AFTER more than fifteen years since the club dissolved, the Gumbaynggirr Coffs Coast Raiders are preparing to play in the East Coast Tribal League which kicks off in January.

The East Coast Tribal League caters for Aboriginal teams on the NSW Mid North Coast, featuring teams including the Dunghutti Broncos, Gumbaynggirr Rams, Ngaku Warriors, South Taree, Thunghutti Bilabangs, and the Wall Street Warriors.

Coffs Coast Raiders women’s player Heather Duncan said it meant a lot for the community to have a team in the Tribal League.

“Having the Raiders teams, it’s about a gathering of our community and bringing people together through rugby league,” she said.

“It’s coming together and playing for your nation, and we want to represent Coffs Harbour.

“It’s quite a big thing, and it’s good for our community and people to represent our region at carnivals like the Koori Knockout, rather than having to play in other teams.

“Playing as the Raiders, it gives us somewhere we can call home and play under our own name rather than with other teams.”

She said a number of the current Raiders women’s players had played in a premiership team this past season.

“Myself and a number of other players played for Wall Street Warriors and we won the premiership in the Tribal League this season,” she said.

“We also played for the Coffs Coast Dolphins in the North Coast competition, so we do have some really talented players.”

Duncan spoke of the quality of the East Coast Tribal League.

“The skill level is top quality, and we have players that have also represented NRL in past years, so it’s really good quality and it’s there for development as well.”

The East Coast Tribal League made its debut this year, with the Dunghutti Broncos the inaugural men’s winners and Wall Street Warriors winning the women’s competition.

The Raiders are scheduled to play their first games on 20 January.

By Aiden BURGESS