A familiar face is this year’s reserve grade coach for the Spacemen, Jimmy Clyburn.
After a stint coaching the under 21s last year, well known local, Jimmy Clyburn has been promoted to the ranks of reserve grade coach for the Parkes Spacemen 2023 rugby league season.
We caught up with Jimmy up at Pioneer Oval before training on Tuesday night and he was excited at the possibility of getting a few of the old boys back this season.
“We had a pretty young squad the last few years, but we’ve got a few blokes from Woodbridge Cup that are coming back to have a run this year,” said Jimmy.
Jimmy believes the team will greatly benefit from a mix of experience from the older players and the speed and fitness that the young players bring to the team.
Last year, the reserve grade team were placed in the middle of the ladder. “We were missing a few key players last year. Injury took its toll on first grade last season, so a lot of reserve grade players shot up to first grade to fill spots,” said Jimmy.
Of course, the main goal heading into the 2023 season is to win the premiership. To achieve this, Jimmy will be focusing on completions, trying to find structure and working on combinations with the new players in the team.
“The boys are a tight knit group, we’ve all been mates pretty much our whole lives,” said Jimmy.
This coming weekend, the firsts, seconds and junior Spacemen will head to Orange to play a trial game against the Orange Hawks. If you are looking for a footy fix, organise a car load and get to Orange on Saturday to support the Spacemen!