Gunnedah Bulldogs will look to celebrate a premiership win on home soil with the town rallying behind the rugby league club ahead of the Group 4 grand final at Kitchener Park.
The community has been abuzz since the Bulldogs earned their first home grand final in 31 years when they defeated Moree 22–20 in the major semi-final a fortnight ago.
The Bulldogs will host the Boars in the grand final on Saturday 5 September, in a rematch of last year’s decider.
Moree are playing in a fourth straight grand final and have won the last two at home.
Gunnedah has endured grand final heartbreak away from home in recent years, losing the 2014, 2018 and 2025 deciders.
Club president David McCann said securing the right to host the grand final had removed some of the anxiety that comes with preparing for a decider.
“You ask anyone that follows us closely and they’ll probably tell you we play our best footy at home,” he said.
“It’s good just to be able to sit back and relax and not have that bit of anxiety over how we’re going to perform in a preliminary final.
A grade will look to win its first premiership since 1998 when it hosts the grand final. Photo: Phillipa Henry.
“We’ve got the momentum going into it and it’s up to us what we do with it from here.”
The occasion will carry plenty of history for the Bulldogs – they lost to Werris Creek at home in 1995.
Their most recent grand final victory at Kitchener Park came a decade earlier in 1985, the third of three consecutive premierships won by Gunnedah between 1983 and 1985.
The Bulldogs will be chasing their eighth Group 4 premiership and first since 1998, with the club hoping to add another chapter to its long history at the ground.
The 1998 grand final was originally scheduled to be played in Gunnedah but flooding forced the match to be moved to Narrabri, where the Bulldogs defeated Wee Waa.
McCann believes the Bulldogs are better equipped for the challenge than they were 12 months ago, with the playing group having had another full season together.
“There were a lot of new faces in there last year, blokes coming up from the lower grades as well as a couple of new guys that came to town,” he said.
“We’ve seen the benefits of having them together for another 12 months by the way they’ve finished the season.”
The match is scheduled to kick off at 2.45pm.
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