GETTING a chance to showcase their skills on a representative level - it is an opportunity that has Group 10's young guns excited.
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After enduring two years of football heavily impacted by COVID-19 with few representative fixtures able to go ahead, this weekend Bathurst will host a Group 10 cluster carnival.
It will see under 12 and under 13 tackle sides as well as under 12s, under 14s and under 16s league tag outfits in action.
"This is something that we as a Group have pushed for this year because we know the last couple of years have been rough for the kids because of COVID," Tony England, Group 10 Junior Rugby League president, said.
"So we made a big push to get this carnival going because we just want to see kids out playing footy, especially those rep kids because they've worked hard in their selection trials."
The players who will wear the white and sky blue of Group 10 this weekend have already worked hard to impress on both a club level and during the selection trials.
England is excited to see what they can do given the skill that is present across the sides.
"You have no idea how much trouble we have on trial days trying to narrow it down to just 20 boys for a team or 20 girls to a team, the talent represented within Group 10 is absolutely fantastic and we as board couldn't be happier," he said.
"If that's our hardest job, to work out who are in the top 20, then we're going well as a Group."
There will be 56 games played across the two days, with juniors from other regions just as keen to represent their areas.
"We'll also have the Lachlan District and the Dubbo guys coming, we've got Group 14 and the Windsor Wolves are also attending because there was a bit of a drop out with other groups," England said.
"But it's a large array of people coming down this way to participate. We are looking at around about 560 kids roughly when we look at around about 20 kids per team and 28 teams coming.
"Then when you add parents to that as well, we're looking at bringing 800, 900 people to town, so it's a big thing for the town as well.
"While there will be scoring on the day, it's not about who wins or loses, it's a development thing for these teams, just to get them into the swing of how rep footy works and how these carnivals do operate.
"Part of it also is NSW Rugby League is putting a team into the Monarch Blues Tag for the girls, so we'll have NSW Rugby League representatives down there selecting for that team for the Group 10 area."
The competition will be staged at Saint Stanislaus' College, with games commencing at 9am on both days.
"Stannies are absolutely fantastic, they've gone out of their way to help us with this, they're providing us with five football fields which we wouldn't be able to get anywhere else in town," England said.
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