LEN’S IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL

SPENDING nearly six hours on the road is all part of the game day experience for Charters Towers Bulls coach Len Knuth.

Knuth, who joined the Charters Towers Bulls in 1994, has held many posts from club president to under- 17 juniors coach, and he has clocked up thousands of kilometres along the way.

Knuth lives on a cattle property near the Burdekin River, roughly an hour outside Charters Towers, and every training session and game requires a lengthy drive that only a hardy country man like Knuth can endure.

For every training session, Knuth will spend two hours on the road, and on game day he spends nearly half his waking day driving.

“It never gets any easier,” Knuth said with a laugh.

“When you add in the actual game I think most of my day is spent around rugby.

“It’s an hour’s drive outside Charters Towers from where I live, then it’s about an hour and 40 minutes between Charters Towers and Townsville.

“But there’s players who even further than me.

“This year, we had a player who drives from Prairie for every game, and last year we had a bloke who travel travelled from Cloncurry.” The Bulls, who have established a strong junior base from under- 10s to under- 16s, re- entered the Townsville and Districts Rugby Union first- grade competition last year after a 20- year absence.

This year, they came within one win of finishing inside the firstgrade competition’s top four and playing finals, losing to North Ward last weekend 24- 12 in a final round thriller.

“We wanted to open up the senior pathway for our juniors, who are very strong, and the goal for the future is to have a senior team made up entirely of Charters Towers Bulls juniors,” Knuth said.

“But to be where we are now fantastic.”

The Bulls draw many of their junior players from the region’s boarding schools, while their senior players are based in the Charters Towers region and Townsville.

“Our seniors team has two training groups; one in Charters Towers and one in Townsville,” Knuth said.

“About once every three weeks we try and hold a joint training session, sometimes halfway between the two areas at Woodstock.

“On game day, we do our best to put it together — and we’ve been going well — but training is definitely our biggest challenge going forward.” is