Cabramatta and Blacktown Workers make their returns to the Leagues Clubs Australia Ron Massey Cup this weekend beginning the 2025 season alongside NSWRL’s Sydney Shield competition.
It’s been four years since Cabramatta departed after an 11th-placed finish in 2021, and three years since Blacktown finished eighth in 2022.
For the past seven years the club played as the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles in The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup. But the arrangement with Manly Warringah finished at the end of 2024.
“We want to get the family feeling back with the club,” coach John Toby told nswrl.com.au
“The last couple of years with Manly were a bit up and down.
“We’re not aiming for the stars the first year, but we do want to be a competitive football side.
“We want to build connections between the players, who will be together for a few seasons now we hope, and see where that takes us,” Toby said.
“We want them to bring some toughness and mental attitude as they’ll be playing some seasoned Ron Massey Cup players.”
It doesn’t get much tougher than facing 2023 Ron Massey Cup Premiers St Marys Saints in Round One, but at least it’s on their home ground at HE Laybutt Field in Blacktown.
“We’ve given them the basic tools and it’s now up to them to follow through,” Toby said.
“It’s been a really good pre-season with the boys. It’s a new thing for a lot of them because I’ve got a young squad this year as we’re in the first years of a rebuilding stage with the club.
Toby’s youngest player is 19 and the oldest is 25. One with some experience is 24-year-old former Kaiviti Silktails captain Penioni Tagituimua at hooker, who has had stints with North Sydney Bears in NSW Cup and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in Ron Massey Cup.
Blacktown Workers will now be a feeder club to South Sydney’s NSW Cup side. The 2025 co-captains are halfback Will Golden and prop Bostyn Ligaliga.
“Our pre-season has been about attitude,” Toby said.
“I want to give boys an opportunity this year to make a name for themselves.
“They might have played a few Ron Massey Cup games, or SG Ball or Jersey Flegg but this will be a big step up for a lot of them.”
For Cabramatta, founded in 1919, it is a welcome return to the NSWRL’s prestigious third-tier competition which dates back to 1963.
“It’s exactly where we should be,” said coach Chris Yates. “We’re a strong Rugby League club with a proud history.
“The boys have trained pretty hard as we virtually started from scratch again, so that was a challenge in itself.
“Our philosophy is we want a proper pathway and we have that with (feeder club) the Parramatta Eels.
“We had a dozen guys do pre-season with the Eels NSW Cup squad. We also get a number of players coming back from our Sydney Shield as well as (Eels) Jersey Flegg.
“It’s something that fell away, so we wanted to get on the front foot with Parramatta and get that back up and running,” he said.
“For our first year back we’ve told the boys we want effort and attitude and that’s the most important for us. We give them the basic fundamentals and it’s a simple game if you can get those right.”
Cabramatta also has a relatively youthful side with the oldest player being 26.
“We might have a bit of pain early but they’ll develop and improve together,” Yates said.
Round One is a local derby against Mounties at Aubrey Keech Reserve on Saturday.
“There’s been a hundred of those over the years so it’s a good way to start back,” Yates said.
Club captain is forward Kayne Kalache, who will wear the No.8 against Mounties, while Ron Massey Cup captain is hooker James Valevatu (pictured at top, second from left) , who played No.9 for Fiji in last year’s Pacific Championships.
