It may be a shortened season, but the Spuddies will be looking to peel apart the competition.
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With the COVID pandemic delaying their season, the Robertson Spuddies third grade side will have a short turn around time to get match fit, but that isn't worrying them.
President of the Robertson Spuddies Rugby League Club, Doug Tilley said the Spuddie boys hunkered down during COVID and are now ready for action.
"The club just adhered to the rules and we shut down," Tilley said.
"We were fine. There was no real crisis at the club for the players. We just stopped and regrouped when we could."
With a shortened season and pre-season training, Tilley knows the players have to be in shape for this short, energy bursting season.
"Fitness is definitely going to be key this season," Tilley said.
"With everyone shut down, we're hoping injuries won't be a factor with such a shortened pre-season and training time.
"We started training last week and the first game is July 18. It's not a long turnaround. That wasn't even contact training either."
Captain and coach for the Robertson third-grade side, Damien Barton said the players were looking good at training last week.
"The players didn't look too different from before," Barton said.
"It's only third grade, so no one is really a picture of fitness. They're all young guys so they're pretty fit and ready to get involved which is good."
No one from our generation has gone through something like this, so it's very difficult to know when it will all get back to normal.
- Robertson Spuddies president, Doug Tilley .
With all competing teams not getting the regular preparation time for the season, things are looking to be even to start the 2020 season off.
"The fact that all teams will be in the same boat will make it even," Barton said.
"We might be a little underdone to start off with, but as our players are younger, fitness won't be the worry.
"We'll just keep working on ball work and getting ready for the game."
The Spuddies third-grade team can't wait to see how far they can go in the 2020 season and Barton can't wait to lead them.
"I want to help guide the players and help them out with their games," Barton said.
"For the team, numbers are looking great considering COVID. I'm hoping we'll have a competitive team and still take it serious.
"Even if it's a shortened season, let's give it a go and see how well we can do.
"Being a young side, I'm hoping for a fast style game.
"If we can be an uptempo side, hopefully we can wear out a couple of teams."
With COVID affecting every sporting club differently, the Spuddies are unsure when normality will return. But for now they're still a tight-knit group that have pulled together to get through this pandemic.
"Normality? It all depends on Melbourne (laughs)," President Tilley said.
"I'm hoping three to four weeks into the season we'll see some normality. But things change every week. Who knows? This could be the way it is for a very long time.
"No one from our generation has gone through something like this, so it's very difficult to know when it will all get back to normal."
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