Forster-Tuncurry's beachside attractions became such a lure for Ryan Pike and his family that they have settled in the Great Lakes and in the process, Pike may have overcome the Forster Dolphins' rugby union dilemma of last winter.
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The rugby union season kicks off on April 6 and time is short, but in the last fortnight the Dolphins have seen the 30-year-old utility back settle into their back line, proving a player with experience and a valuable depth of knowledge of the game.
Last season, the Dolphins produced two of the region's most exciting, young players in five-eighth Angus Edwards and fullback Memphis McBride without the back line unifying into the combination anticipated before their elimination in the preliminary final of last year's Lower Mid North Coast premiership.
Now, Pike is training with the Dolphins at inside-centre, his inclusion assured in the team to play last year's premiers, the Wauchope Thunder, in Wauchope this Saturday, April 6.
"My wife and our family would come up to Forster on holidays and enjoyed the place sufficiently for us to find a home and settle here," Pike recounted.
"I played rugby for the Ourimbah Razorbacks and we won a couple of premierships so I was pleased to learn that Forster had a rugby club here."
The Dolphins' final XV is anything but clear-cut although newcomer "Kiwi" is proving an exceptional addition to the squad, presumably in the back row although outside-centre is a position yet to be satisfactorily resolved.
The Dolphins will participate in a five-club competition this winter with the Wallamba Bulls at home to the Old Bar Clams in the first round and the Manning River Ratz having the bye.
The Gloucester women's team will defend their 10-a-side premiership, working in liaison with Forster.
Regrettably, the Dolphins' women's team failed to reassemble and will miss this winter's competition, a tragedy for the Dolphinettes had a fine coach in Felicity "Flick" George and managed to reach the preliminary final of the women's 10s competition last year.
One of the men's team's difficulties last year involved five-eighth Edwards, a highly talented pivot whose footwork and speed made him almost as confusing to team-mates as his rivals.
Pike will not be in midfield to diminish that brilliance, but to enhance it, to capitalise on the speed and attacking skills of his colleagues, advising when to spread the ball wide or simply to attack when needed.
If Pike's arrival resolves the Dolphins' problems, watch fullback McBride blossom.
One of the swiftest players in the competition, he will have benefited enormously from his first complete season in first grade.