Old rugby foe unite

Rebuilding PBC right up alley of Dwyer and Bell

ANTHONY Dwyer and Michael Bell will go from staunch onfield enemies to being the duo charged with reviving rugby at Palm Beach Currumbin.

Dwyer has been reappointed coach at Bienvenue Drive after standing tall through a testing 2018 while Bell has been poached as rugby coordinator from high-flying Surfers Paradise.

The pair go back more than three decades to when they were lining up opposite one another in rival forward packs.

“We actually played against each other in Sydney back in the 80s,” revealed Dwyer, who played as a flanker.

“It’s quite funny to be reunited now.

“We were adversaries but now we’re going to try to work together. I was playing for Randwick and he was playing for Parramatta, so we were real arch rivals.

“It’s good to see later on, even though you might have thought you were enemies back then, I think we both really share some common ideas about rugby and we really value what club rugby can do for people.

“We share similar ideas about the culture we are trying to introduce there and whatnot so I think we will make a really great partnership and Michael will be really great for the Alleygators.”

PBC battled for numbers all year and never really recovered from the early-season departure of initial coach Van Humphries, who took on a role with the Western Force.

Dwyer expects the Alleygators’ fortunes to rise with more rock-solid structures put in place and “exciting announcements” to come in the next fortnight regarding players and coaches.

“We will have a real bolstering of playing stock,” he said.

Bell said rebuilding a club was more to his strengths as an administrator than guiding a frontrunner like the Dolphins.

“I’m more experienced in guiding clubs to get to the top … it’s what I did in Parramatta and at West Harbour,” he said.