For four years Jessie Date bided his time with rugby league until he could play the sport that had truly claimed his heart – gridiron.
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Date, 19, from Raymond Terrace, began playing for the Port Stephens Bombers in the inaugural Hunter Gridiron League season last year.
He returns to the Bombers and the HGL this season
Date also plays for the Newcastle Cobras, the representative gridiron team from the Hunter, and tried out for the NSW Juniors side this year.
“I always had a passion for it,” Date said.
“It’s different to league, there’s a lot more strategy, plus you have the pads, the helmets, and it’s a completely different atmosphere.
“In gridiron, you have a playbook with 20 or 30 plays that you have to learn.
“It’s a work of art when you see it all come together.”
In their first season, the Bombers, filled with keen gridiron players from Raymond Terrace, Nelson Bay and Newcastle, were one of the two teams to play in the Hunter Bowl – the HGL grand final.
The Bombers were defeated by the Hunter Valley Miners in the final game of the season.
This year the Bombers had remained undefeated until they faced the Newcastle City Cannons in round three on Sunday.
They were convincingly defeated 52-0.
It is something the Bombers will work on in training before its next HGL game.
The HGL is made up of four teams. Teams play six rounds and one championship game in the season.
While small, the league is one of a kind in Australia and is serving to build interest in the sport and develop talent.
Before the league was founded, gridiron players from the Hunter could try out for the Cobras, or travel to the Central Coast or Sydney for teams in those locations.
Aside from the regular commitment players give to a team in showing up for training and game days, due to the limited amount of clubs and leagues in NSW, the Cobras play nearly all their games in Sydney during the season.
That is why Corey Harragon, from Newcastle Cobras, helped to found the HGL.
“We had players leaving [the Cobras] because travelling to Sydney every weekend was just too much,” he said.
“We thought if we created a league here, in the Hunter, everyone can play more, train more and get more value out of the skills we’re teaching them.”
The HGL is also a development league for the juniors coming through the sport.
Harragon said there is a talented pool of junior players from Nelson Bay that will be fed through the HGL and into the Cobras.
HGL games are played on Sunday in Speers Point.