Junior Red Devils U10s Tri-Tag Minor Premiers in 1st and going into the Finals
Jeremy Martin was so heavily inspired by his son’s grit and spirit in rugby that he was heavily involved in restarting the Junior Red Devils, ensuring other promising players had a safe space locally to grow their skills.
“I played the Junior Devils myself, but I went back into league for a bit,” says Jeremy.
“[My son, Cooper] is pretty heavily into his league as well, but the school [first] gave him the opportunity in Year Three to play football, and that’s when he said he wanted to play.
“He begged me that year to play for Coota, because Coota was established and we were so busy at the time… So, I said, “we’ll just get the Devils going.”
Cooper, who was already showing talent from a young age, started with Coota to get into the field straight away, but upon the presentation night for the year, he made a startling revelation.
“I asked him if he wanted to go back to Coota next year, and he said, ‘I’m not going back to Coota, I’m playing for the Junior Red Devils next year’,” Jeremy says.
“I told him, ‘Well, I better make one… I better get it going then, if that’s what he wanted.
“That’s where the whole idea came from.”
The Murrumburrah Primary School is another huge contributing factor to the Junior Devils’ recent success, and Jeremy says he couldn’t have done it without their extensive sport program that has featured lots of union in the past few years.
“The kids now get to try before they buy with the Junior Devils,” he says.
“In 2023, the Club was non-existent, and in 2024, we expected 14 to 15 kids to field one side, but we ended up with 58 kids that year,” says Jeremy.
“The next year, we ended up with 76 and this year we’ve got 110 regos this year.”
The Junior Devils now have five competition teams and two non-competitive.
All five competitive teams have made it to the finals this year, and the U12s team and the U10s try tag team are currently undefeated.
“They’re all playing in the semi’s this week to try to make a spot in the grand final,” says Jeremy.
Every Friday night, the Juniors take to the field to train, but Jeremy says it has become so much bigger than he’d ever anticipated.
“We do food nights and the other day we did a red night where the senior Devils made the grand final and we had red lollies,” he says.
“The kids stick around after training and kick the footy around, and they do what they love, which is a big part of belonging.
The kids love being around each other and getting play around with their mates… It’s all about the sport, but it’s also a Friday night ritual for a lot of families.
“It’s really great that we’ve come from nothing to something so quickly, and to get an older age group this year [is amazing] because I don’t think Harden has seen a U16s rugby team in a long time.”
For a lot of the Juniors, playing with the Devils is a great way to get fit and give it a fair shot, but for some players (such as Jeremy’s son Cooper) who want to go all the way, the program gives them a great pathway into playing senior footy.
Elizabeth Kovacs
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