The Bulldogs will announce a five-year partnership with the region on Wednesday which will aim to keep talented junior players in the area for longer.

While Kemp will lose teenage five-eighth Ezra Gibson to South Sydney’s Jersey Flegg team for the 2019 season, he was hopeful more juniors would benefit from the partnership.

By keeping players in the region for longer, the local competition would become stronger.

“We won’t lose the kids at a young age because they’ll be getting that football education that they don’t have at the moment,” Kemp said.

“It’s about bridging the gap between the Country Rugby League and Sydney because at the moment we’ve only got a couple of development officers.”

Kemp said a lifestyle change from Port Macquarie to a capital city was a main reason why many players had previously slipped through the cracks.

He didn’t believe it was through a lack of talent.

“There has been a lot of players that have gone to the big smoke and then come back to us because they couldn’t handle the transition,” he said.

Bulldogs chief executive Andrew Hill said the club wanted to have a presence in the region and Kemp hopes that is the case.

“Hopefully they are a presence; we’ve been linked to a few clubs before and that’s been it,” he said.

“Hopefully it will be a similar model to what Penrith have done with the Western Rams; all the people I’ve spoken to down there have said it’s worked for them.”

Port Macquarie Sharks coach Jamie Dowse said it would only be of benefit to the region to be linked to a National Rugby League club.

While the partnership would help junior players, he cited a player’s mental health as an important part of their development.

“Player welfare is important,” Dowse said.

“This (partnership) will be good because it keeps the kids in their home town where they can be a local hero and that’s how it should be.

“Previously you would have 16, 17 or 18-year-old’s who ended up leaving the game altogether because they couldn’t handle it down in big smoke.

“You get left on your own, you’ve got to go and find a job and the cost of living is extremely high.”

Dowse was cautiously optimistic about the effect the partnership would have on rugby league in both Group 2 and Group 3 junior competitions, but said it was important “to get it right”.

“Some clubs just rob an area of their kids, so hopefully that won’t happen here,” he said.

“It’s a positive step forward, but they (Canterbury) have to be seen; there can’t be any white noise.”

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