New Gropers coach a hard taskmaster

Margaret River Gropers will recruit new players ahead of the 2018 rugby season.

Training began last month under the watchful eye of new head coach Viv Booker, a life member of Nedlands Rugby Club and former coach of the WA team for several international matches.

Gropers players regard Booker as a “hard taskmaster”, saying they are subjected to more than 40 push-ups for every dropped ball.

“He believes in fitness, pace, grit, intensity and skill,” they said. “In his first session on Thursday, the players realised he meant business.

“Many a player (was) close to throwing up,” they said.

“Hopefully by the end of pre-season we’ll be ripped and skilful.”

But player Simon Earl said newcomers should not be scared off and the team looked forward to having a few “fresh new faces”.

“We already have a great turnout at training and it’s still early in the pre-season,” he said.

“For anyone who used to play or wants to try it out for the first time, we encourage them to come along and register sooner rather than later.”

The Gropers play on Saturday afternoons and will compete against other South West teams such as Busselton, Bunbury and Collie.

Training is at Nippers Oval on Thursday nights at 6pm.

The team will add a Tuesday session closer to the start of the season.

For more information, contact Margaret River Gropers Rugby Club on 0422 497 343 or visit their Facebook page.