THEY have been the easy-beats of the Hastings League competition for nearly 10 years.
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In that time, the Port Macquarie Boardriders have claimed countless wooden spoons.
They even had a few scorelines put on them that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the summer months.
But coach Kodi Baird has set his sights on making the Boardies successful again in 2017.
He admitted the club was on the brink of collapse when vice-president Craig Taylor took to social media.
“There was a pretty touching message on Facebook that I read and I rang Craig straight away and thought I could bring some players to the club so he jumped on board,” Baird said.
“They were gone, I was their last hope because no one had put their hand up to do the coaching job.”
The Port Macquarie junior has already had stints with the Port City Breakers and Port Macquarie Sharks.
He believes he has what it takes to get the Boardies riding a wave of success just like the old days, but he knows it won’t be an easy task.
“I want to get them back up where they used to be because there’s a lot of old supporters who live and breathe these blokes so it was going to be hard not to see them not have a club this year,” he said.
“That’s the reason I put my hand up.”
Baird knows starting at the bottom will be a challenge, but he’s welcomed it with open arms and has identified a few players who he believes will add quality to the side.
“I want to be competitive and I want to make the finals; that’s my main goal for this season,” he said.
“Then we’ll reassess it all from there. With the players I’ve been talking to I think that’s a realistic goal.”
Baird knows it will be a big rebuild which will require him to call on years of coaching experience.
“I’ve had a few good coaches I’ve spent a bit of time under,” he said.
“I spent time up in Brisbane and learnt up there and my brother Brock has coached five comps for five wins so my plan is a two-year thing.
“I don’t think it’s going to be booming in the first year, it’ll be a big rebuild.
“It’s been 10 years since the club last played finals and there was a few games they had 100 points put on them last year so that’s going to be a long process."
On the field, Baird will also make his comeback from a recent run of injuries.
He’s looking forward to having a footy in his hands again.
“I’m coming off an ACL reconstruction so it’ll be my first season in two years,” he said.
The Boardies coach believes the Hastings League competition in 2017 will be the strongest it has ever been.
It’s a good time to get the club on the up.