LOOK OUT Limestone Coast Rugby League the Gunditjmara Bulls are a new face ready to make an impact.
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The Bulls, who recently formed as a club due to high demand in the off-season, will kick-start their LCRL campaign against Blue Lake Knights at Mount Gambier on Saturday.
New mentor Renato Da Ros, who has coached rugby union professionally in Italy and New Zealand, said the name of the club was dedicated to the Gunditjmara tribe, the original owners of the lands in the south-west.
“A few of the indigenous guys in the team thought of the name,” the 51-year-old said. “The boys were told (by Gunditjmara elder Robert Lowe on Thursday) as to what it is about and the culture behind the name and the expectations as to how to hold up that name.
“The boys are already aware of the indigenous side to the naming of the team and then it’s up to them to act on it correctly when they hit the field.”
Bulls captain Bernie Sinnott said the team, which is mostly made up of football players, was adjusting well to adapting to a new game.
“You can notice just with training that everything is coming together when we do game plans,” the third-year rugby league player said.
“They have come a long way from just coming to training and chucking the ball around and doing tackling drills.
“Everything has pieced together and you can start to see a bit of fluency in the boys’ games.”
Da Ros expects the team, which has been together for six weeks, to really hit its straps later into the 10-round season.
“I have already seen that the improvement in the last few weeks has been quite immense,” the former rugby union player said.
“They have a good desire to play well, a good desire to improve and they all want to play for each other.
“That’s the foundation that they have laid and hopefully they can build on from that.”