The Rock-Yerong Creek will go green on Saturday, all in the name of a good cause.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Magpies' traditional black and white strip will be replaced by a touch of green as the club looks to raise funds and awareness for mental health.
It has been 10 years since one of the club's favourite sons, Mark 'Grunter' O'Leary, took his own life and sadly the club has also lost a number of young men since in similar circumstances.
The names of O'Leary, Blake Gibson, Mitch Leaver and Ned Campton will be on the Magpies' jumpers this weekend as they look to spread the importance of mental health.
The club will hold a number of special events at Victoria Park on Saturday to coincide with TRYC and East Wagga-Kooringal going head-to-head for the Mark O'Leary Memorial Shield.
An 'old boys game' will be held as a curtain raiser, while TRYC's A grade netballers will also don one-off green uniforms to mark the occasion, with lower grades to wear special bibs.
TRYC co-president David Pieper said the mental health round was an important initiative for the club.
"It's the 10-year anniversary since Grunter left us so we decided to make it a big thing because since Grunter, we've had a number of unfortunate things happen to other people," Pieper said.
"Neddy (Campton) was the most recent. We've also had Mitchy Leaver and Blake Gibson. So Heath Russell brought up that why don't we have a mental health round, which is pretty big in the forefront of everyone at the moment so we decided to go with it and raise funds for the Black Dog Ride."
MORE SPORT NEWS
Guernseys have also been made for the old boys game, all sporting O'Leary's number nine, which will feature a number of former greats from both clubs. The game, featuring two 10 minute halves, will get underway at 1.45pm.
"We had the old boys game for the first two years and we haven't had it since," Pieper said.
"Aaron De Jong has organised that and we've got 40 blokes playing. A mixture of players that have played with Grunter, and other players that have passed on."
The day will raise funds for The Black Dog Ride and the local group will perform a ride from Wagga to Narrandera and back to The Rock in conjunction with the day.
Upon arrival at The Rock, the group will do a lap of inside Victoria Park with buckets for donations. There will also be a designated area for a show and shine.
The Magpies were also welcoming Jay Little and Wellways to present to the club around the importance of mental health after training on Thursday night.
Pieper said the key objective is getting around your mates and encouraging people to speak up if not ok.
"Definitely. That's what we're going to promote," he said.
"We've got a lot of past players and people involved that are going to be there so it's going to be a big day and it's an opportunity to check in on each other and see how they're going and promote that stuff that we don't normally promote.
"The Grunter game is always an exciting one to be part of and with two sides being in the finals, it should be a pretty good game as well."
TRYC footballer Jesse Cool is right behind the concept.
"It's good to raise awareness. Being a small town, it hits hard, so it's good to get around each other and show support and if anyone does need anything, it's another avenue to show it's alright to speak up," Cool said.
He also expects a tough challenge from the Hawks as both teams prepare for finals.
"It's a big game, really," he said.
"The ladder goes out the window when we play these blokes it's always a tough game."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Download our app from the Apple Store or Google Play
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters