West Harbour hadn’t had first rate coaching amenities in a few years. Harmony Oval’s new facelift has seen optimistic penalties on and off the sphere, writes BRENDAN BRADFORD.
The Wests Tigers opened their cutting-edge centre of excellence with loads of pomp and ceremony in February. And rightly so. The Harmony Oval upgrades are a exceptional enchancment on the amenities the Tigers had educated in beforehand.
However the different huge winner out of the brand new set-up is membership rugby’s West Harbour Pirates.
Whereas the Tigers now boast cutting-edge coaching and restoration amenities, the Pirates even have a brand new gymnasium and workplace area.
After three years of being based mostly in “principally a storage” it’s an enormous enhance forward of the 2023 Shute Defend season.
“It’s been a protracted course of, about three-and-a-half years, and there have been a lot of folks on the Tigers and Pirates who’d labored with council over what was going to occur and the way they had been going to go about it,” West Harbour Normal Supervisor, David Lyme, tells CODE Sports activities.
“We had principally a storage – a makeshift gymnasium – that we’ve used for just about three-and-a-half years.”
The upgrades imply the Pirates have their very own personal gymnasium, workplace area and a medical room to be used in the course of the weeks, and locker rooms on recreation days. A perform area overlooking the enjoying subject can be utilized to entertain sponsors and VIPs as properly.
However the greatest bonus is unquestionably the brand new gymnasium, and it’s already led to an increase in participant numbers this preseason.
“It’s all the pieces we’d like on a weekly foundation,” Lyme says. “The gymnasium’s just about been used consistently which has been nice.
“We’ve had an important recruiting yr and the gamers are excited and really feel assured – they’re energised.
“We’ve been getting 70 to 80 gamers to coaching every evening, and that’s simply in grade. We’ve bought a full girls’s workforce and three colts groups as properly. It’s going properly, however we have to do our speaking on the sphere on the finish of the day.”
It’s not simply gamers who’re turning up once more both. In February, the Pirates hosted the Waratahs and the Western Sydney Two Blues in a preseason trial. Wallabies coach Eddie Jones was a eager spectator, however the crowds had been additionally again in a giant manner.
It reminded Lyme – who returned to work on the membership late final yr – of the previous days.
“That trial was our first journey again and we had about 2000 folks down,” he stated. “We had lots of people who we hadn’t seen shortly, so it was a pleasant feeling.
“I used to return down right here once I was 5 – 6 – my dad used to convey me down and we’d watch video games on Saturday afternoons. I bear in mind going to World Cup matches and Checks and I all the time beloved this floor.
“However over time they bought a bit drained and wanted upgrading. It’s had a reasonably critical improve now.”
The brand new amenities additional spotlight the shut relationship between the Pirates and Tigers. Regardless of the bitter rivalry that always exists between union and league, the pair of golf equipment have been sharing Harmony Oval for years.
“We’ve bought an important relationship with Wests Tigers,” Lyme says. “We share coaching fields and all kinds of issues and we work properly collectively.
“That’s serving to our professionalism in addition to the Tigers.
“I’m fortunate sufficient to have Tim Sheens drop into the workplace now and again to have a chat. We’re sharing info – there’s a variety of good issues come out of rugby league.
“Typically you’ve gotta get fortunate and it feels a bit that manner.”
