NORTH Coast Bulldogs teams are preparing for a big representative season in 2023.

The North Coast region’s junior representative rugby league teams are getting ready for their upcoming representative season.

The Bulldogs juniors recently played trial matches against the Central Coast Roosters in Tuncurry, as they finalised their under 18 and under 16 squads for the 2023 representative season.

Bulldogs’ teams open their season against the Northern Tigers on Saturday, 4 February at Kempsey.

The North Coast Bulldogs under 18s take part in the Laurie Daley Cup, while the under 16s team plays in the Andrew Johns Cup, with both being NSW’s regional representative competitions.

The Bulldogs sides feature the best junior players from Group 2 Rugby League competitions.

The Bulldogs under 18s finished runners up in last season’s Laurie Daley Cup.

Coffs Coast juniors to make the current Laurie Daley Cup squad include Ben Galloway (Coffs Harbour Comets), Kade Levingston (Woolgoolga Seahorses), and Lachlan Mifsud (Coffs Harbour Comets), who was named as the team’s captain.

Coffs Coast juniors to make the current Andrew Johns Cup squad include Cale Ogilvy (Sawtell Panthers), Degan Charman (Sawtell Panthers), Dwayne Roberts Jarrett (Sawtell Panthers), and Reef Sjoberg (Sawtell Panthers).

A Group 2 seniors rep team will play a Group 3 team at Kempsey on Saturday, February 11, which is a selection game for the North Coast Bulldogs team to play at the NSW Country Championships.

Any registered player who wants to try out for the Group 2 rep team is to attend training at Geoff King Motors Field, Coffs Harbour at 6pm on Wednesday, 1 February & Wednesday, 8 February next year.

By Aiden BURGESS