Two-time Forbes premiership winner Jake Haddrill to captain-coach Condobolin Rams

The hard-working front-rower has three premierships to his name, and he's serious about rugby league.

Haddrill is the only captain to have won a Woodbridge Cup for Condobolin, with the Rams lifting the trophy in 2016.

In 2017 he had a crack at coaching with his mate Adam Richards, but it didn't work out.

The following year, the tough middle man made the difficult choice to leave his home town and play Group 11 with Forbes Magpies.

He was motivated by a challenge.

"I wanted a bit more out of my football personally," he said.

Interestingly, he almost went back to the Rams this year but the return of Jake Grace reeled him back in, as it did with a number of Magpies.

It was one of the best decisions he made, winning his second premiership with the Magpies, a club that'll forever be special to him.

"I would've loved to go back-to-back there with the boys," he said.

"They're like my second home.

"I got two premierships out of it, set a few goals that I wanted to achieve over there and I achieved them and did what I set out to do."

But now, he's back home in Condobolin.

And he's returning as a completely different coach to the one in 2017.

"I miss pulling on a Condo jersey and playing for my home town, I'm looking forward to coming home," he said.

"I had a crack in '17 but I was a bit fresh and didn't know what to expect. It was hard but I'm a bit older now and been around a lot more coaching and experienced players, I'm looking forward to taking that role on again. It'll be a challenge I've got no doubt about it but I'm looking forward to it.

"Everything I leant over there (at Forbes) off Gracey, Mitch Andrews and Camo (coach Cameron Greenhalgh) will help me.

"I learnt a lot of things after leaving here but it's time to come back now and pass on what I've learnt to a few younger boys."

New era for the Rams

Last season Condobolin bowed out in week one of the finals.

They showed glimpses of what's possible, almost knocking off eventual premiers Manildra in round eight.

But the inconsistency showed, with a forfeit to Canowindra in round 11.

However, a new committee will deliver some much-needed structure to the Rams with last year's captain-coach Mitch Dinsey taking on the presidents role.

Haddrill isn't expecting miracles in his first season, but he knows they'll be a team to watch out for.

"I'm not saying we'll be world beaters first year round but definitely think we'll be in a competitive state of mind," he said.

"I think we'll surprise a few teams, no doubt about it."

And while Haddrill stressed he won't be trying to poach any Magpies, he wants his Rams to learn from the big brothers in the Peter McDonald Premiership.

"I said to a few guys over that for few training runs I might bring a few boys over just to see what it is like," he said.

"It'd be good to see the sort of competitive state of mind that exists over there - while training's on it's serious and go, go, go, it's not just going there to play touch footy. It's a lot more professional and I'm going to try and bring that professionalism back home.

"We've got a new committee on board which is good and a few fresh faces."

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A town that needs a lift

As it goes with a lot of Woodbridge teams, the rugby league side is the town.

A Saturday home game, ideally, should have the majority of the town watching on and supporting.

For Condobolin, the community will be hoping its footy side can bring some positivity after enduring devastating floods over the past few months.

Haddrill is strong on ensuring this is the case.

"There's a lot of talk around the town, my parents have said they're going down the street and a lot of people are talking about me coming home so that's good. Everyone is supporting me about the decision, I'm looking forward to it," he said.

"I'm trying to get the whole community around the footy club and get the community involved. Next year will be a town effort so we're just going to try and do our best, do a couple of fundraisers throughout the season to help out and give the town a bit of up and go again.

"Condobolin has been down with footy things lately so I'm hoping with a few fresh faces we'll be looking unreal, on the upside of coming good with the footy club is the community coming back and supporting us."

Condobolin's only Woodbridge Cup victory

In Haddrill there's probably no one more qualified to know how much the town can support the footy club.

Having lifted the trophy in 2016, the front-rower experienced one of the great highs that comes with country rugby league.

"It was unbelievable really, something I never thought we'd get to, especially the way we started that year," he said.

"We struggled then started winning a couple of games towards the end of the first round. Round two we beat Trundle in a close match and didn't lose a game till the major final in Trundle and then we turned around and beat Manildra at home. We went to Canowindra (for the grand final), it was raining and I was panicking thinking Trundle beat us in the rain before.

"But we went over confident we could do the job and the whole town supported us, it was a massive crowd that year and we got to bring it home. The town was very supportive of us when we got home, the pub was packed and it was definitely a feeling I'll never forget.

"The two at Forbes were special but that year was big. My old man had been battling prostate cancer at the time and wasn't sure if he'd make the game so to see him and my mum there was pretty special, I'll never forget it."

Man in the middle

One of the keys to that grand final victory was hooker Tyronne (TJ) Johnstone.

Johnstone made his comeback to Condobolin this season, and showed the competition how good he is, lifting Woodbridge to a draw against George Tooke Shield in the representative game.

Haddrill confirmed Johnstone will be back, and playing a more important role.

"He is playing and I've been in his ear that he'll be playing more minutes than he's ever played before," he laughed.

"TJ is going to be a big part of our side, he's a massive part of this team that's going to be running around next year.

"If I'm going to go close to winning the comp or being competitive, he's going to be a massive part of that.

"He's one of a kind that boy, if he played for a Group 11 side he'd be spectacular over there I've got no doubt about it. Hayden Bolam is a mate of mine and won Group 10 player of the year but I rate TJ not far behind him - they play a similar game, they both like to get out and run.

"I can't wait to play with TJ again, I last played with him in 2017."

Building an identity

Along with having Johnstone in the side, Haddrill admitted he's 'working very hard' to convince his 2016 premiership-winning coaches in Matt and Baden Hall to come out of retirement.

With Condobolin's Youth League side finishing one game away from a grand final last season, the prop is looking forward to seeing the talent at his disposal when pre-season starts on January 17.

Haddrill also emphasised that pre-season won't be segregated, he's bringing the club together as one, with a strong identity.

"I've said to the few younger boys I do know that pre-season will be with us, one club. I've asked the girls to train with us as well, I want us all to train as one big club, be family oriented and get around the club," he said.

"I want to get back to playing good hard footy, and enjoying a beer after the game."

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