Rodney Stevens

The Lower Clarence Magpies rugby league club is being revitalised with a new board, coaches, and players aiming to take the proud club to new levels and grow on the increasing number of representative players – both women and men- they are producing.

Lower Clarence Magpies President, Brad Dixon told the CV Independent the new board of Glenn Ayres – Vice President, Angela Zammit – Secretary, Craig Hughes- Treasurer, Natasha Earle – Registrar and board members Craig Mercy Bushell, Cody Walker, Amy Harrison and Gina Warburton are trying to do everything they can to get everyone involved in the sport, both men and women.

“As a new board we are trying to get the club back to the community as much as we can, we want the community to be involved and if people want to talk to any of us, we are available,” he said.

“I would like to thank the previous board for their hard work and putting the club in a good position for us to continue to grow.

“The previous board did a good job of getting the ball rolling and advancing the club and we’ve just got to take that ball and run with it and take it further.

“I think having the players on the board is a huge asset for the club and it gives them an opportunity to talk about which way they want to see the club going.”

Mr Dixon said the club was proud of its emerging representative players.

“The women’s game has grown quite rapidly over the past few years, and we have to do everything we can to support them and keep the game and our sides as strong as we can,” he said.

“We’ve got Raeyah Kapeen, Miriam Mirupasi, Mia Dendle, and Isabelle Zammit, some local girls who have gone onto play for some really great sides in the Northern Rivers Titans and the Tweed Seagulls, as well as our open men’s representatives Cody Walker and Callan Hollis,” he said

Mr Dixon said the Lower Clarence Magpies men’s First and Reserve Grade ranks were looking very healthy for 2025 with a number of quality new and former players joining the club.

“Cody Walker and Callan Hollis who are this year going on to the Northern Rivers Titans side,” he said.

“Off a slow year for the Magpies last year, to have those two players selected in that side is a big achievement and shows the quality of players we do have.

“We have signed some quality players for this season and hopefully we will see some more of the men and the women in the representative sides next year.”

Mr Dixon said the Magpies greatly appreciate the services of Gilbert Guttenbeil as a high-performance trainer and reserve grade coach and were excited about new first grade coach Dan Kemp.

“Gilbert offered his services last year, he’s been doing a lot of work with the representative girls, he helped a lot with the with the ladies league tag last year and Gilbert is going to be head coach of the reserves this year…he works well with the players, and they enjoy working with him,” he said.

“Dan is from Port Macquarie, he coached down there, he has coached a few representative sides, and he moved here 18 months ago and has previously won a premiership at Port Macquarie.

“The previous board found Dan and he presented himself last year to possibly be the coach, so we’ve taken that up and he’s been doing great things.

“We’ve trained almost 10 weeks now, not mandatory, just voluntary, and we’ve been getting anywhere between 30 and 40 players every week.”

Mr Dixon said Kemp is a different style of coach to what the Magpies have had before, a dedicated coach as opposed to last year’s Captain Coach role former NRL star Luke Douglas took on.

NRL ironman Douglas, who holds the record for the most consecutive games from debut with 215 and was a forward for the Cronulla Sharks and the Gold Coast Titans, before playing for English Super league Club St Helens for two years, will be pulling on the boots again for the Magpies in 2025.

Other Lower Clarence Magpies coaches for 2024 include Shannon Zammit – Women’s tackle, John Elisaia Thomas who has returned to coach the under 18’s and Ash Kemp will be coaching the ladies league tag.

“New and old players and volunteers feel free to get in touch if you’d like to get involved with the club,” Mr Dixon said. 

 Lower Clarence Magpies President, Brad Dixon with representative players Miriam Mirupasi, Mia Dendle, Gina Warburton, Cody Walker, Ben Walker and Vice- President Glenn Ayres. The club has undergone a rebuilding phase and is looking forward to increased success in 2025. Image: Rodney Stevens