Inaugural Festival of Rugby proves a huge success

Showcasing some of the best rugby talent in the country in both the sevens and 15-man game, the three-day extravaganza wrapped up on Saturday and was a huge success.

"It was more than we'd hoped for and we'd had high hopes, so really happy," Coffey said.

From the interest to the interaction and the engagement of the players with the crowd, to the atmosphere, which was "really positive and exciting", it exceeded his and the club's expectations.

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The main event was the preseason clash between the Waratahs and the Reds on the Friday night.

Around 3000 people watched the NSW side get the better of their arch rivals on a warm summer's evening in what was an entertaining precursor to their opening round Super Rugby AU clash in two weeks time.

Also incorporating community and elite sevens games, Coffey said the whole community will have benefited from the weekend.

"Yes the rugby club's benefiting from it immediately, from the long lunch we had yesterday (Friday) and ticket sales into our corporate club house last night but across town all the standard things coffee shops, accommodation, fuel," he said.

Accommodation in town was pretty well sold out and cafes and coffee shops were doing a roaring trade on Saturday morning.

But it's not just about the present.

"Into the future we've now shown we've got a good facility here, and we can run a big event," he said. "People shouldn't be scared to come out here and ask us to host something because whatever it might be we can do it."

He said there is talk of staging something similar perhaps biennially.

Regardless, the improvements to the facilities mean there are so many more opportunities in what they can do.

"We've got those broadcast quality lights now, which are an amazing asset to the community, so we'd certainly expect to use it a lot more," Coffey said.

There are already discussions about playing some of their Central North fixtures under lights.

"We played Quirindi in a night game in 2019, which was really successful," he recalled. "And mid-2000s we used to play Gunnedah under lights here every year.

"We've had a few clubs express more than interest, they're keen, they want to come and play under this.

"I think you wouldn't want to do overdo it and lose the effect but I'd expect we'd host two to three games every year under lights."

Turning his attention to the season ahead, Coffey said there is a real buzz, the break last season emphaising to everyone "how much footy means to them".

"Everyone's excited, the players they've actually pushed and driven the drive to start pre-season a bit earlier and get right into it and they've shown up in great numbers," he said.

"And when you start looking at the names coming through the gates at training, there's going to be some real selection headaches."