The Kangaroos have held discussions with mines in the area about the possibility of using mine jobs to attract talent to Boggabri for next season, the club has said.
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Roos vice president Jason Kemp said it was the first time the club had taken the step.
He said only preliminary discussions had been held with mine companies but he was hopeful deals could be done, as the side looked to rebound strongly from a disappointing debut top-grade season.
The irony of the development is not lost on Kemp, given his belief that losing players to work commitments at the mines is the main reason the side have not won a game this season.
“As much as the mines play havoc with our team, it’s something that we’ve gotta look at – which is using the mines to get some players to come into our side,” he said.
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“We are looking into it. “We have talked to a few people at some of the mines and they seem to be willing to help us out … If we can find some players to recruit in the positions that we need, they’d be willing to help us out.”
Kemp said that could include the mines giving the new recruits “favourable” rosters so they could play.
“We’ve always had players in the mines but they’re just locals,” he said. “Where as this time we will be looking at maybe recruiting some people from away and giving them jobs in the mines, where they’d come and have a job ready to walk in to.”
Kemp added: “The target that we’d like is to get three or four seasoned first-graders. They don’t have to be 20 or 21 [years old]. But a few older heads that have been there and done it for quite a while, that are willing to come and play a bit of bush footy … Yeah, it would be a big help to the club.”
The last-placed Roos host fourth-placed Werris Creek on Saturday in the final round of the competition.
Kemp said the club would field a first-grade side in 2019.
He could not fault the players for their effort this year, he said adding: “To play decent footy and get a good game every week, we think we need to be in first division.”
