WARIALDA Jockey Club and Warialda Rugby League Football Club received a good response yesterday to a combined weekend honouring local rugby league legend Jim Payne.
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Walcha had 53 nominations for Saturday’s annual race meeting, 15 of them in the $7000 Coolatai Rural Supplies/Anipro Warialda Cup, a benchmark 60 handicap over 1400m.
Sally Torrens’s Subtract and Karen Fox’s Sambora head a good field including Peter Sinclair’s One Double and Luke Berger’s Bombproof.
It’s a big weekend in Warialda.
A legend of the town, Payne was named the captain-coach of the Group 5-19 Team of the Century.
Payne won five successive premierships with Warialda from 1961 to 1965 and was narrowly beaten in the 1966 decider as well.
He is regarded as the man who brought rugby league success to the small town, something the town has thrived on over the years.
Unfortunately the town has struggled in recent years.
Two years ago it combined with nearby Tingha to make the grand final, only to lose to Moree Boomerangs.
Last season the club sat out the season but, over the summer, signed on Joss Cleal as captain-coach.
The son of Warialda great Les Cleal hopes to return the Wombats to some of those glory days and has former Sydney NRL star and Dally M winner Ewan McGrady as his second grade coach.
The Wombats start their new season with a local derby against Inverell Hawks at the Warialda Recreation Showground on Sunday.
Ironically, the visiting Hawks are coached by another Warialda stalwart, Peter Stevens.
The two clubs will play for the Jim Payne Cup on Sunday as well, a new cup struck in honour of the footballing genius who instilled toughness and an aggressive style into a team and club.
Warialda numbers about 1200 in population, with many of them expected on course Saturday for the Warialda Cup and then turning out on Sunday for the Jim Payne Cup against Inverell.