Whalers’ season about to crank up

OTAGO league players have a big few weeks ahead of them.

There are three weeks left of the club competition before another representative campaign for the Whalers.

Prospective Otago players had an open training this week, and a squad will be finalised soon.

The Whalers had a wonderful 2021 season, winning the New Zealand Rugby League Championship trophy.

They start their South Island campaign with a game against the West Coast Chargers in Greymouth on September 3.

The Whalers then get consecutive Dunedin games at Hancock Park, against Aoraki on September 10 and against Southland on September 17.

If they win the South Island competition, they play the top North Island team in the Championship final, the winner of that earning promotion to the Premiership alongside Akarana, CountiesManukau, Waikato and Canterbury.

But first, there is a club champion to crown, and it is anyone’s title.

Otago University set the standard in the first two rounds, but the students have been plagued by injuries to key players and struggled to field a top 17 over the past couple of weeks.

The Waitaki Warriors have been the surprise package, although their season has been heavily disrupted.

After winning by default in the opening round, the Warriors had a narrow loss to University, missed a round due to the torrential rain in Oamaru and beat the South Pacific Raiders last weekend.

The Raiders looked handy in beating the Kia Toa Tigers but they will be stung by the loss to Waitaki, while the Tigers suffered backtoback defeats before bouncing back with a convincing win over University.

There are two games (Warriors-University and RaidersTigers) at the Oval this weekend, and two more (WarriorsTigers and UniversityRaiders) a week later.

A straight final follows at Hancock Park on August 27.