Nelson Bay Neptunes to square off in Peter Wilson Memorial Championships at Tomaree Sports Complex

The Neptunes under 18s boys team has established itself as a real title contender in recent years as it prepares to take on sides from across the Hunter, central west and beyond.

“It’s the regionals so it’s pretty important to us,” co-captain Ryan Duffy said.

“I think we’ll go top four.”

This year marks their second time in the under 18s and with few changes to their lineup, they’re quietly confident.

“We made the semis in 2017 so we went better than we thought before we were knocked out,” Duffy said.

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The boys’ previous best result was a top eight finish in the state quarter finals in the under 16s.

“We have a few new boys but it’s pretty well the team we have now and we’re really starting to gel,” co-captain Flynn Simpson said.

“Newcastle City and the Central Coast will be the ones to beat but hopefully we can give them a good run this year.”

The 135 teams registered to compete in this year’s tournament are predominantly drawn from the Hunter Western Hornets’ region which stretches from Nelson Bay across the state to the South Australian border.

A handful of Sydney teams will add some extra spice though they won’t be eligible to play in the finals.

“It gives our teams the opportunity to play against some more developed teams lifting the standard of our game,” tournament director Karen Davies said.

The tournament has been played on the Tomaree sports fields since 2007.

The contract was reviewed after last year with Nelson Bay winning the tender for another three years with a one-plus-one option to extend the deal to five years in total. There’s 135 teams registered to play with 2000-plus participants and more than 7000 spectators expected on the weekend of February 3 and 4. Games will be played between 8am and 5pm each day across 14 fields. The finals will begin Sunday from noon.

“We’re more than happy with the the standard of these fields that Port Stephens Council produces,” Davies said.

“We’re happy that the weather shouldn’t be as hot this year, looking at the forecasts and if it does rain we have the peace of mind that these fields do drain quickly.”