There is no stopping Daniel Hessing, no exhausting the little marvel..... he's back as captain of the Wallamba Bulls rugby union team.
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Back for another winter in a decade of first grade rugby union following his apprenticeship with the Forster Tuncurry Dolphins, coach Peter White has handed the leadership reins to Hessing again.
Due to the pandemic-inflicted reduction of the Lower Mid North Coast's Kennards Hire minor premiership to 10 rounds, last year's Bulls captain, Andrew Paynter, has decided to focus on his employment this year while speculating on a return to rugby next winter.
He has always played above his weight, the real scrounger, fearless, right out of the Phil Waugh, Michael Hooper mould.
- Peter White
Paynter began with the Gloucester Cockies before transferring to the Bulls, a tireless worker either as halfback or breakaway, a fine captain and the unlikeliest target as a lineout jumper.
Coach White was high in his praise of Hessing, remarking: "He has always played above his weight, the real scrounger, fearless, right out of the Phil Waugh, Michael Hooper mould."
Wallamba have had good numbers at Thursday evening's training sessions with 25 players already committed to the club this year.
"I started with 12 players last year and ended up with 30," White said.
"They're a happy group.
"We are concentrating on fitness at this stage.
"The signs are good."
One newcomer making encouraging progress, used experimentally on the wing last year, and whom White visualises coming into his pack as a lock forward is the rawboned Jarrod Dagger, a 20-year-old who "runs hard and hits hard."
The Bulls will meet the Old Bar Clams in their first-round game at their Nabiac home ground on July 11.
Meanwhile, last year's unbeaten premiers, the Forster Tuncurry Dolphins, have yet to begin training at Peter Barclay Field.
Their first round game is scheduled against the Gloucester Cockies in Gloucester with the Wauchope Thunder meeting the Manning River Ratz at Wauchope.
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