he said.

"It's a really proud club and it's an awesome club and community to be around, it's definitely something I'm proud of and something I'm happy to be doing.

"I think I have an opportunity there, both in the assistant coaching role but also as a captain to try and drive standards.

"But also just make sure that off the field and the way we handle ourselves at training and within the club is something we can be proud of too.

"We've got a pretty extended leadership group below me and we didn't go with set vice-captain's or anything like that.

"We've got a group of seven or eight guys who have been meeting up through the pre-season and at different times after training sessions to make sure we are doing it as a group.

"We knew we had to have one person who was the captain and the guys were happy to put the faith in me I suppose.

"With the rest of the leaders we've got it's going to make it an easier role for me to be doing anyway, but yeah it's something I'm proud of."

The Hoppers have made one change ahead of their clash against the Bulldogs with Jack Rudd coming out of the side that went down to the Lions.

Kyle Woods comes into the side and he will play his first senior game for the Hoppers since the 2019 season.

The Bulldogs made four changes to their side that defeated Wagga Tigers last weekend as Tim Doyle, Andrew Emery, Archie Jenkins and Joel Peters were all named as omissions.

Cooper Harmer, Ben Lewington and Oscar Jenkins will all play their first senior games of the season while Jacob Cain will make his first grade debut on Saturday for the Bulldogs.