BELLINGEN Valley/Dorrigo Magpies and the Orara Valley Axemen are preparing to make their return to senior rugby league.

The two clubs will return to the field as part of this year’s Hastings District Rugby League competition.

The Axemen and Magpies will feature in the Northern Division during the 2025 season, along with the Bowraville Tigers, Lower Macleay Magpies, and South West Rocks Marlins.

The Southern Division will feature seven teams.

The Axemen last played senior rugby league during the 2022 Group 2 Rugby League season, where they finished runners up.

The Magpies last played in the Group 2 competition in 2023.

Axemen president Stevan Cetinich was looking forward to seeing the green and gold taking the field once again.

“I think the Orara Valley community loves footy, but we just don’t have the population at the moment to sustain four grades in Group 2,” he said.

“This will allow us to continue with footy out there and still provide role models for the juniors.”

While they will be playing in a different league, he said the Axemen would run up against some familiar faces.

“It’ll be a nice change, and there’s also a bunch of players we have played with and against over the years, through rep footy and players coming up here to play,” he said.

“There are a few players at South West Rocks that played for Orara years ago, plus Bellingen will surely have players we have played before as well.

“It should be great fun.”

The Hastings District Rugby League is a community rugby league competition, and features amateur teams from smaller towns around the Mid North Coast.

It runs as a community competition similar to the Barwon Darling Rugby League and the Western Riverina Community Cup.

The Hastings League was established in 1920 as a rugby league competition on the Mid North Coast.

The competition partnered with the Group 3 Rugby League in the 1990s as the Group 3 Saturday League, but has since returned to the Hastings League name and remains separate from Group 3.

By Aiden BURGESS